i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE MIDDLEMAN. 
THE MANUFACTURER’S VIEW. 
WHY THE DEALER IS NEEDED. 
Some weeks ago the R. N.-Y. sent the following ques¬ 
tions to 100 or more of the leading American implement 
manufacturers. 
1. How can farmers deal more directly with imple¬ 
ment manufacturers? 
2. Is the implement agent necessary ? 
3. Will the farmer save money by paying cash directly 
to the manufacturer ? 
4. Would you be willing to give up your local agents 
and give the farmers who deal directly with you the ad¬ 
vantage of the agents’ commission? 
It is, of course, impossible to print all the answers here. 
The following replies cover all the arguments advanced by 
the manufacturers. There seems to be quite a remarkable 
unanimity of opinion among them. The R. N.-Y. started 
on this investigation with no desire except to learn the 
exact truth. The manufacturers have the first chance to 
talk. We make no argument for or against their busi¬ 
ness methods. They speak freely and unreservedly. As 
many of them wished to have their remarks considered 
strictly confidential, we give no names. These opinions are 
given as fairly representing the views of agricultural im¬ 
plement makers. All are represented here—makers of 
plows, wagons, dairy goods, harvesters, mowers—in short, 
all classes of implement makers. 
This, we repeat, is the manufacturer’s side of the story. 
Next week some farmers who have studied this matter 
will begin to talk. Then we hope to hear from the “ mid¬ 
dleman” himself. We cannot afford to take any one-sided 
view of this matter. The R. N.-Y. desires to do justice to 
all parties, let the results be what they may. The only 
thing we promise is that the matter will be thoroughly 
stirred up before we leave it. 
From a Steam-Engine Company. 
It has been our aim for some time to reach the consumer 
directly without the interference of middlemen ; but their 
influence in diverting trade is so powerful that it seems 
almost impossible to do business without paying them a 
tax. If the farmer or other consumer could be reached 
directly, and induced to place his orders without the 
intervention of agents, he could effect a saving of from 10 
to 25 per cent.; but the influence of agents, particularly 
among farmers, is so great that manufacturers are unable 
to do without them. Regarding our own trade, in one 
particular line we offered to consumers figures which 
were almost the same as the net prices paid by agents, as 
we aimed to increase our sales in that line. The result has 
been an injury to us instead of a benefit, as the agents, 
fi nding that there was no margin left for them on that class 
of goods, have thrown all their influence against them. 
It is safe to say the tax upon the community by reason of 
middlemen does not average less than 15 per cent, on 
machinery usually purchased by agriculturists. Our ex¬ 
perience has been that an unscrupulous agent can divert 
the farmers’ trade to a rival concern with the greatest 
ease. While it is frequently hard work to secure orders 
from farmers, they are quite easily frightened, and in 
making selections can be influenced in any particular 
direction. We should be greatly pleased to dispense with 
the service of agents entirely, if it were possible; but we 
can see no way of accomplishing such a result. 
From a Noted Carriage Maker. 
We do not pretend to say that we have solved the prob¬ 
lem, though we have given considerable thought to it. 
We do not see how the manufacturers can deal directly 
with farmers. We think the agent is a necessity—and 
sometimes painfully so. The farmer will not save money 
by paying cash directly to the manufacturers any more 
than by paying it directly to some agent or dealer. 
Agents at the present time are, as a rule, selling their time 
at as low a price as any manufacturer would be willing to 
sell his time. As agents are, in our opinion, a necessity, 
they are entitled to protection and to all the commissions 
they can possibly get out of the business at the present 
time. 
From a Wind-Mill Company. 
WiTn all of our advertising in farm papers, if we did 
not have agents, we would not sell one-tenth of the goods 
we now sell through agents who work and talk up the 
trade. They are almost indispensable, as the ordinary 
farmer does not and will not take any interest in recom¬ 
mending such things among his neighbors. He will not 
go out and canvass his neighbors and if he does he will of 
course want pay for it. In localities where we have no 
agents, in order to introduce our goods we sell the first lot 
at dealers’ prices and in this way we get a great many far¬ 
mer agents, but we cannot ask them to do the work for 
nothing, so we give them the benefit of agents’ prices and 
let them retail our goods to their neighbors. Thus the 
first farmer in a neighborhood who purchases our goods 
usually becomes our agent and sells much more of them 
than would be sold if he did not talk among his neighbors 
and show up their good qualities which the people could 
not see through a newspaper advertisement or through 
correspondence from the office, even if we had their 
addresses. 
From a Maker of Corn-Planters. 
