that large quantities of wheat were being stored. We thought, naturally enough, that if that wheat were taken out of storage and sold at once, prices would not be so high. If, however, we had been a little more farsighted we should have looked ahead and considered what the situation would be later. If wheat is going to be more abundant at some time in the future than now the price will fall. If that were the expectation nobody would be willing to store a single bushel of wheat until that time. Everybody would want to sell his wheat at once. If those who are in a position to judge believe that wheat will be scarcer in July than in May, and the price therefore higher, they find it to their interest to store up these products and hold them. If they are correct in their anticipation it is also very important for society at large that they, or somebody, should store up wheat; otherwise we should consume wastefully this month and go hungry later on. It ought not to take very much forethought or reasoning power to understand this. It is, however, a sad commentary on the shortsightedness of many of our people and even of men in high political positions that this is so imperfectly understood and that we are so generally resentful toward those who are performing this important function of storing.

Another fact which should be taken into consideration is that formerly large numbers of people, both producers and consumers, did their own storing, whereas at the present time that work is turned over to a special group of men who own elevators, cold-storage warehouses, and other storage facilities. In a less highly organized state of society many farmers saved grain in their own bins, and potatoes, fruit, and vegetables in their own cellars. At the same time many consumers bought supplies in advance and stored them in their own cellars. At the present time comparatively few farmers hold their products, finding it cheaper to sell them as soon as produced than to build and maintain their own storehouses and run their own risk of loss or deterioration of the products. Moreover, consumers have generally got out of the habit of buying supplies in advance and keeping them stored until needed, finding it cheaper

to order supplies as they are needed, depending upon other people to do the storing. While both producer and consumer are turning this work over to a special class, they must not forget that the only motive which this special class has for doing this special work is the hope of a profit. If they can make a profit and still furnish the service cheaper than producers and consumers can furnish it for themselves, they have earned their profit.

Cornering, or monopolizing, is destructive of utility. We should be careful, however, to distinguish between storing for sale on a competitive market and monopolizing for sale on what is known as a cornered market. If there were collusion among all those who own warehouses or who are in a position to store products, an agreement to control the supply and fix prices artificially, there would be a real grievance, and the individuals who are guilty of such a practice should, of course, be very severely dealt with. But if we can once satisfy ourselves that the products are being stored for sale on a competitive market, we can rest perfectly easy in our minds, because no one could make any money by storing in this way unless it were genuine social service to do so. By social service, of course, we do not mean philanthropic service, but merely useful work.

Standardization. Another very important function performed by the mercantile class is what is known as the classification, or standardization, of goods. The producer of farm products especially cannot produce goods of uniform kind and quality. On every apple tree there will be apples of various grades, and in every large orchard likewise. In every poultry yard there will be fowls of different qualities. The consumer who tried to purchase directly from the farm might not find exactly the grade or quality which he desired. When the farmer sells his products in bulk the middleman will frequently classify or grade them into a large number of grades. Take such a simple product, for example, as broilers. It is very difficult for one poultryman to produce a large number of broilers all of the same size, weight, quality, and general condition. A hotel or

restaurant, however, wishes to treat all customers alike. It does not wish to buy broilers in a nondescript, or ungraded, mass. If it did so one customer would get one kind of dish and another customer another kind, varying in size and quality. This would produce dissatisfaction. A dealer buys broilers from a large number of poultrymen and classifies them very minutely. There are said to be over one hundred different grades and classes. Each hotel and restaurant and every private consumer can get from such a dealer exactly what he wants. Multitudes of other illustrations could be given, but enough has been said to show that merchandising is a very important factor in the economy of human energy and the promotion of national prosperity.

Deception always destruction. It is quite certain, however, that certain practices will grow up in connection with merchandising which are reprehensible. The ancient Greeks regarded Hermes, or Mercury, not only as the herald of the gods but also as the god of boundaries, markets, and weights and measures, and as the special patron of merchants, gamblers, and thieves. There is probably no branch of human industry or business which lends itself so easily to deception and adulteration and which furnishes such temptations to high-pressure advertising and salesmanship. The old adage that honesty is the best policy is doubtless appreciated by merchants of the better class, but unfortunately there are always a good many men who are doing some kind of merchandising to whom this adage seems more theoretical than practical. The arts of persuasion are developed to a high degree of proficiency and pass easily over into the arts of deception. The justification given is generally summed up in the words "business is business." It is not necessary to present any arguments to show that deception contributes nothing to national prosperity. What one gains by deception, someone else necessarily loses. It is probably this phase of the question that has led to the hasty conclusion, which is far too widely accepted, that somebody always loses in a trade. That general conclusion was combated at the beginning

of this chapter. In so far as trading takes the form of deception, however, the conclusion is entirely justified.

Advertising. Advertising occupies a prominent place among the forms in which the art of persuasion is carried to a high state of development in modern times. To what extent advertising is economically justified has been a difficult question and must remain so. Advertising is sometimes educational. The individual sometimes learns the price of things from advertisements, also where he can get something which he really wants and has wanted for a long time. Without the advertisement he might have found difficulty in getting it. This applies, however, mainly to new products that have recently been put upon the market. One scarcely needs an advertisement to tell one of the existence of soap or codfish or to acquaint one with the fact that such things are to be purchased at stores. In many cases of this kind the only effect of advertising is to persuade the consumer to use one man's product rather than another's. One producer realizes that if he does not advertise, consumers may buy the other man's product. The other man is then compelled to advertise in order to defend himself against the first advertiser, and thus it becomes a race, or contest, to get the customer's trade, and no addition whatever is made to the national wealth or to the well-being of society. It is not improbable that eventually the public will exercise its authority and use its power of compulsion to limit or redirect the advertising business. This, however, would be a somewhat dangerous experiment, because such public authority would have to be exercised by public officers. The worst forms of advertising are not found among merchants but among candidates for public office. The man who has succeeded in getting elected to office by campaigning, which is a kind of advertising, is not necessarily the best man to decide upon what is good and what is bad advertising either in political campaigning or in merchandising.

CHAPTER XXIII

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Causing productivity in others. Falstaff said, "I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men." There are many men and women in every community who are not directly producing wealth, but who are the cause of productivity in others. The teacher who trains students in the productive arts is, to say the least, a cause of productivity and becomes a contributor to national prosperity. The singer, the poet, and the artist who inspire to strenuous action and noble deeds likewise contribute their share to the greatness of the nation. The military band is a part of the fighting strength of the army, even though its members never handle a destructive weapon of any kind.

The teacher, the preacher, the musician, the poet, and the artist, however, sometimes forget their function in a great nation and at times seem almost to imagine that they are the objects for which the nation exists. At any rate they have been known to go so far as to resent the idea that they have a purpose beyond that of contributing to knowledge for its own sake or art for its own sake.

The social function of art, religion, etc. Quite different was the attitude of a great French artist when he found his country in the throes of the life-and-death struggle which began with the invasion of 1914. Speaking before a gathering of French artists, he said that in that crisis no art would be tolerated "which was not noble, robust, proud, and an inciter of high thoughts and delicate sentiments-an art of heroic joy." Facing the future, he continued: "You would not tolerate anything less today. Then why should you tolerate anything less