The sun., 1916-12-10
THE price Of food Is undoubt-

edly an economic question
But back Of the soaring
prices Is a fundamental sociological.
problem. We must recognize this fac,
Il We hope to bring about any per.
Wanent general betterment.
The farmer, like the rest Of u.s., Ia
intensely human. and there are many
who stand between him and our daily
bread that are actuated by the prime
motive Of seif-interest. And, finally
the ultimate consumer IL not n philan-
thropist, and when the burden Of high
cost comes upon him he is ready 10
blame every one but himself-a thor
Oughly human characteristic.
Such. in substance. Is the conclu-
SION reached by Prof. Rudolph NJ
Binder Of the chair Of sociology at
New York University in a discussion
Of the causes Of present high prices.
Prof. Binder has studied the food
stu6 problem for some years. and has
especially given attention to the mid
dleman as a factor In II. In describ-
ing attempts to get rid of him he de-
scribes just what happened In one
notable instance.
THE University Of Wisconsin. which
has gone In for so many social or
economic experiments. was convinced
that the middleman was not neces-
sary." he said. Accordingly the uni
versity authorities set about trying to
get the farmer and the consumer
closer to n another.
For a while the results were en-
couraging. but as time wore on dis
%couraging difficulties grew apace and
now the university has substantially
abandoned It's campaign. OF course,
those unfamiliar with the Wisconsin
o9oft want to know why the projec,
fell through. The story IL one Of
human frailty: the yellow streak In
the honest farmer came to the sur
fAce.
AT first the farmer packed his ship
ments with prime products. The orders
were sen to him by mail. and gradu-
ally the zones Of distribution widened.
Mr.. Farmer then said to himself: That
man has ordered a package Of goods,
and he has got to take II as 1t reaches
him. or course. he Is a long way on
and some Of the shipment would he
likely to suffer. Why not. then. send
him some seconds underneath the ton
layers Of prime goods?'
"When complaint came in conse-
Quence from the purchaser the honest
farmer glibly proposed to make a
trining discount that would still leave
him an unfair profit on his inferior
wares and a full return upon his
'nrsts.' The further away the s
toner was from the shipper the
gfoater became this breach Of faith.
"Mutual distrust crept In, as might
- expected. the farmer doubling the
purchaser in his turn, and mutual re-
elimination brought about a state of
affairs which became intolerable. II
WAS only natural that the project
should fall through. Commercialism
o. the part Of the farmer was SUBJ
stituted for the commercialism of the
middleman and became even more
nasrant because OF the remoteness of
the purchaser.
IAN imperative social need called the
middleman into being: and the greater
the distance between the producer and
che the more necessary the
middleman. We canno l~egislate him
out Of existence. He has his mart N
ulay between tho farmer ana tho
housewife inst as he figures in the dis
trtbutiye machinery which EXISTS be.
tween n manufacturer and his ultimate
narket.
1--WE nav hc able IN control the mid,
A,.u,,r ~, ma o,nno, 90, ia - III,