JOBBERS AND COMMISSION MEN y^j 



With the passing of the produce peddler, the unloading of 

 surplus stock by jobbers has had to be augmented in other ways. 

 No doubt the advent of the chain stores and the produce branch 

 of department stores has aided in this, while at the same time 

 increasing the regular trade. Moreover, the growing practice 

 among the retail stores themselves of using their delivery service 

 in soliciting orders and in calling especial attention to stocks 

 they are anxious to move promptly has greatly increased the 

 elasticity in demand placed upon jobbers by the retail trade. 



Thus far the problem of unloading a surplus within a given 

 primary market has assumed a high degree of perishability in the 

 produce, making necessary its immediate movement into the field 

 of consumption. As a matter of fact, the most important devel- 

 opment in the handling of produce during the last three decades 

 has come through improvements in the art of refrigeration and 

 a consequent lengthening of the period that perishable products 

 may be held in the channels of distribution before going to the 

 consumer. Moreover, such storing of foodstuffs has furnished 

 the most effective means of solving the problem connected with 

 the handling of the surplus. 



It is natural, therefore, that jobbers should be actively interested 

 in the progress of refrigeration as applied to products they handle. 

 Anyone present at the sessions of the International Congress on 

 Refrigeration held in Chicago in September, 191 3, could not 

 fail to observe the interest taken by jobbers in the deliberations 

 of that body. Among the most intelligent questions asked regard- 

 ing the technique of refrigeration processes or regarding the 

 proper physical and chemical condition of produce to be placed 

 in refrigeration were those from men actively engaged in the 

 jobbing business. 



For most of the fruits and vegetables handled by jobbers the 

 season of production in the source of supply is but a minor frac- 

 tion of the period of time during which jobbers are called upon 

 to supply the same to the retail trade. Holding goods in cold 

 storage has thus become a necessary part of their business. It 

 means that they must render available during seasons of scarcity 



