FROM PRODUCER TO CONSUMER 169 



almost prohibitive rental on the market spaces, 

 which either destroyed the markets or discouraged 

 their use. 



Some years ago the municipality of Cleveland es- 

 tablished an open market for the sale of fish by the 

 fishermen of Lake Erie, who had been compelled 

 to sell their catch to the fish trust which controlled 

 the local market. Fish had been selling at from 15 

 to 20 cents a pound. The city fixed a price to the 

 fishermen of 3 cents a pound, the price they had 

 been receiving, and sold fish directly through a 

 committee to dealers throughout the city at 5 cents 

 a pound. As a result the trust met the city's price 

 while fresh fish were obtainable instead of storage 

 fish which had been under refrigeration for months. 



Fish should be the cheapest of food on the sea- 

 board cities. Yet the sale of fish is almost com- 

 pletely in the hands of combinations or trusts, which 

 control the price paid the fishermen and the price 

 as well as the quality of fish that the local dealer 

 can buy. As a result, fish for which the fisherman 

 receives 3 cents a pound at the wharves is sold a few 

 blocks away at from 15 to 20 cents. Yet the city 

 could easily end this monopoly by the opening of 

 fish wharves to which the fishermen could bring 

 their catch daily and sell at retail or at auction, 

 as is done all over Europe where fish is the universal 

 food of the poor. 



The city of Baltimore, with its three big munic- 



