Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/780

 WORK AND PROBLEMS OF CONSUMERS' LEAGUE 765

Some day the price of wheat advances, and the farmer takes it to town and sells it to the agent of a great elevator company. It is then placed in cars and carried to the city, where it is stored in a warehouse. Soon it is purchased by a milling company, and after passing through many processes finally appears as flour.

It has not yet reached the hands of the consumer. Adver- tising agents of the milling concern have heralded the coming of the new flour ; printing and posters have appeared everywhere on billboards and in the newspapers. The wholesale grocer pur- chases it. It is transferred to him. The flour then passes into the hands of the retailer, and from the retailer into the posses- sion of the consumer. Thus briefly outlined can be seen the direct course of one commodity. Very little has been said of the various purchasers of the many articles which are necessary in producing the flour. Nothing has been said of the building of the railroads by the aid of thousands of workers, of the construction of the locomotive and the cost of laying rails, of stretching telegraph wires, and of the erection of great elevators and the manufacture of iron and steel from which they were constructed, the complications of the market, the move- ment of prices, all involving thousands and millions of persons engaged in producing flour for the consumer. And what is true of flour is also true of other commodities. The final production and placing of any commodity in the hands of the consumer have been possible only through wide cooperation of many persons and the use of great amounts of capital.

Many kindred examples, similar to the one just given, illus- trate the complexities of economic problems. In them all the consumer plays a conspicuous part. For his benefit wheels turn, men toil, and factories are built. It is the consumer who is a creator through the power of demand, and as such originates production. If the article he desires is sanctioned by purchase, the producer rightfully feels that he has the support of the con- sumer. Sometimes through the beguilements of advertisements the middleman stimulates the imagination of the consumer to the degree that purchases are made of illy adapted articles, but still the consumer remains a controlling power, his imagination