THE MARKET SYSTEMS OF THE COUNTRY. 243 
middlemen and hucksters. In Mobile and Charleston these hucksters 
charge from 100 to 200 per cent. advance. In Norfolk the advance is 
quite reasonable, being ou an average not over 20 per cent. beyond the 
sum paid the prodacer. 
In most cases i¢ has not been found practicable to regulate the rela- 
tions between the farmer and the city consumers by ordinance. 
Rules have been made in some instances probibiting the sale to huck 
sters, but they are either avoided by a subterfuge or have become dead 
letters on the statute-book. The rapid growth of our cities, especially 
of the manufacturing cities, where a majority of the operatives are of 
foreign birth, will of itself account for many of the abuses complained 
of. Suppose, for instance, that Albany, which bas as good market usages 
as any town of its population in the country, should grow to be a city of 
150,000 or 200,000, and that a majority of the accession were from the 
hard-working class, natives and foreigners. The street where now nine- 
tenths of the food of the towns-people are bought directly from the farm- 
ers would be found remote from the new and densely settled parts of the 
city. To supply them, the potatoes, cabbage, carrots, veal, eggs, and 
milk could not be raised within easy driving distance. The railroads 
would be extensively used. The farmer would not find it practicable to 
eome with his produce; the middleman would become a necessity, and 
it would be for his interest to drive the producer away from the city, 
which could be done by some ordinance made in the hucksters’ interest. 
Of the farmers who have for years been standing on Capito! Hill, some 
would prefer the quiet of their farms, and sell their market-wagous; some 
would prefer the bustie and possible gains of the city, and become huck- 
sters. This issubstantially the history of market usages in our towns, 
when they reach and pass a population of 100,000. In all towns of less 
size, however, a study of the market practices has convinced us that 
there is no difficulty in securing direct trade between the farmer and 
the consumer. The very hands that dropped and dug the potatoes may 
measure them out by the bushel or the barrel at the dvor of the merchant, 
the lawyer, and the capitalist. Al) that is required to secure this end is 
combination and codperation on the part of the farmers, followed by city 
ordinances, so framed as to promote this direct trafiicyather than to dis- 
courage farmers and throw the food supplies into the hands of middle- 
men and hucksters. 
MARKET SYSTEMS OF LARGE CITIES. 
As above indicated, when a place returns a population of about 
100,000, from the nature of things, the length of streets, the enhanced 
value of lands near the city, the influx of crowds indifferent to the quality 
of their food or ignorant of the characteristics of sound meats and fresh — 
vegetables, the market usages undergo a change, and the problem of 
furnishing great metropolitan centers with food in abundance, en mode- 
rate terms, becomes one of the first practical impertance. A market-house 
and .a market system that were exactly adjusted to the wants of a city 
of 60,000 or 70,000, grow yearly more inadequate as the population 
swells to 130,000, 150,000, and to higher figures. Boston furuishes a 
notable instance. In 1825, when the corner-stone of Faneuil Hall Market 
was laid, the population of Boston was somewhat less than 60,000, 
wainly included within a circuit of amile. Thesurrounding country was 
thinly populated, and was devoted chiefly to agriculture. Fruits aud 
vegetables were raised in abundance within an hour’s ride of the 
market by wagon. Vermontand New York furnished ali the roasts and 
steaks the Boston tables required. Now the territory that was occupied 
