STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 23 



Other factors which may influence the sale and distribution of 

 the commodities covered. The Washington office acts as a 

 clearing house for this information, sending it out to all of its 

 representatives, who in turn distribute it in their respective dis- 

 tricts, whether this be in the field stations, or in the market 

 centers. 



The market centers now covered by representatives of the 

 Office of Markets and Rural Organization, are Boston, New 

 York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Chicago, St. 

 Louis, Kansas City and Minneapolis. In twenty-one other 

 large markets, temporary reporters furnish local market in- 

 formation. Such temporary representatives, however, do not 

 distribute the country-wide market information. 



One limitation which it has been found necessary to place on 

 this news service in order to make its operation practicable, is. 

 that it shall deal only with car-lot shipments ; thus only areas 

 producing a considerable volume of perishables are considered. 

 This narrows the field down to an extent which permits of 

 efficient treatment and, at the same time, permits the distribu- 

 tion of information regarding all movements of perishables 

 which are likely to affect materially the markets. 



Pertinent market information, in order to be of value to- 

 those who can rightly use it, must be timely. The office in- 

 Washington has its own telegraph rooms and receives its mes- 

 sages through its own operators. The reports from the 

 division superintendents of the railways are filed at midnight 

 and cover the shipments for the preceding twenty-four hours ; 

 give the states from which the shipments originate, and their 

 destinations. This information reaches the Washington head- 

 quarters shortly after seven o'clock in the morning. The tele- 

 grams are all in code, in order to reduce the expense. A group 

 of clerks decode the messages and compile the data which they 

 contain. Usually this work is completed by nine o'clock, and 

 the information is sent out immediately to the market and 

 field agents. When the information is telegraphed to indi- 

 viduals and associations, the recipients pay the telegraphic 

 charges. By the time this shipment information has been sent 

 out, messages begin arriving from the markets, giving the 

 morning quotations and other information. These messages 

 (also in code) are decoded, the information tabulated, and sent 



