Middlemen. By middlemen we mean those individuals 

 who handle the product between the producer and the consum- 

 er. By many people middlemen are considered parasites and 

 non-producers, but this idea is wrong. The middlemen ren- 

 der services for which consumers should pay. They take the 

 products of the farm and grade them, standardize them as it 

 is called. Potatoes, for example, are sorted and the small ones 

 thrown out. They see that farm products are shipped to 

 points where they will find the readiest sale. They store and 

 hold products until they are needed and sell them in small lots 

 to consumers, delivering them at the door. For all these ser- 

 vices consumers must pay. The middelmen can not be elimi- 

 nated entirely from our economic system, but marketing con- 

 ditions should be controlled in such a way that too large a pro- 

 fit will not be exacted by middlemen. The results of studies 

 which have been made show that a relatively large part of the 

 price paid by the consumer goes to the middlemen. Potatoes 

 which sold in New York for 90 cents a bushel had been pur- 

 chased from the farmer for 50 cents. The retailer made twen- 

 ty five cents for selling them. Milk for which the farmer re- 

 ceives three and four cents a quart sells in the cities for seven 

 and eight. It has been claimed by some economists that com- 

 petition on the part of middlemen would force prices down, 

 but often middlemen make agreements to maintain price. 



Mail Order Houses. The mail order houses have devel- 

 oped wonderfully during the past twenty years. They are 

 made the objects of bitter attacks by local dealers, who feel 

 that the mail order house is taking away trade which right- 

 fully belongs at home. The mail order houses serve several 

 very useful purposes for rural communities, and in time will 

 teach local dealers a valuable business lesson. The mail order 

 house is a school for purchasers, giving them information as 

 to prices and qualities of various goods. They are by their 

 success demonstrating that there is a lack of sympathy and 

 understanding between city and country due to something 

 deeper than mere difference in prices and qualities of goods. 

 For this lack of sympathy and understanding the city is fully 

 as much to blame as the country. If local merchants want 



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