of hold-up man, beach comber, toll-gatekeeper and gambler. 
The politicians know that and say it for the public—investigators 
have proved that the poor farmer gets about a millionth of a 
thin dime for a bushel of potatoes while the poor housewife on 
Park Avenue has to pay sixty cents for a small portion, French 
fried, brought up by a waiter from the restaurant downstairs— 
and all because of the wholesaler. Everybody knows, because 
the economists have proved it, that a chicken lays an egg for 
nothing while a poor stranger in New York has to pay three 
dollars for a dish of ham and eggs—with cracked ice—at a night 
club—and all because of the profits of the “big butter-and-egg 
man.” These political-economic investigations into the cost of 
distribution are based on the same sound scientific theory as that 
of the farmer who wanted to do a little investigating on his own. 
He wrote on an egg, “When you get this, write me and tell me 
how much you paid for it.” He got a letter many months later 
from a nearby town which said: “It cost me nothing. It wasn’t 
30 good when I got it. I picked the shell out of my eye. I am 
an actor ”’ 
What does the wholesaler answer to these indictments? So 
far his most frequent answer has been “So’s your old man!” To 
the charge that wholesaling is uneconomical he has replied vigor- 
ously and with righteous indignation that wholesaling is eco- 
nomical—all of which proves conclusively that wholesaling is 
sither uneconomical or economical. “Yes, you are,” “No, I'm 
not.” “Youre another”—this profound discussion as to the 
economic value of the wholesaler has not brought out the truth— 
because real attempts to find it out have been as scarce as a 
flashlight at a spiritualistic seance. 
The defendant reiterates his innocence—and he can go on 
doing it until he is led away behind the bars—because the public 
is against him. The evidence may be circumstantial, but “jt 
certainly looks bad.” 
THE REAL PROBLEM 
THE trouble is that there is just enough truth in the cry that 
the wholesaler adds to the cost of distribution t0 make his doom 
seem justifiable—and deep down in his heart, the wholesaler 
knows it. But the question is not whether the wholesaler adds 
to the cost of distribution—of course he does—because distribu-