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the legislatures to minimize the possibility of the cornering of the food 
supply by giving all information concerning stocks on hand to the public. 
As an additional protection under certain conditions the officials of several 
of the states are authorized to call for more frequent reports than are 
specifically authorized in the statutes. 
In six of the eleven States enforcing a cold storage law, the State 
Board of Health and its executives and inspectors are charged with the 
enforcement of the act. In five States the work is done under the super- 
vision of the food commissioner or dairy and food commissioner, as the 
case may be. In every case, except the State of Delaware, it is made the 
duty of the official or executive board to issue licenses for the operation of 
cold storage plants. These licenses are issued after an inspection has 
shown them to be sanitary and properly equipped and operated, and the 
board or officials charged with the enforcement of the act have power to 
withdraw the license if the plant becomes unsanitary or is operated in 
violation of the law. An important provision of practically every law is 
that authorizing the officials to extend the time of storage if inspection at 
the end of the storage period shows the goods still to be in satisfactory 
condition and suitable for use as food. 
Unquestionably the public has the impression that prices are artifi- 
cially and arbitrarily raised by reason of withholding goods from market 
in storage warehouses. The special committee of the Chicago Association 
of Commerce, which made a thorough study of cold storage in its many 
phases, says of this argument against storage: 
“Exhaustive examination of the statistics compiled under the 
directions of your committee, and a comparison of these statistics 
with the facts obtained by the department of agriculture, after an 
exhaustive research demonstrates clearly that the prices of butter, 
eggs, poultry and fish have been more uniform during the year since 
cold storage has became a factor in the care of food products than 
before that period. These statistics also show that taking an aver- 
age for a period of years, prices on the whole have been lower than 
during the vears when cold storage was unknown.” 
This statement is in substantial agreement with the conclusions reached 
by the Massachusetts committee and undoubtedly is an accurate gauge of 
the effect of cold storage upon the price of food. Nevertheless, in view of 
the persistent criticism of the new industry and of the too general impres- 
