The first step in market ing is producing a better prod uct and putting on the mar ket a graded, standardized product. In many cases farmers should take hold of the storage question. Transportation and marketing reform. grade agricultural products.] The first problem for the farmer, therefore, is not how to increase the crop yields, but how to produce more of the better grades, less of the poor grades. . . . The farmer ought to limit the output in the sense that he keep the poorer stuff at home and put the better stuff on the market. For by glutting the market with poor-grade stuff the farmer spoils his own market and does not benefit the consumer. Grading is the second step in production. . . . Most farm commodities have no Federal grades or state grades or any other kind of grades. Here lies the first field for coöperative marketing by farmers, that they may put on the market a better product, graded and standardized. . . . In other words, they [must] imitate manufacturers of successful articles - have a brand to guarantee its integrity. When a good article, graded and standardized, is ready for market, the marketing problem is half solved. In no other way can sales f.o.b. be made. . . 2. Storage. - Since most farm crops are produced only in the summer but are consumed during a large part of the year, these crops must be stored somewhere by somebody. [At present, most storage is taken care of by middlemen, who, of course, charge for this service. However, constructive marketing demands that the farmer] take hold of the storage question. In some sections this means construction at railway stations of local storage warehouses for potatoes, for hay, and for various other crops. . . With many commodities farmers ought to go into the terminal market and own storage-enough storage at least to learn the storage business from the inside. . . . Summarizing, farmers should consider storage as part of their marketing program, and in case they are not adequately served they should devise ways and means of owning and operating more of their own storage. 3. Transportation. Most farm crops are produced many miles from the place where they are consumed. . . . Transportation is the most expensive link in the marketing chain, from the time the product leaves the farm till it reaches the retailer's hands. [The great defect in our transportation system is bad country roads. This defect must be remedied] by coöperation in the widest sense of the term coöperation of all the various interests, rural, urban, local, state, and might profitably make a national, until good roads are secured for the average farmer. The question of developing rural motor express lines is one for the farmer to face and solve. Transportation by rail is so vital in its social significance as to be compared with the arteries in the human body. . . . 4. Credit. - Most farm crops are paid for in cash when taken by The farmer the dealer. But in most cases it is a matter of weeks or even months before these goods are passed on to the final consumer and paid for by him. [The middleman steps between producer and consumer and furnishes the credit needed at this point. But the farmer might be educated to perform this credit function.] He should be taught that somebody has to furnish credit to market his crops and must be paid for furnishing this credit; that wholesale credit is cheaper than retail credit; that modern banking machinery exists to furnish more and cheaper credit to the farmers . . . who have successfully taken the first two steps in marketing. ... larger use of credit in marketing. 5. Merchandising. — [Lastly, the farmer will get more for his Importance goods if his position as a seller is strengthened.] Here is where the of coöperative selling argument comes in for coöperative selling organizations among organizafarmers. They are mobilized; they have power; they have a voice tions. in marketing. . . . Being mobilized, . . . they are powerful bargainers, within the limits of the law of supply and demand. . . . tion of sity of im- In recent years we have heard much of the farmer's burdens, and The posiof the necessity of lightening them. At least equally heavy, and certainly less in the public mind, are the burdens which have rested upon the farm woman. The position of the farm woman is improving, but the relative undesirability of her position is indicated by the fact that more young women than young men are leaving the rural districts for the cities. In 1920 the United States Department of Agriculture issued a report on the desirability of so arranging the work of the farm woman that she may secure for herself, her family, and the community the highest possible degree of health, happiness, and efficiency. The following extracts from this report indicate some of the points of view of farm women throughout the country: 1 From the United States Department of Agriculture, Department Circular 148. "The Farm Woman's Problems." Washington, November, 1920; pp. 14-16. The de mand for normal living and working conditions. Need of machinery. Unwillingness to defer enjoyment. The need for leisure time. The craving for time to give to the care of the children. Briefly stated, here are some of the points of view expressed: Farm women love the country and do not want to give up its free. dom for city life. What they do want is normal living and working conditions in the farm home. "The country offers greater opportunity for satisfying life than the city, and country women have as great capacity as city women for the enjoyment of life, but are more handicapped with routine which absorbs their time and strength." Because of the shortage of help prevalent throughout the country, women consider it especially important that modern equipment and machinery, so far as possible, do the work which would otherwise fall to women. The farm woman does not wish to put up with an unsatisfactory to-day in the anticipation of something better to-morrow or in her old age, but wants a chance to enjoy to-day as the only possession she is sure of. She feels that she owes it to herself and