1308 
ing carloads among many buyers has be- 
come a necessary part of the present sys- 
tem of distribution.” 
With reference to the “Elimination of 
the Middleman,” the government report 
Says: 
“Co-operative marketing does not neces- 
sarily, and in fact, often does not, elim- 
inate any middleman in the process of 
distribution. It often happens 
that when the middleman is eliminated 
by the association his services are per- 
formed by the association itself. There 
has been a transfer of service from one 
to another, but no discontinuance of the 
service,” 
Middleman an Economie Factor 
From the foregoing, then, the logical 
conclusion is that certain middlemen be- 
tween producer and consumer are neces- 
Sary economic factors, and the point to 
be determined is whether the middlemen 
now existing are performing their func- 
tion in the most economical manner, and 
whether we, as producers, can perform 
their functions at a lower cost to our- 
selves than they can perform them for 
us. That is really the first step in our 
problem of distribution. The writer is 
satisfied, from 12 years of active experi- 
ence in the marketing of both manufac- 
tured and raw products, that the elimina- 
tion of the essential middleman is im- 
practical and impossible, at the present 
stage of social and economic development 
In his judgment, the essential middlemen 
in the fruit trade, other than the associa- 
tions and sales organizations of the pro- 
ducers themselves, are the wholesale 
fruit merchants and the retail fruit mer- 
chants. For years, the question of the 
elimination of the jobber has troubled 
manufacturers of every sort of com- 
modity; the brightest minds in the coun- 
try have wrestled with the problem: mil- 
lions of dollars have been spent in ex- 
perimenting to that end, and in the vast 
majority of cases it has been proven, to 
the complete satisfaction of those con- 
cerned, that the jobber has a clear title to 
his economic existence, because of his 
ability to perform his function, spread 
as it is over a multitude of productions, 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
more cheaply than the manufacturers or 
producers of those separate commodities 
could perform it individually. There have 
been a few producers who have found it 
possible to eliminate the jobber economic- 
ally; but there have been special rea- 
sons for these exceptions. Everyone of 
them have been based on a commodity 
which is consumed in great quantities 
by the masses, and which has an all-the- 
year-round sale. Hven with these condi- 
tions in their favor, the elimination of 
the jobber has involved the expenditure 
of huge sums of money, for where the 
jobber is eliminated, the producer must 
replace his services; the building of ware- 
houses in every city; the maintenance of 
warehouse and office forces at every 
point; the extension of credits to the re- 
tail trade, which in itself is a giant un- 
dertaking, the maintenance of delivery 
equipment, etc. It is perfectly manifest 
that no such undertaking is practical in 
our case, for many reasons, but one is 
enough, viz.: ours is a season commodity; 
ours is a six-months’ business, and the eco- 
nomic waste involved in the attempt to 
replace ithe jobbers’ facilities by our own 
would be unthinkable. If then, it ap- 
pears impractical to eliminate the jobber, 
let us see whether there are not abuses 
in the exercise of his function. 
Reciprocal Relations 
Most certainly, in many cases, there 
are, but we ourselves have, unconsciously 
perhaps, but certainly, contributed to the 
growth of these very abuses. Therefore, 
let us co-operate with the jobber in the 
correction of these abuses. Once you con- 
vince him that you are in earnest and 
mean to give him a square deal he will 
meet you more than half way. It is a 
familiar complaint with us that the job- 
ber exacts an abnormal profit and thereby 
curtails the consumption of our fruit. The 
facts are that the history of the fruit 
trade for 10 years past shows that the 
trade has lost money on their apple pur- 
chases every other year, and made money 
every other year. The trouble with us 
is that if we think of him at all, it is 
that he ought to contribute his services 
every year at cost, or less. How many of 
