8 Cooperation in Agriculture 



THE ECONOMIC LOSS IN RURAL EFFICIENCY 



Notwithstanding the prosperous condition of agricul- 

 ture, the fact remains that a tremendous loss in rural effi- 

 ciency results from the lack of organization among farmers. 

 The tiller of the soil is still meeting single-handed the 

 problems that confront him. As an individual, he is 

 endeavoring to deal with large public policy questions. 

 He has not an even chance in handling that part of his 

 business which lies outside the production of his crops. 

 He purchases supplies in small quantities under an 

 expensive and objectionable credit system. Every- 

 thing he buys food, wire, nails, twine, fertilizer, 

 transportation, the telephone is purchased from or- 

 ganized capital, often operating as an unregulated, preda- 

 tory monopoly. Everything he sells cattle, milk, 

 wheat, poultry, eggs, fruit is sold to organizations of 

 capital, which also may operate as a predatory combina- 

 tion ; or he may consign his produce to middlemen who, 

 as dealers in the same products, are competitors of the 

 farmers ; to speculators in farm products, or to commission 

 merchants whose operations as semi-public agents are 

 generally entirely unregulated. 



These remarks are not intended as a general indict- 

 ment of the agencies which handle the products of the 

 farm. It is a statement of a part of the rural problem 

 which has been a vital social and economic issue in more 

 or less acute form ever since it has been necessary to dis- 

 tribute the surplus of the farm to the consumers in town 

 and cities. It is essential to the prosperity of American 

 agriculture and to the welfare of the country that the 



