10 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



A SYSTEM OF MERCHANDISING 



A system of merchandising is often a necessary adjunct to trans- 

 portation, but it should be only an adjunct and not cost more than the 

 production, manufacture and transportation of the commodities it 

 handles without adding to their value. 



Secretary Wilson, of the National Department of Agriculture, in 

 his report for 1010, says: "It is established by the investigations of 

 this Department, made last June, that the milk consumers of seventy- 

 eight cities paid for milk, an increase of 100.8 per cent, above the price 

 received by the Dairyman. The lowest increase among the Geo- 

 graphic Divisions was 75.5 per cent, in the South Atlantic States and 

 the highest was 111.9 per cent, in the Western States." For butter, 

 the consumer pays the dealer about 15 per cent, above creamery 

 prices which is not more than it should be, but when we compare 

 creamery prices with the prices paid the farmer at his local mar-, 

 kets, the consumer pays from 50 to 60 per cent, above the farmers' 

 prices. 



Taking other commodities, it is found that the middleman receives 

 260 per cent, above farmers' prices for onions sold by the peck, 400.4 

 per cent, for oranges bought by the dozen, 200 per cent, for water- 

 melons sold singly, 90.5 per cent, for apples bought by the barrel, 

 80.6 per cent, for apples bought by the box, 75 per cent, for chickens 

 sold by the head, 80.5 per cent, for potatoes by the bushel, 88.8 per 

 cent, for poultry by the pound, 95.3 per cent, for strawberries by 

 the box, 82.5 per cent, for sweet potatoes by the bushel, 66.7 per 

 cent, for celery by the bunch, and 59.8 per cent, for turkeys by the 

 pound. The import price of coffee for the fiscal year 1910 was eight 

 cents a pound, including freights. The price of this coffee to the 

 consumer was from 150 to 337.5 per cent, above its cost to the im- 

 porters and middlemen. 



COLD STORAGE 



The impossibility to produce in the immediate vicinity of our 

 enormous industrial plants, perishable food stuffs in sufiflcient 

 quantity, and deliver them in fresh and edible condition to the con- 

 sumer, has made it necessary to establish refrigerator car lines and 

 cold storage plants, for the transporting of such commodities from 

 all sections of the country and for keeping them in proper condition 

 for food. These agencies for transporting and keeping agricultural 

 products of all sections of the country in edible condition at all 

 seasons, brings Florida and California fruits and vegetables to the 

 door of the Pennsylvania mechanic, laborer and miner in December, 

 January and February and has proved a great blessing. But while 

 it has been a blessing it has opened the way for avaricious dealers in 

 the necessaries of life, for their own enrichment, to buy these perish- 

 able products, when there is a surplus, either by an excess being 

 shipped from a distance or when the local producer inadvertently 

 overstocks the market, and hoard them until such time as the prices 

 are satisfactory and then bring them into competition with the 

 fresh products of the farmer. Kefrigerator Car Lines and Cold 

 Storage Companies should make it possible for the producer, when 

 his own market is overstocked, to ship his products where there is 

 a demand for them or to store them until his own, or a distant market 