The “ reliable ” manufacturer always makes his offer 
plain and simple and when the farmer can be brought to 
realize that he can intrust his money in advance to the 
manufacturer and that he will be treated fairly and 
squarely according to the latter’s offer, then the agent 
will not be necessary. But the market is full of snares for 
the farmer, hence he cannot always discriminate and, as a 
result, treats all with mistrust and, as a rule, he will not 
part with his money until he has its value in hand. There¬ 
fore it is necessary to lay the article before him where he 
can examine it and have the moral responsibility of some 
local agent whom he knows. If there were any way in 
which the farmer could be made to feel perfectly safe in 
placing his money with the manufacturer, in our opinion 
there would be little use for the agent, and the farmer 
would no doubt secure the largest part of the agent’s com¬ 
mission. 
From a Harvester Company. 
We do not see how this matter could be handled in any 
better way than the one in vogue at present. Our manner 
of doing business is to have a competent corps of travelers 
who establish in a given territory agents who have aright 
to sell our machines in certain towns or territories named 
in their contracts. If we should attempt to do away with 
the system of establishing agencies and should deal direct¬ 
ly with the farmers, it would necessitate our employing a 
large number of canvassers at an enormous expense, which 
ultimately would have to come out of the farmers’ pockets 
in the price at which we would have to charge for their 
machines. This expense would be so great that the ma¬ 
chines would cost the farmers just as much as they do now 
when purchased through an agent. One can readily un¬ 
derstand how utterly impossible it would be for us to mar¬ 
ket 60,000 or 70,000 machines a year unless we did it through 
established agents. As long as this policy is considered 
the best, there would be no advantage to the farmer in 
dealing directly with the manufacturer, as we would 
have to charge prices which would protect the agent in 
whose territory that farmer might reside. We believe 
there is hardly a business in this country, in which the 
competition is so strong as in ours. This has been brought 
about by bad management on the part of some of the lead¬ 
ing manufacturers and an indiscriminate way of making 
prices, owing to a foolish desire to make larger numbers 
of machines than there is any demand for. We have al¬ 
ways based our prices upon the cost of manufacture without 
reference to what our competitors were doing, and when 
we have been able to make a reduction in price, we have 
always done so whether the trade demanded it or not, as 
we believe in giving our agents and the farming commun¬ 
ity the benefit of the very best prices we can afford to 
make. We always make a point of getting the very best 
agents possible, men of good character and financial 
standing, and such men deal honestly and justly with the 
farmer. We have, as a rule very little complaint from 
farmers using our machines as to unjust treatment on the 
part of this company or our agents. We have had some 
40 years’ experience in handling machinery, and have 
given the question of the best way to put our machines 
upon the market very serious and careful attention, and 
we have never been convinced that there was any neces¬ 
sity for changing our present policy in handling this part 
of our business. 
From Manufacturers of Haying Tools. 
WE think the farmers would save a large per cent.if they 
would deal directly with the manufacturers and pay cash. 
It is true that local agents doubtless help the manufac¬ 
turer materially, increasing the demand and calling the 
farmer’s attention to improved machinery; but if the far¬ 
mers as a class were more enterprising and would read the 
agricultural papers more closely, they would be better in¬ 
formed and could better determine what they might want 
of the various improved articles of farm machinery that are 
offered and advertised through the farm journals. We have 
dealt a great deal directly with the enterprising farmers 
throughout the United States and foreign countries, and 
our dealings have always been entirely satisfactory and in 
many instances even more than satisfactory, for the reason 
that agents anxious to make sales misrepresent matters 
sometimes. We think if the farmers would establish a rule 
of dealing directly with the manufacturers on a system¬ 
atic plan they would reap large benefits. 
From a Maker of Dairy Goods. 
I do not see how it is possible for the farmers to deal 
directly with the manufacturer unless the farmers form 
associations and buy in large quantities, having an agent 
or superintendent through whom purchases would be 
made. This would cost money and, as a rule, would not in 
the end prove so satisfactory to the farmers as the method 
of doing the business through an agent who must be 
thrown on his own resources to make a living. The 
agents of the farmers’ associations are human and calcu¬ 
late to get as well paid for what they do, after the novelty 
of the thing has worn off, as other people. It seems to me 
there must be an agent either repiesenting the manufac¬ 
turers or the farmers. Then the question comes, which is 
the cheapest way of doing the business t The manufac¬ 
turers must have their representatives to look out for their 
own business, and their expenses have to come out of the 
goods somewhere. I can not see how it would be possible 
for the manufacturers to get along without>gentsjor'rep- 
255 
resentatives to look after their interests any more than it 
would be for them to get along without papers for adver¬ 
tising. A great percentage of the cost of goods is in the 
advertising. If we could get rid of the advertising and 
still do as much business as we do now, we could make 
some money and after a few years we could be in a 
position to retire and let some one else take his turn 
at it. 
