If a publisher of books is approached by a bookseller he
gives that bookseller trade terms, because he buys to sell again. If I,
as a private individual, want one of those books I must pay the full
retail price. Even the cobbler, the carpenter, the solitary artist, get
trade terms. The farmer, who is as much a manufacturer as the
shipbuilder, or the factory proprietor, is as much entitled to trade
terms when he buys the raw materials for his industry. His seeds,
fertilizers, ploughs, implements, cake, feeding-stuffs are the raw
materials of his industry, which he uses to produce wheat, beef, mutton,
pork, or whatever else; and, in my opinion, there should be no
differentiation between the farmer when he buys and any other kind of
manufacturer. Is it any wonder that agriculture decays in countries
where the farmers are expected to buy at retail prices and sell at
wholesale prices? We must not, to save any friction, sell the rights of
farmers. The second proposition I lay down is that this necessary
organization work among the farmers must be carried on by an organizing
body which is entirely controlled by those interested in agriculture--
farmers and their friends.
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