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pai'tment of Markets in this State that will have the neces- 

 sary information concerning distributing crops centralized 

 at one point in the State, where farmers, consnmers, buyers 

 i^^nd everybody else can get it. 



There Avas passed last year a law that provided for 

 cities and towns of over 10,000 inhabitants to establish 

 market places where farmers and others could sell .their 

 crops. Certain cities in the State have complied with that 

 Jaw, and I think it is a good thing that all cities and towns^ 

 of over 10,000 inhabitants should have open market places 

 where we can distribute our crops to better advantage than 

 by sending them all to the Boston market or other large 

 markets. 



In order to make that law really workable however we 

 must have some department in the State which can give the 

 consumers and farmers the necessary information about the 

 movement of crops, not only in this State but in the United 

 States. Now the government has done something along this 

 line; it has done some standardization work and has dis- 

 tributed informatioTi on the movement of certain crops, like 

 the strawberry croji, during the season. 



It maps that crop and follows it up, and shows every 

 clay its distribution in different markets, the number of car- 

 loads and where they went and the condition of the market; 

 so there is some information on that subject in the Govern- 

 ment Department, which is of value to persons shipping a 

 long distance. 



We want to give the State this same powder, and this 

 man who will be appointed by the Board of Agriculture, 

 will have power, if this Bill is put into eft'ect, to establish 

 grades and standards for the bulk of our agricultural prod- 

 ucts. 



Now. this Bill which we are going to discuss this morn- 

 ing was a Bill which started out in the same line but which 

 took one particular crop. We do not want to go to the 

 Legislature every year and ask for a Bill to establish a 

 standard for every particular product; we want to have 



