QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 223 



this cold storage question, as self -protection demands that goods shall not be 

 kept too long, and dealers are coming to realize more fully each year that it 

 does not pay to hold goods too long. If the local inspectors would inspect 

 the goods when they go into storage, it would do a great deal more good than 

 any new laws will do." 2 



The federal government, through its Bureau of Markets, now 

 makes public twice a month the total holdings of food products 

 in cold storage warehouses in the United States. The aim is to 

 protect the public and the dealers by wholesome publicity. If 

 such a service could be made fairly complete as to actual volume 

 of goods in cold storage, and could be is'sued promptly it would 

 prove helpful. Extreme deliberation and slowness characterize 

 most governmental activities, and this one may or may not prove 

 an exception. However, wholesome publicity of this kind would 

 afford the dealers and the public alike, protection against undue 

 manipulations of the market. 



Suggested Inprovements. The need now is for more cold stor- 

 age, not less. The large centers of population are becoming sup- 

 plied with cold storage facilities. The farmers may now well 

 consider the question of erecting their own cold storage near the 

 sources of supply. This would help them avoid market gluts in 

 the early marketing season an annual occurrence under present 

 unorganized, primary marketing conditions. In some sections of 

 the country cooperative fruit packing houses are equipped with 

 refrigerating facilities. Cold storage at such primary points, 

 together with precooling of perishable foodstuffs before shipment, 

 would go a long way towards eliminating the leaks between pro- 

 ducer and consumer, leaks, it is interesting to note, that the pro- 

 ducer now charges up to that convenient scapegoat the middleman. 



QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 



1. Show the nature and importance of cold storage. 



2. Show relation of cold storage to seasonal nature of food production. 



3. Name the two chief functions of cold storage. 



4. Show relation of cold storage to mobilization of our food resources in 



time of war. 



5. Show extent and use of cold storage. 



6. Classify cold storage warehouses. 



7. Name the chief products entering cold storage. 



8. Give amount of meat in cold storage June 1, 1919, and explain the large 



volume. 



9. Show the growth of cold storage in other lands: Sweden; Russia; Canada. 



10. State the evidence and the conclusions as to the effect of cold storage on 



health; effect on prices. 



11. Define speculation, and distinguish different kinds. 



12. Explain in detail the extent and value of government regulation of cold 

 storage. Is health inspection sufficient? 



2 Report, Massachusetts Commission on Cold Storage, Boston, 1912. 



