READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



who would come under one of these heads and might be termed 

 strictly wholesalers. From these may be graded 250 merchants 

 who, to a certain extent, buy merely to sell again on the same 

 market. There are some wholesalers who also buy on the mar- 

 ket whenever there seems to be a profitable occasion or when it 

 is necessary in order to fill out their lines. There are others buy- 

 ing only on the market, having perhaps one or two small growers 

 who send produce from time to time. At the end of the list 

 would come the so-called hucksters, who buy odd lots of poor 

 goods and sell to the street hawkers and smallest grocers. There 

 are about 150 of these hucksters, of whom only 50 are stall 

 holders, the rest paying toll and selling in the streets or squares 

 close to the market. In addition to these dealers, there are 200 

 to 250 growers who bring in their own produce and pay the 

 above-mentioned tolls for the right to sell in the streets and 

 squares near the Smithfield Market. As regards the profits of 

 these various dealers, it is very hard to say exactly ; but for all 

 produce the average wholesaler's commission is about 5 per cent, 

 which is often raised to 7* per cent for English goods when 

 empties are supplied. The profit of the men buying to resell on 

 the market was estimated at about 3d. per package. 



The Manchester market is noticeable for the specialization 

 among those doing a wholesale business. Thus, there are two 

 dealers handling almost entirely finest and out-of-season fruits 

 for the highest-class trade, while there are others handling only 

 local vegetables, and so on. This may be one reason for the 

 large number of men who buy on the market to resell at whole- 

 sale on the same market, as they assemble in their stalls all lines 

 of goods and can afford to sell small quantities where the strictly 

 wholesale dealer with his specialized trade might not wish to sell 

 the small amounts required by the very small grocer. Another 

 reason for the amount of trade done by these intermediate dealers 

 on the market is that the retail grocer wishes to see his goods 

 before buying and so does not like to order from the wholesaler 

 the day before. The intermediate men do this and are also on 

 hand to buy very early in the morning, with the result that, when 

 the retail grocer comes to get his supplies, he must take from 



