211- Report of Faemeks' Institutes 



MARKET DISTRIBUTION OF POULTRY PRODUCTS 



E. W. Benjamin 



The work and tliouglit spent on the problem of distributing 

 poultry products from the producers to the consumers has brought 

 us to the point where we are beginning to at least see the surface 

 more clearly, even though it may be said that we can yet hardly 

 see below the surface. A few of the many workers, however, are 

 beginning to see rays of light, and more definite ideas are being 

 developed for the more efficient, more sanitary, and consequently 

 more satisfactory methods of handling these products. The mere 

 fact that the problem of obtaining better markets for the produc- 

 ers and better supplies for the consumers is being agitated, has 

 been an incentive, I believe, to the business associates generally 

 called middlemen. I believe it has been an incentive to these 

 associates to spur themselves on to more efficient work. Much im- 

 provement has been realized up to the present time, and it should 

 not be hard for institute speakers to point out cases of this im- 

 provement to their audiences. 



PRESENT SYSTEMS ARE WELL DEVELOPED 



• The present routes traversed by market products may be 

 likened to a hard twisted cord which is, of necessity, entwined in 

 a tightly drawn entanglement with the other hard twisted cords 

 of similar nature, by the intricacies arising from competition 

 and the peculiar demands of the producers and the consumers. 

 By close study and shrewd operations, it may be possible to 

 slightly shorten the distance between the producers and the con- 

 sumers, and still pass through the entanglement of competition. 

 This problem looks very much easier from the outside than it 

 does after the theorist has taken up the work, and actually found 

 himself in the midst of the problem. The producers demand 

 complete freedom of responsibility for the quality of their pro- 

 ducts, and the satisfaction which it should give to the consumers 

 when it finally reaches them. The consumers, on the other hand, 

 demand all sorts of special service and conveniences, which can- 

 not possibly be provided by the distant producer, and must be 



