i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Business. 
THE MIDDLEMAN’S SHARE OF THE DISCUSSION 
ON IMPLEMENTS. 
Middlemen Provide Necessary Credit. 
I am a middleman and farmer and want my say. I live 
in a city of 25,000 people and do a flour, feed and coal busi¬ 
ness of $65,000 a year, one half of which is with farmers. 
Half of my farmer trade is on credit ranging from 30 days 
to six months. The farmers here are like city folks—some 
work and some don’t. I assert that the average farmer 
does not work, the year around, more than two-thirds of 
the hours that a city mechanic or merchant works. Take 
a look around this country, and you will see that one-third 
of the farms show shiftless owners. Not one in five takes 
an agricultural paper; but, bless you I they are good fel¬ 
lows for all that. You can’t get them to advance money 
for stuff before they get it. I believe they get flour, feed 
and coal cheaper from middlemen than they could get 
them in any other way that can be devised. The business 
“ plant ” is costly, and the middleman has to contend with 
a tireless competition. Statistics show that failures of 
middlemen are as great as those of farmers and more 
numerous. Again, take the city trade : why don’t the mid¬ 
dlemen and merchants when they want anything out of 
their line buy of the manufacturers ? Simply because they 
understand that the time spent looking around can be 
more profitably spent in looking after their own business. 
Then surely they know the best way to buy. The only 
way by which farmers can buy cheaper is to purchase in 
quantities and for spot cash, and until human nature 
changes the middlemen will do the business. From the 
days when farmer Jacob went into debt twice seven years 
for the lovely Rachel until the present time, getting into 
debt has been fashionable and sometimes profitable. 
MIDDLEMAN. 
Farmers Need Middlemen. 
On page 304 of the Rural the readers are asked what 
they think about the “ middleman ” question. I think 
there are two things more that need looking at: first, how 
much of that 25 per cent, did the middleman lose and how 
much time did he spend in collecting what he did get ? 
Mr. Dibble, on page 305, seems to think the middlemen 
rather a tough set, and my experience with farmers is that 
they are not all angels, and surely not all possessed of the 
highest grade of mechanical ability. What percentage of 
the farmers are capable of taking that steam engine and 
setting it up and running it ? Almost anybody can run a 
wagon ; but I have found a good many that could not run 
a plow as it should be done. I have known farmers to 
complain that a mower did not work properly while one 
of the guards was hanging under the cutter-bar. I have 
often said that I would about as soon send my watch as 
my mower to the blacksmith shop without being there to 
see it mended. What we need is a greater development of 
the moral, mental and mechanical faculties at the expense 
of the selfish and mulish propensities. For I contend this 
is the age of steal as well as of steel, and I think Josiah 
Allen’s Wife made a good point in saying that she went to 
Washington to ask the President to give her friend a 
“license to steal horses.” agent. 
Confessions of an Ex-Middleman. 
The discussion of the question of direct dealing between 
the manufacturers and users of implements is not only an 
interesting one, but it is also of vital importance on 
account of the principles involved, which may be applied 
with equal force to the transmission of the farmers’ products 
to the consumers. The manufacturers and farmers have 
stated their views, and while many of them have put them 
fairly, some have made statements which, though possibly 
true in individual cases, do not represent prevailing prac¬ 
tices, and which are misleading. I am neither manufac¬ 
turer, middleman nor farmer, though I have been the last 
two, and I am more interested in seeing the right win than 
in the success of any particular class. So what I may say 
is unbiased. 
Most of the manufacturers claim to regard the agent as 
indispensable. He is indispensable to sell a vast amount 
of the worthless trash that many manufacturers are turn¬ 
ing out, and that can be sold only by a persistent, pushing 
canvasser. Such goods, and there are many of them, are 
made in utter disregard of mechanical or scientific princi¬ 
ples, and of poor materials, poorly constructed, being made 
literally to sell and for nothing else. No manufacturer 
can build up a trade in such goods by advertising, and woe be 
to the ageut who remains long in a place after unload¬ 
ing a lot of such machinery upon an unsuspecting public. 
