nd local distributor by saving great wastes in transport, in
spoilage and in manipulation.

The second class of speculation is one largely of the war as a period of
rising prices growing out of inflation, and so forth. It lies in the
marking up of goods on the shelf to the level of the rising daily
market. This marking up has been one of the large factors in increasing
the margin during the war. No better example exists than the rise of
flour during the 1916-1917 harvest year, referred to elsewhere. We shall
have a remedy for this the moment the tide of inflation turns. The
farmer and consumer cannot, however, expect that they will get even
during such a reverse period for their losses on the rise, because the
trades have too great an individual power of resistance against selling
goods at a loss. Anyway, the marking up of goods will cease when prices
cease to rise--and there is a limit.

The third class of speculation is wholly vicious. That is the purchase
of foodstuffs, in times of rising economic levels, sheerly for the rise
in price or the deliberate manipulation of markets during normal times.
These operations are against the common welfare; they can find no moral
or economic justification. They are not to be reached by prosecution;
they must be reached by prevention. Our great boards of trade in fine
patriotic spirit proved their ability during the war to control
deliberate manipulation of grain and other futures.

The two latter types of speculation are an impediment to free markets
and they become an unnecessary charge on the margin.

CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING BY THE FARMER

There can be no question of the improvement in position of both farmer
and consumer in cases where cooeperative marketing can be organized. The
high development of cooeperative citrus fruit marketing has resulted in
lower average prices to consumer, better quality, and better return to
the grower. Here is a case of scientific distribution lamentably absent
in many other commodities. There are other specialized products to which
it could be well extended. To reach its best development it should have
parallel cooeperative development among consumers as have we discussed
elsewhere.

SUNDRY ITEMS

There are many ways of assisting the agricultural industry not pertinent
to this discussion on the cost of distribution. They do demand inquiry,
and public illumination; most of them do not demand legislation so much
as public education and c