her family to "keep informed, attractive, and in harmony with life as the years advance." Women realize that no amount of scientific arrangement or laborsaving appliances will of themselves make a home. It is the woman's personal presence, influence, and care that make the home. Housekeeping is a business as practical as farming and with no romance in it; home-making is a sacred trust. "A woman wants time salvaged from housekeeping to create the right home atmosphere for her children, and to so enrich their home surroundings that they may gain their ideals of beauty and their tastes for books and music not from the shop windows, the movies, the billboards, or the jazz band, but from the home environment." The farm woman knows that there is no one who can take her place as teacher and companion of her children during their early impressionable years and she craves more time for their care. She feels the need of making the farm home an inviting place for the young people of the family and their friends, and of promoting the recreational and educational advantages of the neighborhood in order to cope with the various forms of city allurements. Farm women want to broaden their outlook and keep up with the advancement of their children "not by courses of study, but by bring ing progressive ideas, methods, and facilities into the everyday work and recreation of the home environment." bears heavily upon the farm woman. The farm woman feels her isolation from neighbors as well as Isolation from libraries and other means of keeping in touch with outside life. She counts her favorite farm paper or woman's magazine among her valued aids. She believes that farm women should come together more often in organized groups to learn from each other and to gain a mastery of their problems through united effort. "The farmer," she declares, "deals much with other men. The children form associates at school, but we, because of our narrow range of duties and distance from neighbors, form the habit of staying at home and, to a greater degree than is commonly supposed, feel the need for congenial companionship." ... The five outstanding problems [indicated in the study conducted The outby the Department of Agriculture] are: (1) Shortening the working day of the average farm woman. (2) Lessening the amount of heavy manual labor she now performs. (3) Bringing about higher standards of comfort and beauty for the farm home. (4) Safeguarding the health of the farm family, and especially the health of the mother and growing child. (5) Developing and introducing money-yielding home industries where necessary in order to make needed home improvements. 149. The consolidated rural school 1 standing problems of the farm woman. purpose of the move consolidate rural Of great importance in the educational and social life of country Nature and people is the movement toward the consolidation of rural schools. “Consolidation of schools" is the term applied when two or more ment to school districts are made into a single district, one school in one building replacing two or more small schools in several buildings. The schools. two primary motives in the movement are, first the desire to secure better educational facilities, and second the desire to decrease the cost of education in the school district. Some of the advantages of the consolidation of rural schools are described in the following ex 1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1914, No. 30. "Consolidation of Rural Schools," etc. Washington, 1914; pp. 60-61, 63-65, 68. Consolida tion facilitates the supervision of schools. The classification of pupils allowed by consolidation is beneficial. The advantage of the longer recitation periods made possible by consolida tion. tract from a bulletin of the Bureau of Education in the United States Department of the Interior: One of the great educational advantages of the consolidated school comes through the possibilities of increased supervision without additional expenses. . . . Outside of New England and New York the rural supervising officer is the county superintendent, and in only a comparatively few counties are assistant superintendents or supervisors employed. Under average conditions a county superintendent can not visit his schools more than once in a year, and then the visits must be short. In many counties it is a physical impossibility on account of the size of the counties, the poor roads, the number of schools, and the length of the term, for the superintendent to visit all schools each year. .. Much of the superintendent's time is lost in traveling from one school to another. This time is saved with consolidation. In the ideal school, children are grouped in classes, each class containing as nearly as possible children of the same degree of advancement. In the ordinary one-teacher schools there are not enough children of the same degree of advancement to form classes large enough for the inspiration coming from class work and the friendly rivalry between pupils. . . . The class work in the class of from 1 to 5 children is not interesting. In classes of from 8 to 20 it is interesting. Boys and girls enjoy going to school more; they "do" better and they attend more regularly, because of their greater interest. Attendance at consolidated schools, even where transportation is not furnished, is as a rule better than at the old district schools. ... The excessive time allotted to study in the rural school, in proportion to the time given to recitation, is one of the objectionable features of the school. Few rural schools have sufficient, proper, and profitable reading material to give to the pupils during this long period. Few pupils can spend profitably the time in study because in the short recitation period the teacher has no time to direct extensive study. . . . Consolidation of schools makes fewer classes to each teacher, and consequently makes longer recitation periods possible. The ordinary teacher in the one-room country school can teach little but reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, geography, and a |