276 THE FAFIMER AS A COOPER ATOR. 



their price than to get buyers to raise tlieir offers,. Brokers 

 endeavor to represent as many interests as j)ossible, so that if 

 a possible customer does not need one thing, he may sell him 

 another. They also like to represent as many persons as i)os- 

 sible in the same line, so that if, for any reason, one seller will 

 not accept offers whicli he can obtain, another one may. His 

 first and last desire is to make sales. The brokerage or com- 

 mission paid to him by sellers varies according to the com- 

 modity; the better known and more staple the article, the 

 easier sales will be made and the smaller tlie brokerage. 

 Upon dried fruits, whicli I have used for an illustration, 

 brokerage upon orders^ passing direct from the seller's ware- 

 house to merchants, range from one and one-half, or even 

 one per cent, to two and one-half per cent. If, however, the 

 goods are shipped to them, as commission merchants, stored, 

 insured, and disposed of in broken lots, their brokerage may 

 be as high as five per cent. Upon the average, two and one- 

 lialf per cent must be reckoned upon. There is never any 

 advantage in so reducing rates of brokerage on competitive 

 articles that the broker can make no money on them. The 

 broker will be compelled to neglect them and lay out his 

 strength on what pays him better. 



The other class of solicitors is traveling salesmen. The 

 advantage of this class is that they are wholly in their employ- 

 er's interest, with nothing to distract their attention. Their 

 disadvantage is— in the wholesale trade — that they can see 

 their customers but seldom, while the resident broker can see 

 tliem almost daily, and they also cost more money. AVhen the 

 broker is not selling goods he is costing liis employer nothing, 

 while the salary and expense of the traveling salesman go on 

 every day. In some lines, however, travelers are doubtless 

 the most profitable. Whether they are ever so in the lines in 

 which cooperative societies of producers are interested is more 

 than doubtful. It is not difficult to mnke a comparison, once 

 more recurring to the dried-fruit trade for an example. The 

 average value of a car-load of dried fruit may be placed at 

 $1,000, upon which the brokerage at two and one half per 

 cent would be $25. A capable and experienced salesman, 



