Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 211 



the interest of the shippers whose agents are the stock- 

 holders. Under these conditions an auction company has 

 the power of discriminating unjustly against both the 

 shipper and the buyer, and, when left unregulated by the 

 state or federal authorities, may operate as a predatory 

 organization in the restraint and control of trade. At the 

 present time it is impossible for many shippers to sell 

 their produce through the auctions in some of the cities 

 unless they employ a commission firm or other dealer who 

 is a stockholder in the auction company to act as their 

 broker in that particular market. 



The American farmer cannot afford to occupy a posi- 

 tion where the returns for his labor and capital are de- 

 pendent on the unregulated action of the agencies that 

 distribute the products of the farm. To protect him 

 against the abuses of the transportation companies, the 

 federal and state governments have passed laws and have 

 prescribed rules and regulations governing the charges 

 which these companies may exact and the methods of 

 conducting their business operations. When left unregu- 

 lated, they failed to protect the interests of the people. 



There is an increasing demand on the part of the public 

 that similar restrictions should be prescribed by the federal 

 government, by the states and by municipalities as regards 

 those who act as semi-public agents in the distribution 

 and marketing of the nation's food supplies. In some 

 states they are demanding an official inspection of the 

 product on arrival and that these semi-public agents 

 should be obliged to keep their records uniformly and in 

 such manner that they are always open to the authorities 

 and to any one who has a proper reason for inspecting 



