166 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



long haul than in the short haul for the railroads. 

 And for reasons of their own the dealers as well as 

 the railroads prefer long-distance shippers. At any 

 rate, they get in their cars from Chicago, Kansas 

 City, and other distant points to New York with 

 the regularity of passenger-trains and often much 

 quicker than from central New York State. 



Such a public terminal would automatically end 

 the power of the middlemen. The local dealer 

 would buy directly from the farmer through the 

 farmers' representative or at public auction. The 

 price of all commodities dealt in would be fixed by 

 private and public sales. These prices could be 

 published in a bulletin printed for that purpose as 

 is done in some cities. Actual sales would fix prices 

 instead of fictitious quotations by the egg, butter, 

 poultry, and other exchanges, which deal in futures 

 or paper sales. It would be impossible to deal in 

 futures or to establish a price months in advance 

 for farm produce. For the farmer himself would 

 be able to place his food in storage if he so desired. 

 He could hold it for a month or for six months. So 

 could the retail dealer. There would be no dealings 

 in futures, for all the buyers and sellers would be 

 in active competition all the year round, and the 

 law of supply and demand would fix the basic 

 prices as is done in all non-perishable commodities. 



(3) A series of local markets, both enclosed and 

 open, should supplement the central terminal mar- 



