THE ECOXO>[IC GATX OF COOPERATION. 265 



staiitly to diminisli those profits by bringing the product 

 involved into constantly more general demand, and more and 

 more into the position of those staple articles of universal 

 consumption upon which the least profits are made. A profit 

 of ten per cent upon a staple and non-perishable article is 

 entirely satisfactory to the wholesale trade, whose expenses 

 should not exceed five per cent upon the volume of their 

 business. 



We may now consider the necessities of the wholesale 

 trade in the matter of buying. It is only the very largest 

 trade, doing a business of many millions a year, and over 

 very wide areas, who carry large stocks of all classes of goods. 

 For the most part their needs will vary according to the 

 extent and character of their trade, and the section of country 

 in which they are located. To continue the illustration with 

 which we began, a wholesaler in Galveston would desire 

 smaller quantities of dried fruit than his competitor in 

 Chicago, and very likely a different assortment from the 

 merchant in Duluth. It is necessary, however, that each be 

 able to buy what he needs, when he needs it, and from ^onie 

 one who is responsible for its quality and quantity and for its 

 delivery at the time agreed. 



As no agricultural product is precisely or even substan- 

 tially the same either in quantity or quality from year to year 

 in any locality, it is evident that the goods required by the 

 merchant in Duluth or in Galveston are not likely to be 

 obtainable, every year, from the same producers, or even the 

 same producing locality. It is also evident that the distant 

 merchant can not hunt up individuals, or they him. By some 

 means the product scattered among individual producers must 

 be gathered at one place, separated into its various varieties and 

 grades, properly packed, and held ready for sale and shipment 

 in car-load lots, either of one variety and grade, or assorted, 

 as tliB demands of different merchants may require. 



By competitive methods this concentration is accomplished 

 by an army of young men who scatter through the country, 

 visit the producers at their homes, examine the product, and 

 in behalf of their principals, buy it, paying therefor the 