We don’t know of any more economical way in which 
the farmers could meet the manufacturers than for the 
agents of the latter to go to the former for their orders, or 
else for the farmers to appoint agents to meet the manu¬ 
facturers. We do not believe it is possible for the farmers 
to hire agents and do the business as it should be done, 
with greater economy than experienced business men can 
practice. The manufacturers who satisfy their patrons, 
and give them value for their money, are bound to get the 
custom if they use a due amount of energy in bringing 
their goods to the notice of the public. The farmer can 
always, with us, buy goods 10 per cent, cheaper for cash 
than on time. We would prefer to take 10 per cent, off the 
list and have cash in hand than to trust a man tour 
months, and we intend to make that much difference 
always between cash and time, and have done it for 
years. 
From a Mowing-Machine Company. 
The experiment (if it can now be called one) has been 
tried in many different ways. The subject has been dis¬ 
cussed by many leading farmers and consumers. The 
press has taken a lively interest in it, and succeeded a few 
years ago in establishing Grange societies and stores in 
almost every county through this country, and in its most 
palmy days the undertaking was far from being a success. 
Farmers, as a rule, have not the means to carry on their 
business and are compelled to ask long credits. They do 
not use the gifts God has given them by deciding indepen¬ 
dently what to buy and where to buy it; but leave the 
decision largely to others who may be interested in in¬ 
fluencing them in one way or another. The channels of 
trade have long been dug so deep that we fear that it 
would be hard work to do away with the middlemen, and 
each must “ paddle his own canoe.” 
From a Harvester Company. 
Manufacturers by getting orders from agents during 
the fall and winter can safely manufacture a larger num¬ 
ber of machines than it would be prudent to make if they 
had no orders in hand until farmers needed the machines 
for use. The policy now in vogue insures an ample supply 
of machines at the time when they are needed, and there¬ 
fore tends directly to low prices for the consumers. Again, 
manufacturers ship machines in car-load lots to their 
agent" and in very many cases the difference in freight on 
harvesting machinery shipped, a single machine at a time, 
or in car-loads, is as much as the agent’s net profit; there¬ 
fore the farmer would not save much by purchasing his 
machine at the agent’s net price and paying local rates of 
freight from a distant factory. Again, machinery when 
in use Is liable to need repairs with the least possible de¬ 
lay. The agency system insures a stock of repairs within 
easy reach of the farmer at the time when the goods are 
most wanted. If farmers were undertaking to deal directly 
with the manufacturers they would of necessity be com¬ 
pelled either to buy large amounts of extras for themselves 
in advance of their needs, or to depend upon sending to a 
distant factory for them, which might in many cases in¬ 
volve a loss in securing their crops equal to the price of a 
machine. It seems to us that the present agency system 
gives to farmers who are pjudent in making their pur¬ 
chases the lowest possible prices and the best facilities 
for keeping their machines in order. “ How can the farmer 
make a saving in the purchase of farm machinery ? ” 
Let him borrow money from his banker or his neighbor 
and pay the agent cash. He will thus make a saving of 
from 10 to 15 per cent, on his purchases, which is more 
than the average profit realized by agents on iheir sales. 
Most manufacturers are disposed to give farmers the ben 
efit of all possible reductions and the amounts allowed 
agents are no more than are absolutely necessary in order 
to give the farmer efficient service in the starting of his 
machines and in providing supplies of extras within reach 
when needed. 
From a Wind-Engine Company. 
We consider that the answers to this question would de¬ 
pend somewhat upon the nature of the manufacture. If 
the article manufactured is a staple one, such as a wagon, 
plow, hay-rake and the like, where no special skilled labor 
is required to put it together, and there is no need of in¬ 
structing the buyer with regard to its operation, it is 
likely that such goods could be handled directly, to fairly 
good advantage, by the manufacturer and consumer. In 
the case of our line of manufacture we feel that the mid¬ 
dlemen or agents are an absolute necessity. While we sell 
a great many goods directly to the consumer, nine-tenths 
of our sales are made through agencies. We are obliged 
to do the work through agents in order that our goods 
may be properly erected and suitable instructions be given 
for their operation. The average farmer would not be 
competent to look after the erection of the outfit, neither 
would he be competent to plan out the best style and arrange¬ 
ment of pump to be used in connection with the mill and prop¬ 
erly set and connect it. The fact of the matter is that a great 
many of our agents are not suitably posted in hydraulics 
and the best application of pumps to wind-mills, and some 
of them are not as good mechanics as they should be to 
erect the work properly. If we had to depend upon our 
goods being put up altogether by the consumers, we would 
have a great deal more trouble. In our case therefore the 
middleman or agent is an absolute necessity. We are also 
of the opinion that in the general line of implement goods 
the farmer would be the best served by purchasing 
through a reliable agent located in his vicinity, from whom 