Some of the manufacturers talk of protecting their agents. 
To get a certain territory in which to be “protected,” an 
agent must usually agree to take a certain number of 
machines, he being assured that he doesn’t have to buy 
them, that “the company will carry them over” provided 
he doesn’t sell them in the season. He must sign a con¬ 
tract stating the number of machines to be shipped, the 
prices to be paid, the territory assigned and other matters. 
Many of these contracts are cunningly constructed. 
Should the agent sell all the goods, he must settle for 
them in cash or in his customers’ notes with his indorse¬ 
ment. Should he fail to sell all ordered, he will be called 
upon to settle for them by giving his own note for a year 
or less, which he must then pay whether the machines are 
then sold or not. 
But, suppose the agent fails, makes an assignment, or 
the sheriff seizes his property. The aforesaid contract is 
again brought into requisition to show that the goods are 
the property of the company and were simply consigned to 
the agent. The company is sure to “ protect *’ itself. 
Some manufacturers authorize an agent to make almost 
any kind of statements in order to sell their goods, 
which they as often repudiate afterwards because “ not 
in writing.” A favorite trick of many manufacturers 
is to induce some well-to-do farmer to accept an agency 
and order a large number of machines by showing him the 
large profits to be made by buying them at wholesale, and 
selling them at the retail prices, given in their circulars, 
besides having implements for his own use at wholesale 
prices. The only profit many such deluded farmers ever 
figure out is on paper, and I have seen many of them in 
different parts of the country whose barns were stored 
with a lot of worthless machinery, the only value of which 
was as a source of supply for bolts and other material for 
repairs. I recall one instance where a farmer was induced 
to invest largely in a lot of hay-carriers and slings, and 
spent much valuable time in putting them up, and they 
proved so worthless that he never took thetime to go after 
' either the pay or the property. The most unprincipled 
middleman of all is not the one who deals directly with 
the farmers; but the traveling salesman who sells to the 
local agents. He usually draws an enormous salary, and 
the class to which he belongs is largely the most unprin¬ 
cipled and disreputable that travels the roads. He is the 
middleman who should be dispensed with first. 
But the local middleman or agent is between the devil 
and the deep sea. Did you ever know one of them to get 
rich ? I never did, and I have known dozens of them to 
fail, and other dozens probably would if they had any¬ 
thing to lose. I have known a farmer to “ try” a new plow, 
left by an agent, until the point was so worn out that he 
couldn’t try it any longer, and then buy a plow of a rival 
agent, which he acknowledged was no better, but which he 
could buy for a dollar less. He didn’t even offer to pay for 
the point he had worn out, while the plow having been 
used was second-hand, and the agent would do well if he 
received first cost. I have known a farmer to use a reaper, 
which he took on trial, to be paid for if satisfactory, to cut 
his entire harvest, and then refuse to pay for it because it 
“wasn’t satisfactory.” I am glad to say that a jury 
decided that a man with so little intellect that it 
took him the whole of the harvest to decide that 
question should and must pay for his obtuseness. 
I have known farmers to plow acre after acre, week 
after week on hard, rocky ground, and never discover 
until weeks afterward,when asked to settle, that the mold- 
board or some other part of the plow was broken when 
they got it. But perhaps the worst enemy of the poor 
agent is the pompous, self-important,and generally wealthy 
farmer, who must have his machine at the wholesale price 
for the sake of his influence; who promises never to say 
anything about what he paid, and who straightway tells 
everybody who asks, just what he paid, thereby well-nigh 
destroying the deluded agent’s prospects for further sales. 
Mr. Dibble’s remarks about the agency system being so 
demoralizing, certainly are not very complimentary to 
farmers if dealing with them has such an effect even upon 
a deacon. His remarks about the qualifications of a sales¬ 
man apply to the traveling salesman before mentioned and 
not to the local agent. Those about the middleman being 
a necessity are true, for the majority of farmers never 
know that they want a plow, harrow, mower, reaper or 
rake until they wish to use it. To sum up, middlemen 
may be dispensed with when farmers, as a class, not isola¬ 
ted individuals, are ready and prepared to deal directly, and 
not before. ex-middleman. 
