DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 



277 



to take them. If possible, he will find a market for the surplus, 

 usually by shipping them to the nearest large city. But he does 

 not send them direct to consumers, for he could not deal with 

 them any better than the farmers could with the people in his 

 town. He may send them to a storekeeper in the city, but he 

 is more likely to send them to some one who makes a business 

 of receiving eggs from country collectors and selling them at 

 wholesale wherever there is a demand for them. If the receipts 



FIG. 225. Unloading coops of poultry at a receiving warehouse. (Photograph 

 from the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture) 



in a city exceed the local requirements, the surplus will be sent 

 to one of the great cities which are the principal receiving 

 centers for produce of all kinds. The large receivers in the 

 great cities distribute the eggs to retailers in the cities and also 

 to jobbers and retailers in smaller cities where local supplies 

 are inadequate. 



Thus between the producer and the consumer there may be as 

 many as six or seven middlemen who in turn handle the eggs. 

 At first thought it seems that so many middlemen are not 



