Commission men say they cannot deal with theories ; they must 

 take facts as they are. They have a hard enough time, some of 

 them think, even at that! It remains, then, to change the facts. 

 The facts are already somewhat better than they were a year 

 ago. In 1911, scarcely a commission dealer in New York knew 

 about the Indian Runner — or had so much as heard of it. In 

 1912, many of them knew more or less about it; many did not. 

 Meanwhile, this whole matter narrows down to one of 

 individual business ability. Did it ever occur to you that the 

 reason eggs are such a good farm crop is that they sell them- 

 selves? Extra business ability may greatly enlarge the income 

 from a specified number. But even without that special ability, 

 the egg crop can be sold to reasonable advantage, because the 

 demand is ahead of the supply of the wanted quality, much of 

 the year. 



It is still true that very many who have gone into Runners 

 are disposing of their output as fancy eggs at an inflated price. 

 The number of advertisers known to me in 1911 was nearly 

 double the number offering Runner eggs for hatching a year 

 earlier. It is coming to this : a paper that came in from the 

 south early in 1912 carried a big advertisement, the burden of 

 which was Indian Runner Ducks. It said: "Will have, to ar- 

 rive to-day, 50 fawn and White I. R. Ducks. Drop around and 

 see them. Will sell cheap." You must admit that this isn't so 

 bad for a small southern city, so early in the game! I rather 

 think it distances New York. But there is a distinct reason: 

 one of the dailies of this same city has been acting as a sort 

 of wet nurse to the poultry business for several years. Don't 

 tell me enterprise doesn't count ! And that is what the individual 

 grower needs. 



One letter said: "If I can only dispose of the product, you 

 need not be greatly surprised to see this farm covered with 

 Indian Runners before many years." This was from a beginner, 



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