Middlemen Introduce New Tools. 
Truth and candor must admit that agents have done a 
great deal of good for farmers by introducing new and im¬ 
proved implements and machinery many years sooner 
than they would have been introduced by the manufac¬ 
turers directly. This is noticeable with regard to very 
common farm implements. It is not very many years 
since, in certain localities, cast plows, made by local man¬ 
ufacturers, were exclusively used. Every farmer thought 
that he had the ideal of perfection in his plow. Agents, 
however, began to introduce “ chilled ” plows. Every 
farmer knows the superiority of a chilled metal plow over 
the old cast metal. These plows were also superior in 
shape, and did better work, and slowly, but surely, came 
into general use. The local manufacturers found their 
sales falling off, and they reduced the price of their plows 
so that they might not find their “occupation gone.” 
The agents in this instance benefited two classes of 
farmers : those of advanced ideas were benefited by se¬ 
curing better plows; those of the “ good-old-times ” class 
were benefited by getting the old style plows cheaper. 
Besides, the new plows were equipped with wheel, jointer, 
etc., novelties to many. Few farmers could be induced to 
try these attachments. The agent oftentimes would leave 
a wheel, saying: “Try it; if you do not like it you need 
not keep it.” One farmer who could see no benefit in a 
wheel, tried one and said afterward that he would not 
use a plow without one. In many cases the agents fur¬ 
nished implements at lower figures than those for 
which the local manufacturers would make them. Take 
double shovel-plows, for instance. The manufacturers 
would charge $2.50 for making the wood-work of one; the 
“ blacksmith ” would charge $2.50 for “ ironing it off,” 
and the farmer had to furnish the “shovels” himself. 
Dealers, or middlemen, furnish them fully equipped and 
better in every respect than the home-made article, at 
prices ranging from $2.50 to $3.00, thus saving to the farmer 
from $2.00 to $2.50 on a plow, besides giving him a better 
article. Dealers are also furnishing cultivators in sections 
where they are not made at all at from $3 50 to $4.00 each. 
These are gradually, as they should, superseding the 
shovel plow, and the farmer is thus benefited in sections 
where the manufacturers would hardly have placed any 
without the aid of an agent. Spring tooth harrows were 
introduced by agents going around and showing the farm¬ 
ers what they would do ; at first only the progressive few 
could be induced to buy. The others laughed and waited 
developments. These came, and there was an overwhelm- 
341 
ing demand for spring tooth harrows in sections where 
perhaps none would have been sold for a number of years 
were it not for the agency system. The same is true in re¬ 
gard to mowers. One man in a neighborhood was induced 
by an agent, after a great deal of persuasion, to take a 
mower “ on trial.” The result was that in two years six 
of his neighbors were cutting their grass with machines. 
All would have continued to cut it by the old back-break¬ 
ing process for some years, had not the agent come around, 
and the extra expense to each would have far exceeded 
the agent’s commission on the machine, if it were even 
33% per cent, and 10 off for cash. Wagons have been re¬ 
ferred to by Mr. Dibble. The local manufacturers of 
wagons will not take less than from $5 to $15 more for a 
wagon of their own make, than the “middleman” asks 
for a “ foreign-made ” wagon, the latter being worth 
more to the farmer than the former, including agent’s 
commission. After all, the middleman is not so much of 
a shark. D. M. w. 
Bedford County, Pa. 
IMPLEMENT NOTES. 
Anti-Steal Bar. —Mr. Edward Hicks writes us as fol¬ 
lows, referring to the device illustrated on page 298:—“The 
anti-steal bar is well illustrated; but the description should 
have stated that an iron plate four by six inches, with a 
hole cut in it the size of the long bar, say, half an inch by 
two inches, must be fastened on the left post to hide the 
latch from view. The door casing hides the front view. 
