INTRODUCTION 
3 
They follow the lines of least resistance and catch up some 
sort of trading. They sell papers, perhaps, or peddle eggs 
from the country on commission. In one neighborhood, for 
instance, a lad, last winter, became agent for a brand of 
chocolate. In the business district, among prominent men 
whose offices he visits at stated intervals, he soon worked up 
a regular route. In accordance with a watchful father’s coun- 
sel his small business is conducted with an " exactness^That 
might represent thousands. 
From the viewpoint of just one boy this experience is ad- 
mirable. But the field should be surveyed as well from a dif- 
ferent angle. It is plain that in such cases the youngsters are 
becoming in truth small shopkeepers — in a word, middle- 
men. Each day they gain a little more skill and a little more 
interest in negotiating cleverly between producer and con- 
sumer. This is exhilarating. They do not realize, nor do we, 
that they are being inevitably sucked into the ever-rising 
flood of middlemen. 
Of producers and organizers, on the other hand, the world 
has always had too few. This fact is thrust upon us a dozen 
times a day. We owe it, therefore, to our young people to 
give them at least a try at some occupations that are genu- 
inely productive. Afterwards the successful working out of 
some real sort of breadwinning is easy. Described in the 
language of the seedsmen : Seeds for this variety’ must be 
sown very early, in order that the roots may strike deep. 
Later the plants require little or no care. These plants when 
full grown are hardy ; they bear wonderfully, and, though not 
gaudy, are unsurpassed in beauty and in flavor. 
When, however, young people have raised salable fruit, 
flowers, or vegetables, by all means let them enlarge their 
horizon by going with their own produce to market. In this 
way they can study supply and demand, prices, and other 
