Clearly, the most important link in the chain which binds production and consumption is the retailer, for it is he that must anticipate the wants of the consumer, provide beforehand for supplying these wants, and have the goods ready in convenient form for the consumer when they are demanded. His position is also the least open to attack by those who insist that the producer and the consumer are too far apart. His would be the last to give way. The normal American family buys its groceries in small amounts - a pound of coffee, five pounds of sugar, a quarter of a barrel of flour, and so on. It has not sufficient funds to permit buying in any other way, if it were so inclined. Besides, it is not inclined, for too much trouble is involved in finding producers. Even that would not be the end of the matter. Some one must divide and subdivide the product, wrap it carefully, and deliver it to the door of the consumer. All these things the retailer does. Besides, he usually furnishes limited credit, gives his advice freely in making selections, and stands behind the quality of his goods.

During the early months of the Great War many consumers were persuaded that they could effect economies by going more directly to the producers. Consequently, they demanded that wholesalers in meats, fruits, vegetables, and bread should meet them halfway by establishing conveniently located markets. This demand the wholesalers very generally met. In one Western city it soon became a practice, if not a fad, for well-to-do people to trade at these markets and to carry their purchases home. The spirit which prompted this movement was laudable to say the least. It taught the typical housewife more about relative food values than she had ever before known. Besides it gave her a new view of life and a keener sympathy with her less fortunate neighbors. The movement, however, did not result in the elimination of retailing costs, though it evidently reduced them for a time. The wholesalers found that considerable cost in the way of rent, clerk hire, depreciation, and dishonesty, was involved. Also the consumer found that the economies effected did not in many cases compensate for the loss of real service on the part of the established retailer.