A little experimenting will show the maker the right angle 
at which to cut the notches. The uninitiated invariably 
insert the wire key first and twist it in all imaginable 
ways. While the key is in, the latch is held down. Very 
careful instructions are necessary to enable a stranger to 
remove the bar. A horse thief has been captured this 
week as he was driving a stolen horse and buggy across 
the ferry to New York City. This makes the eighth 
horse stolen from Queens County, L. I., within two 
months. 
Mr. Hicks also speaks of the other devices illustrated on 
page 282. 
Liquid Manure Spreader.— The artist in Pig. 85 has 
not got the correct idea of this device. The representation 
of the cask and cart should be narrower, that is, the cask 
should be placed lengthways in the frame and in front of 
the axle; and the V-shaped trough should extend under 
and beyond the frame, as the liquid is strong and should 
be spread out thinly. The growth of grass now clearly 
indicates its pathway across the pastures, so rich are the 
streaks ol dark-green grass seven feet wide. 
The Tow Cart. —Nearly every farmer that carts produce 
to market uses a tow-cart with a team to help to haul very 
heavy loads over the soft roads till plank or other hard 
roads are reached. In this way 2% to three tons are taken 
to market on one wagon, saving nearly half the market 
expenses incurred if tow wagons were not used. Tow carts 
with teams and drivers to the number of three or four, have 
been used to great advantage in drawing the new heavy 
road machines. They move right along doing more good 
road making in one day than could be done in five days by 
the old method. 
Prices for Binding Twine.— Are they to be low or 
high this year ? The situation seems pretty well mixed. 
We are told about a dozen different stories by dealers, 
farmers, manufacturers and importers of fibers. It is 
stated that 12,000 tons of twine were carried over from last 
year. The manufacturers, however, now control the bus¬ 
iness of buying materials as they never have done before, 
and this year’s output will undoubtedly be smaller than 
usual. Home-grown fibers, of which a good amount will 
be grown this year, will not be available for binding this 
year’s crop. On the whole, it looks as though twine prices 
will remain about as they are for the present; while next 
season we may expect cheaper twine. 
Hay Loaders for Green Clover. — The R. N.-Y. 
learns that the Keystone loader is very useful in taking 
up green clover which is to be put in the silo. The use 
of clover for silage purposes is increasing, as it makes ex¬ 
cellent silage and, when it is placed in the silo, the state 
of the weather is of little consequence. Green clover is 
very heavy stuff to handle, and the loader will prove a 
very agreeable relief to siloists. Can it be used to handle 
fodder corn as well ? It would seem so if the stalks are cut 
with a mower or reaper. At least one would suppose that 
a machine constructed on much the same principle could 
be used to pick up and load the corn. 
Farm Feed Mills.— A great many letters like the 
following, come from fanners. “I should like to hear 
from some of those farmers who have used farm feed mills 
for grinding their own feed, as regards the kind, cost, dur¬ 
ability and economy.” Does it pay to grind all our feed f 
The growing Interest in grain-hay and silage has put this 
question on a new basis. By cutting our grain just before 
it is ripe and cutting it with the stalks into the silo or cur¬ 
ing the whole plant we do away with the need of grinding. 
Still, we must have some ground food, and the question is: 
How much grain must we use in order to pay for a grind¬ 
ing mill ? The R. N.-Y. calls for opinions from its readers. 
American Tools Abroad.— In the recent tariff debate 
in the House, Mr. Allen, of Michigan, stated that farmers 
to-day are able to buy goods cheaper than ever before. To 
this Mr. Dockery replied that a self-binder which was 
sold for $150 here could be bought in Scotland for $120, 
Then came Mr. Peters, who explained that the cause of 
this was that the American market demanded the latest 
product of American genius and that when a piece of ma¬ 
chinery became a year old it was shipped to foreign mar¬ 
kets for sale. There are a great many American farmers 
