The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-04-01
Farmers Should Control
Marketing of Their
Produce, Says Worst

J. H. Worst in The North Dakota
Farmer says:
AT present it costs in the neigh
borhood of sixty per cent Of the value
or farm products for distribution as
against forty per cent for their pro-
auction. is this a square deal?"
Who is to blame? What is the rem
edy? If farmers possess the energy,
capital and skill to annually produce
something like $40, 900, 600, 900 worth Of
agricultural products. have they not
also the skill, credit and energy to
effect and direct such organizations
as will distribute their products with
out paying such tremendous toll to
hmiddlemen? If they have not the
capital. they have the means for Gre
ating all the necessary credit, and II
they have not the skill it is time they
acquired 1t, In other words, it is
high pig II time e5 ~eFseyeF for faf tn nF e%m11on;
then for these several organizations
to federate. In this way the business
machinery can be perfected SO that
the. producers and consumers can be
brought close together SO that only
necessary expenses Of distribution
need be incurred.
AS a matter of course. so-called
i ~A SS
transaction of business. They are in
dispensable. However, it Is neither
reasonable nor necessary to support a
larger Number of middlemen than
business demands.
The law of supply n demand
should govern middlemen in the same
sense it governs threshing rigs, school
teachers or engineers. Every unnec-
essary middleman cuts into the prof
it's Of producers and adds to n X
pense Of consumers. While g. surplus
Of school teachers or the other hand
might result in a lowering OF wages;
yet middlemen, where given absolute
control Of distribution, have the power
to reduce the price Of farm products
and at the same time raise their cost
to consumers sufficiently to, at least,
make for themselves a comfortable
living. In short, the margin between
what the producer gets and the con-
sumner pays is needlessly large. Pro-
ducers and must somehow
be brought closer together. Left
wholly to middlenlen they are no
likely the spread that separates them
will continually grow wider and
wider. And why? Because in many
respects it is more agreeable to be a
middleman than a producer; there IS
less risk to run and less disagreeable
work to be performed. Hence tHe ar-
my of distribution continues to grow
far beyond the limits of demand.
Producers can remedy this by using
some Of the middleman's ammunition
brains, just good gray matter ap-
piled to the business end OF produc-
ton. If the middleman's occupation
is so agreeable, those who produce the
worlds food also should share in these
delights by grating distribution on to
the production end of their business.
It can be done. The cooperative
creameries Of Minnesota and other
states are an evidence that great a
ings can be made through co-opera-
tive effort. The California Fruit
Growers association is another en-
ample. Instead of raising fruit n
permitting so-called commission men
to fix the price of their goods, the
producers employ their W agents OF
distribution. BY this means there Is
little danger of Cutting the market,
and the fruit nets the producer ex.
actly what it is worth, less cost OF
labor, transportation, inc the agents
salaries. Moreover. it enables the
not only to obtain honest
goods, but to get them at a fair price.