74 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

 (2) Cost of distribution.
 (3) Profits of production.
 (4) Profits of distribution.
 (5) Waste of production.
 (6) Waste of distribution.

 The ability to consume is gauged by the power to earn.
When so much of the consumer's earning power goes to
defray the expense of waste his consuming power in cur-
tailed and the market he can furnish the producer is less-
ened. It behooves both the producer and consumer to
eliminate waste.

 The best statistics obtainable inform us that production
and distribution are about equal factors in establishing the
retail price to the ultimate consumer. We know that this
can be greatly cheapened by the producer assuming a larger
share i the task of distribution along lines demonstrated
to be practical, efficient and economical by the larger dis-
tributing concerns of the leading nations of the world.

 There are two general divisions of business methods:

 (1) Individual

 (2) Collective.

 The individual method has been followed almost um-
versally from the very earliest to very recent times. The
development of modern machinery, the corporation and the
trust has eliminated this method in the larger affairs of the
business word. There is no individual distribution by
those who hire for wages. They do not own the things they
produce. The distribution is undertaken by the firm or
company owning the output. The workers in a shoe factory
think not of marketing the shoes they produce. This is
done by the factory owners, not as individuals either but
by distributors under the direction of the owners.