IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION 3 



fashion. We can hardly expect a ranchman two thousand 

 miles distant from the city which consumes his products 

 to be enthusiastic over the opportunity of hauling his crops 

 to a municipal market. The home hamper plan does not 

 appeal to the man accustomed to shipping in carload lots. 

 Consumers' leagues can hardly exert a profound influence 

 on the cotton or the wheat market but must confine their 

 activities in the main to package goods. Direct selling of 

 most kinds is wasteful and impossible of general adoption. 



The need is for a comprehensive system of distribution, 

 based on principles of efficiency, capable of universal appli- 

 cation. Such a system must recognize the fact that inter- 

 mediaries, such as jobbers and retailers, perform a useful 

 function and thus that they will continue to operate. It 

 must recognize, on the other hand, that the payments to 

 these intermediaries must be reduced, that their proportion 

 of the consumer's price must be diminished if producers 

 are to be encouraged to furnish ample supplies to the public 

 at reasonable prices. 



If the estimate of the Department of Agriculture is ac- 

 curate and the farmer gets only about half of the con- 

 sumer's dollar which is spent for agricultural products, it 

 is indisputable that the public is inflicting an injustice upon 

 itself. It is not getting enough food for a given expendi- 

 ture of money. Bountiful supplies of high grade food are 

 effectually prevented if the distributive mechanism is so 

 intricate and costly that food products can only be sold at 

 high rates. People cannot afford to buy large quantities 

 of expensive commodities, no matter how beneficial the 

 consumption of these may be; hence, if demand is curtailed 

 by lack of general purchasing power, there will be attendant 

 curtailment of production, prevention of consumption of 

 beneficial products and impairment of social welfare. 



One of the most perplexing problems that confront the 



