No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 15 



should first pass the necessary appropriation to engage some 

 capable man to conduct the market. No city should attempt 

 to establish a market unless it has first made a canvass of the 

 consumers, in order to determine if they would support such a 

 market, and to see farmers in the vicinity of the city and get 

 them to come to the market. If such markets are opened, 

 many adjustments in both selling and buying will have to be 

 made. On the one hand, the farmer will have to accustom 

 himself to selling in smaller packages, in many cases by weight, 

 while the consumer will have to provide means of delivering 

 his goods, paying cash and dispensing with other services for 

 which he has been paying at the retail stores. 



No doubt the best demonstration of the possibilities of the 

 open market has been accomplished in the city of Newton, 

 where after about a year of preparation, and largely through 

 the efforts of one of the citizens, a cit^^ appropriation was 

 granted and two markets opened in October. No harder time 

 could have been chosen for opening the markets, as most of 

 the farmers had already established their selling arrangements 

 for the season and were not very anxious to change. In spite 

 of this, however, there has been an average of 18 wagons each 

 market day, and both farmers and consumers have been well 

 satisfied with the experiment. It is to be hoped that Newton 

 will go on with the good work begun, and that other cities will 

 follow her example. 



The State needs a bureau of markets in order to be able to 

 assist cities and towns in this work. It also needs one in order 

 to give both farmers and buyers the necessary information about 

 the movement of farm crops, both interstate and intrastate. 



No subject is of more vital importance to the farmers to-day 

 than marketing. We have had good results from the propa- 

 ganda urging us to raise more and better crops, but far 

 too little has been done about the most important subject of 

 all. The bureau of markets should have power to establish 

 grades and fix standards for all farm crops, to assist in the 

 formation of selling agencies, and should keep in close touch 

 with all marketing projects both in this country and abroad, 

 and especially in touch with the United States Bureau of 

 Markets. 



