FOOD CONTROL IN GERMANY 141 



made to encourage such local food supply, includ- 

 ing even cattle, hogs, and sheep. 



The parcel-post is a marketing agency widely 

 used for feeding the urban population without the 

 interv^ention of any dealers or middlemen. Some 

 years ago, in company with a group of American 

 visitors, I attended a private dinner-party given by 

 a member of the Reichstag in Berlin. As we en- 

 tered the dining-room our hostess pointed to the 

 flowers upon the table, and said: "These fresh 

 flowers were brought this morning by the postman. 

 Not only that, but the vegetables, eggs, butter, 

 poultry, in fact, all of the fresh food for the dinner, 

 came by parcel-post. I buy most of my supplies 

 in this way from a farmer who lives many miles 

 out in the country. He comes to Berlin three or 

 four times a year; he calls on all of his customers, 

 who give him standing orders, which he fills three or 

 four times a week. The deliveries are made in a 

 few hours by parcel-post, almost as fresh as when 

 they left the garden. If I want to give a dinner- 

 party I send him a postal card or call him on the 

 telephone. That is the way I do my marketing." 



The parcel-post is used as a marketing agency all 

 over Germany and tens of millions of food packages 

 are distributed yearly by this means. There are 

 no middlemen at all; no one but the farmer and the 

 Hausfrau. 



Almost every city, too, owns its own slaughter- 



