1102 A^EW YoKK State AgkicultukxVl Society 



ninety dollars aiul ciiilitv-two cents has been collected durino; the 

 year on these latter accounts, which the shippers themselves were 

 unable to get ; and during the three years of the existence of this 

 committee 1,494 complaints of this kind have been filed and $32,- 

 078.59 collected and forwarded to the shippers without reduction 

 or expense to them. During November and Dccend)er ainiio seven 

 overcharge express claims were adjusted that required from seven 

 months to two years to collect. 



We now have some measure of parcel post and recent orders of 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission are intended to lessen the 

 excess charges and duplicate collections by express comj^anies. 



During the year the State Food Investigating Commission has 

 been created by the legislature and members appointed by the 

 Governor to investigate the causes of the high cost of living. A 

 sub-conLniitt.cc consisting of Honorable William Church Osborn, 

 our ( 'oniniissioner of Agriculture and our associate Ezra A. Tuttle, 

 has been investigating conditions of foods and markets in Xew 

 York City. They have developed information and given official ex- 

 pression to many of the conditions and abuses of which we have so 

 long complained without avail, and measures have been suggested 

 and l)ills are being prepared in accordance with the suggestions, 

 to correct the abuses and eliminate some of the wasteful, 

 extravagant, and in some cases dishonest methods that have pre- 

 vailed for so long in the Xew York markets. Attention has also 

 been crystallized through the investigation of this committee on 

 the want of a system to regulate the sale of food products through 

 tricky commission houses and irresponsible speculators in food 

 products. A bill has already been prepai'ed by Senator Roosevelt 

 to regulate this traiHc in the hope of eliminating many of its 

 abuses, and we have much reason to hope that this bill will soon 

 Ix'coiiic a law. 



Under llie auspices of this society, a confevcMu-e of cooperative 

 interests was held in J^ew Y^ork City on April 10 and 20 last. 

 The chaii-niau id" tlie Cooperative Coniniitlee will probably tell 

 you more in detail about tliis committee in his report. It is 

 enough for tlie pi-esent to say that pi-ovision was made for a State 

 Standing Committee on Cooperation and tliis committee has been 

 organized with a mendK'rship of 180. They held a conference in 



