for the farmer on commission, or else the farmer takes them by truck to a wholesale market and sells directly to retail dealers.

The farmers have frequently complained that the commission men do not give them an honest price for their goods. Most commission men are honest and the farmer can be protected from the dishonest dealer. Laws providing for the licensing and regulating of commission business have been passed in many states and these provide for revoking of licenses in case of offenses such as the following: making charges for services not rendered; misrepresenting the condition of goods when received; misrepresenting prices or market conditions; failure to make prompt payments; or combining to corner the market. Where such laws are properly enforced, there is little cause to complain of the actions of commission

merchants.

It is often claimed that the retail dealer is a profiteer. The differences between wholesale and retail prices of farm products are frequently great, but it must be remembered that farm products are perishable and the retail dealer is a risk-taker.

In some cities, like Baltimore, Washington, and Indianapolis, there are large retail markets maintained by the city in which stalls are rented to farmers and others at reasonable rates, and as a result direct contact is made between producer and consumer to the benefit of each.

Co-operative marketing by associations of farmers, like the California Fruit Growers and Shippers Association, which sells its products directly to dealers, has benefited the producer, but has not served to lower retail prices.

Summary. Hunting has given place in the United States to stock-raising. Better animals can be grown when domesticated than are produced when they are wild. Cattle-raising, except for dairying, is now chiefly confined to the semi-arid districts of Colorado, Montana, Texas, Wyoming, and parts of neighboring states. Agriculture is still the leading industry of the United States. Our chief crops are corn, wheat, hay, cotton, and tobacco. Intensive farming is the investment of a large amount of capital and labor upon a certain area of land. Extensive agriculture is the spreading of investments of capital and labor over a large area. Intensive farming is the rule where land is expensive; extensive 'agriculture is the rule where land is cheap. In the truck-gardens near our large cities there are large investments in fertilizers and labor; every foot of the soil is cultivated. It is too valuable to be left idle. In the wheat-fields of North Dakota there is small investment of capital and labor to the acre. No one complains if a person walks through a wheat-field, and the harvesters do not bother to cut every corner clean.

Farming in the United States is done chiefly by the men who own the farms. Though there are some great farms covering thousands of acres, like the Dalrymple Farm of North Dakota, most farms are less than 150 acres in size.

The most serious problem of the American farmer has been to secure labor. This is because farm laborers have been attracted to the city, partly by the belief that city life is more enjoyable and partly because of higher wages. It is doubtful whether city life has the expected advantages. The farm laborer has many advantages which the city does

not give and the purchasing power of a small money wage in the country may be as large as that of the higher money wage in the city. No business demands a greater exercise of the mental powers of a man than successful farming.

Farm products are generally sent to commission agents who sell them to wholesale or retail dealers. Farmers sometimes complain that commission agents do not deal fairly with them, but perhaps the farmers do not understand the problems of the commission merchants. Direct dealing between farmers and consumers of farm products may be maintained through the parcel-post or by city markets to which the farmer may bring his goods and sell them direct to the consumer.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION, DEBATE, AND SPECIAL REPORTS I. Have you ever tried to domesticate a wild animal? With what success? What were the causes for your success or failure?

2.

What are the chief agricultural products of your state? Have the agricultural products of your state changed in recent years? Whence comes the wheat used in your city?

3. Would you prefer to work in a factory or on a farm? Why? Have you had any experience in either kind of work? If so, how did you like it?

4.

Do you think agricultural products cost too much in your city? How much of the price goes to the farmer? How much to the commission merchant? How much to the retailer?

5. A Michigan grower of peaches sent 500 baskets of peaches to Chicago. The farmer received one dollar a bushel for his peaches, but thought he should have received more because the best peaches were selling in Chicago at two dollars a

basket retail. Show that his complaint may not have been justified.

6. How are farm products marketed in your city? Show how marketing of farm products might be improved.

7.

A New York citizen drove his automobile to Suffolk County, Long Island, and brought home a load of peaches for which he paid $1.25 a basket. The trip consumed a whole day and cost him ten gallons of gasoline and a quart of oil, to say nothing of the wear and tear on his car. He found that peaches of the same quality were selling in $2.75 a basket. Did he save anything by his journey if he brought home ten bushels? Was the difference in price on the farm and at the retail market too great? What were the expenses from the farm to the city purchaser?

New York at

CHAPTER XII

MANUFACTURING

The Industrial Revolution. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, a series of epoch-making inventions brought about the Industrial Revolution.

The more important of these inventions affected the manufacture of cloth. Cotton goods had been made by the weavers in their homes. The yarns were carded and spun by hand, usually by the wife and unmarried daughters. Spinning was so much the ordinary occupation of an unmarried daughter that the word spinster designated an unmarried daughter.

The story goes that as a poor weaver, James Hargreaves by name, entered his house one day, his wife accidentally dropped her spindle. The spindle, in an upright position, continued to revolve with the thread still spinning in the wife's hand. To Hargreaves the idea was suggested of connecting a number of spindles with one wheel. The machine which Hargreaves completed was named in honor of his wife, a Spinning-Jenny. The spinning-jenny soon came into general use, though not without protest from many people who thought that by its use they would be thrown out of work.

The yarn spun by the jenny was not suitable to be used as warp, which is the name given to the threads which run the long way of the fabric. Hence woolen and linen threads had to be used. Richard Arkwright in 1771 in