26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



absorb quite enough for the present time. In the Rhode Island 

 section — I speak of that, knowing more about it — there are 

 only three or four or five men who have automobile trucks 

 that they can send, or spare to send, into the Boston market 

 at the present time. They require a certain amount of trucks 

 to take care of their local business. What goes away from 

 Providence to Boston and Worcester and Springfield they must 

 have extra trucks to take care of, or have some one come and 

 take care of it. Then another feature, that is, the advertising 

 value of these market reports. Mr. Tinkham can tell you, I 

 think, what the editor of the "Providence Journal" told him 

 the space would cost them if they put it in as advertising. I 

 think it was around $25,000, wasn't it, Mr. Tinkham? 



Mr. Tinkham. A large sum. 



Mr. Taylor. He said, "Put a government stamp on it and 

 it won't cost you anything," — between $500 and $600 instead 

 of $25,000 for the advertising space. Then, again, the first day 

 that report appeared in Providence the Providence market was 

 stuck on rhubarb. The retail price was 4 or 5 cents a pound, 

 and the wholesale price, 1 and H, only about 3,600 pounds a 

 day coming into the market. That was on Tuesday, — the 

 Monday market. By the following Saturday market there was 

 brought into Providence 10,600 pounds, pver three times as 

 much as there had been, and the price was the same, whole- 

 sale. The price was 3 cents a pound retail; in a few cases, 

 2^ in larger quantities than 1 pound in the stores. There 

 hadn't been any change in the weather justifying such a con- 

 dition in the market; simply the fact there was no outlet for 

 the stuff because of the lack of advertising. And where was 

 that outlet? Within twenty-four hours after the first notice in 

 the Providence paper a large shipment was sent to Worcester 

 from Providence. The same thing happened in the tomato 

 season. There were times when as much as three truck loads 

 of tomatoes left Providence bound for Worcester, in addition 

 to what went to Boston, — from Providence to Boston, because 

 we were carting to Boston in competition with your own 

 growers. There is only one way to cure that, — it is rather an 

 old one. I suppose there was good reason for the Worcester 

 people being sore on the Providence people; that is, do it your- 



