We hear much about the “middle man” who is considered a luxury or rather an extravagance that ought not to be permitted. Well, I am one of those middle men and the thing does not look that way at all to me. I think that all we do for the people--all the service we render, is worth what we get for it. We middlemen have our troubles and call ourselves producers and are not in any way conscious of being “parasites.” What economic laws apply particularly to one set of people but do not apply to others down the line? What makes one man’s lot harder than that of another, and who really has the hardest row to hoe? What shall we do to the other fellow to keep him from crime and have justice? These are questions answered in as many different ways as there are people with different viewpoints. Do we doubt the patriotism of the club women in cities who decided to boycott eggs and milk to bring down the price just at the time when these commodities were very hard to produce and the price already too low for the cost? If we do, it is because we do not understand their viewpoint and their lack of information on which to form different conclusions. A few years ago I often used a certain argument which now I do not use any more because now I am over on the other side, as they say. From the other side of the fence the proposition does not look at all the same. The argument is that the farmer sells his produce in town at the price the city man is willing to pay and then must buy at the price that the city man will sell for. Since the city man does all the price fixing the farmer gets the worst end of the bargain all of the time. I have no doubt that various markets are juggled by speculators of various kinds and that there are many exploiters in cities who have their knives whetted for any one’s meat they can get. The world has not yet worked out its complete salvation. We all have a few suggestions that we would not mind making to the party in power. But of this I feel sure, the majority of business men make their living by rendering service the same as do farmers. They are up against propositions that are a good deal alike. I have not noticed much difference. I have to pay my farmers a good or better bargain than they can get any where else. In the same way I must compete for labor. I must render the best service the customer can get for the money. After I do all of these things, if there is anything left I may have it, and my luck at different times is good, bad, and all shades between good and bad. All of us city business men would make more if we could. You can at least credit us with being ambitious, but more of us fail than do business men in the country.