14 
come accustomed to the somewhat restricted social advantages 
and are not much disposed to complain. The influx of city po- 
pulation into farming districts has, however, added a disturbing 
factor in that complaints are at once made regarding the absence 
or limited extent of social possibilities under farming conditions. 
In cities and villages there are so many occasions presented, with- 
out effort on the part of the populace for gathering together and 
enjoying the educational and social advantages thus presented. In 
farming communities the occasions for such social intercourse 
must be provided by the persons concerned. To this end co-ope- 
rative associations are admirably adapted, for the reason that they 
furnish several inducements for a closer and more fraternal asso- 
ciation of the citizens of each neighborhood or district. If there 
are good business, social and educational reasons for meeting to- 
gether at stated intervals 1o discuss those matters which most 
vitally concern the neighborhood in question, interest is not 
likely to wane in the fraternal association. 
One of the most conspicuously weak points in the attitude of the 
farmer toward his own profession is his lack of business methods. 
The farmer has always been a producer content to let the other 
men distribute his products to the consumer. Even when the 
farmer has been induced to study thoroughly the science of pro- 
duction he has still too often neglected the business side of the 
question. With the establishment of our elaborate system of 
agricultural research, the farmer has learned much to enable him 
to increase the yield of his crops and to control insects, diseases 
and unfavorable soil conditions which tended to reduce produc- 
tion. In the meantime, however, others have reaped the benefits 
of his skill and industry. Some of the largest fortunes of the 
world have been made in the speculative and legitimate distribu- 
tion of the products of the farm. At last it is beginning to be re- 
cognized that the farmer can, to some extent at least, control the 
distribution of his own products and prevent speculation in them. 
The ordinary farmer cannot ship his produce in car lots or cargo 
lots. He, therefore, cannot get favorable transportation rates and 
cannot become a factor in controlling the market. He offers his 
produce in small quantities, and often in an unattractive form. 
The result is that he must beg for buyers, spend valuable time in 
making sales, and finally sell at a sacrifice. 
In this age of unusually high prices it may seem ill-advised to 
ask why the farmer should ever fail to get a remunerative price 
for the things which he has to seil, for all farm products are ab- 
solute necessities and the usual reason for the prevalence of un- 
profitable prices is that the farmer does not control the distribu- 
tion of his products. Food products hauled to town in a farm 
