would lead him to employ that marketing system ready at hand.

We have noted in the previous chapters the steady rise of cooperative elevator associations, their gradual increase in numbers, and the attempt on the part of the Equity Cooperative Exchange to gather them into a single unit for the purpose of eliminating any inefficiency in sales. We have seen, too, how the private exchanges fought this movement and prevented the entrance of these and similar organizations to their floors. We have noted also the action of the Minnesota and Federal Legislatures upon this matter. The way now seems to be cleared for the cooperative marketing of farm products upon the organized exchanges of the country. The farmer, like any other industrialist, may now organize, finance and sell his products cooperatively.

Thus the farmer, after half a century both of endeavor and agitation may proceed, unhampered by legal and unfair trading restrictions, to market his goods. He has convinced the country, not by the assertion of the agitator or the political adventurer but by actual demonstration that the cooperative marketing idea is not a fantastic creation of the wheat croppers' mind but a necessary adjunct to farming as an industry. Yet in the mind of the farmer cooperative marketing is still an experiment but only in so far as he is seeking to evolve a most efficient system. For him his marketing agency must secure a regular return. He cannot afford to gamble on a wide spread in the value of his product. His agency must therefore seek to eliminate the seasonal fluctuations in the price of his crop and this, he recognizes, can only be done by a monopoly of his products, and that monopoly can only be obtained through cooperation in order that the market might be fed according to its needs and at a uniform monopoly price sufficient to assure the consumption of one crop before the other comes on the market. In this manner the farmer will be able to eliminate any risk due to sudden breaks in the market, and will only be forced to carry that hazard which is

directly connected with his industry and even this he will attempt to reduce by means of a well diversified agriculture.11

This, then, is the story of the Agrarian Movement as it has been enacted in North Dakota. It has been a movement to control the markets of her chief products, first, by attempting to restore competition at country points, second, by local cooperative marketing, and finally by cooperation at the terminals which was at first impeded by a disastrous experiment in state ownership but which now seems to be about to triumph, due to the changing system of production brought about by the disappearance of free lands and the subsequent capitalization of land according to its ability to produce.

The whole movement is thus a division of labor upon the farm. It is the separation of the functions of production and sales and the specialization of both. It is the story of almost every large industry. The story of the producer exploited by the broker and consumer until he is forced to forego the convenience of a commission agent and take over the functions of that official as a permanent department of his establishment. This move first led to cooperation among competitors and finally to consolidation if not complete monopolization of production. In the same manner the farmer has been forced to dispense with the make-shift contrivances of the cropper, and by organizing and controlling his own sales force, enter the terminal markets for the purpose of protecting his own interests by feeding and not glutting those markets.

We come now to the consideration of those things which the North Dakota farmer produces for the market, and the question at once arises, can those products be marketed in such a manner that the present spread between scarcity and plenty

11 It is interesting to note that even the wheat growers are now attempting to secure a monopoly of their product by cooperation. Thus they propose to make use of the tariff in order to obtain a monopoly in the United States and thus securing for themselves the benefit of a tariff differential, dump the surplus wheat on the world market. The plan, however, will need the rigid control of wheat acreage in order to make it a success. This latter hardly seems possible (Ray McClung, "Politics or Economics for the Grower," in Barrons, vol. iii, No. 37, Sept. 10, 1923).

will be somewhat eliminated? This involves the consideration of the products of the State and they may be divided into two classes, first small grains and second live-stock and dairy products.

At present small grains, notably hard spring wheat, are the prime product of the farm. Over the whole State and noticeably in the southeastern section, however, corn and hogs have become items of importance. Cattle, too both for beef and dairy purposes, have increased fourfold since 1895 and have doubled in number since 1913.12

Since live-stock and wheat are products whose values are determined by world production and consumption rather than by local or even national conditions, the duty of the marketing agency will therefore be twofold: financial and educational. It must insure itself against a further drop in price, both by means of a conservative system of hedging and an endeavor to feed the market gradually. Toward the producer the marketing agency must stand ready both to buy at a cash price and to make advances to those who desire to withhold their products in order to take advantage of an anticipated rise in value. The marketing agency must, in the matter of wheat and meat products, recognize its limitations and therefore forego any speculative attempts to control the market. It must bear in mind the fact that it is handling a world commodity subject to world conditions and is not the possessor of a monopoly of a single product that can be profitably raised only over a limited area.

This sales agency must, therefore, pay special attention to its second duty, that of the education of its members to the functions and value of its marketing machinery. This, it appears, the cooperative is able to perform successfully, if we may judge from the results obtained by the Canadian, Russian and German institutions. For these concerns, unlike their private predecessors, there is no object in concealing their methods of doing business and in times of stress putting on that false appearance of prosperity which breeds distrust in

12 See Plates XII-XIV.