Over-production 23 



the nation that it may make its workers happy and com- 

 fortable without making them wealthy. Of all the lead- 

 ing occupations, perhaps there is less scramble for big 

 money in agriculture than elsewhere; and for this reason 

 the farmer should remain a stalwart and conservative 

 element in the national structure. Farming on a modest 

 scale is capable of yielding a competent income; but the 

 larger part of the wealth of the small farmer is of a different 

 kind from that of the tradesman or manufacturer. 



All these remarks raise the old inquiry as to whether 

 there is an over-production of fruit. The probability is 

 that there is not over-production except in special years; 

 that is, that there is not more fruit grown than can be con- 

 sumed in one way or another. It is very likely, however, 

 that there is frequently a relative over-production, — ^that 

 there is more fruit grown than can be consumed in the mar- 

 kets that are ordinarily at the reach of the grower. The 

 difficulty is probably rather more of unequal or imperfect 

 distribution than of over-production of the commodity. 

 The tendency of the time is to remedy this defect by more 

 perfect means of dissemination, but it is too much to hope 

 for a perfectly equal distribution of fruits, since the 

 fruit. areas are more or less limited in their geographical 

 position, whereas the fruit-consuming population is 

 distributed far and wide; and most fruits are very perish- 

 able under shipment. When there are heavy gluts in 

 some markets and fruit does not pay for the freight, there 

 are often other places, a few hundred miles away, in which 

 the commodity is insufficient or even scarce. The intro- 

 duction of special fruit and refrigerator cars and the better 

 grading and the practice of pre-cooling have lessened the 

 difficulties of distribution. But these appliances are of use 

 mostly to organizations, or to those growers who have a 



