enabled
the more favoured producers in the newly developed countries of both
hemispheres successfully to enter into competition in the British
markets with the farmers of these islands. The agricultural producers in
other European countries, although to some extent protected by tariffs,
have had to face similar conditions; but in most of these countries,
though not in the United Kingdom, the farmers have so changed their
methods, to meet the altered circumstances, that they seem to have
gained by improvement at home as much as they have lost by competition
from abroad Thus our farmers find themselves harassed first by the
cheaper production from vast tracts of virgin soil in the uttermost
parts of the earth, and secondly by a nearer and keener competition
from the better organised and better educated producers of the
Continent.

While the opening up of what the economists call the 'world market,' has
necessitated, as a condition of successful competition, improved methods
of production for, and carriage to, the market, a third and less obvious
force has effected an important change in the method of distribution in
the market. The swarming populations, which the factory system has
brought together in industrial centres, have to be supplied with food by
a system of distribution which must above all things be expeditious.
This requirement can only be met by the regular consignment of food in
large quantities, of such uniform quality that the sample can be relied
upon to be truly indicative of the quality of the bulk. Thus the rapid
distribution of produce in the markets becomes as important a factor in
agricultural economy as improved methods of production or cheap and
expeditious carriage.

Now this new market condition is being met in two ways. In the United
States, and, in a less marked degree, at home, an army of middlemen
between the producer and the consumer attends to this business for a
share of the profits accruing from it, whilst in many parts of the
Continent the farmers themselves attend, partially at any rate, to the
business side of their industry instead of paying others to do it all
for them. I say all, for middlemen are necessary at the distributive
end: but it is absolutely essential, in a country like Ireland, that at
the producing end the farmers should be so organised that they
themselves can manage the first stages of distribution, and exercise
some control over the middlemen who do the rest. The f