WHO IS THE “MIDDLEMAN?”

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 16 July 1917, Page 2

WHO IS THE “MIDDLEMAN?”

In this time of tribulation and recrimination, when those who have the ear of the public, from the President of the United States to the secretary of the Dishwashers’ Union, are heaping maledictions upon the middleman; when all our ills are charged up to this long-suffering individual and all our blessings are accepted as having been wrested < from Providence in spite of him, it is time to inquire, “Who is the middleman, anyway?” We all know, of course, that he is the buffer between the producer and the consumer, the trouble man, who receives the kicks of one and the complaints of the other. But what is the service, if any, which he performs, and why tolerate him?

The middleman is not given to selfpraise, nor has he,been featured as a striking central figure in either romance or history, but no one has performed a more vital and striking service for humanity than he. The middleman neither a parasite nor a sluggard. He is a creator. Commerce is his handiwork, and commerce is the element that, above all other things, has promoted advancement and civilisation and established dominance in the world. It is the middleman who, raking 7 Pie nethermost parts of earth to find products with which to supply nran| requirements;, lias stimulated discovery, exploration, alrd settlement. It is the middleman who has made It possible to prosecute agriculture upon other than along most restricted Ikies‘by finding markets for the surplus product abroad, and has furnished the facilities for creating manufacturing enterprise, through the assembly of raw material and the disposition of output. Our ; great railway system came into existence at his behest. The big steamships that traverse the sea are operated to carry the freightage supplied by him. The middle man was the pioneer locator of centres of population, i from the greatest of metropolitan cities to the most modest of country •hamlets, and the activities which he sustains are their main support. Yes, the middleman can readily justify his existence. He has not heralded his accomplishments by blare of trumpets, but they are real and tangible nevertheless. There is much to show of benefits from the profits which accrue from his operations. In spite of accusation, the middleman may well b e classed with that type of labourer who is worthy of his hire.