Some Sins of Nature 45 



New York to study the distribution problem 

 in connection with production. 



I found my commission man was also a 

 retail dealer, and that he sold my melons to 

 himself and then sold them to his trade, and 

 that this was the rule, not the exception. I 

 found my melons in the refrigerator of a great 

 hotel, and the steward informed me they 

 were the finest ever seen on the New York 

 market. He didn't know why I was inter- 

 ested and I let him talk. He told me he paid 

 the commission merchant to whom I had 

 shipped them $3.50 a crate. He was paying 

 me 25 cents. 



I had a pleasant interview with this com- 

 mission-retailer who was kindly assisting me 

 to bankruptcy. His explanation was so 

 beautiful, so plausible, so incontrovertible I 

 had to thank him and ask his pardon for dis- 

 turbing him while he was figuring out his 

 profits. He said the melons were so roughly 

 handled by the steamship company (our Old 



