790 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



was left. All eggs salable to city retailers were of one grade 

 " a good merchantable egg." There was no market at all 

 for " seconds " or " cracks." Certain dealers stored quantities of 

 eggs in ice-houses, a kind of storage unthought of to-day. The 

 presence of refrigerator service between the Twin Cities and the 

 East rendered shipments practicable over the trunk lines, but 

 there was no refrigerator service to Minneapolis or St. Paul from 

 outlying points in the state. Local shipments were made in 

 ordinary box cars and were subjected to the delays characteristic 

 of early freight service. The percentage of loss on shipments 

 east was very great. By the time a consignment of eggs had 

 reached an Eastern market, the breakage and deterioration had 

 become appalling. The Eastern commission men came to look 

 upon these eggs as an inferior grade of goods and habitually 

 exercised wanton carelessness in handling them. They seemed 

 to reflect the spirit that it was not worth while to be careful since 

 the eggs were not worth much anyway. In any event they would, 

 of course, charge up losses from breakage and deterioration to 

 the owner of the consignment. What the commission man wanted 

 was to handle a big volume of business, since his commission of 

 one cent per dozen or from 5 per cent to 10 per cent on the 

 gross amount handled varied with the amount of traffic. The 

 more he rushed his work, the more bulk he could get off his 

 hands at a given expense. To him the loss in commission on 

 breakage of deteriorated eggs was not sufficient to stimulate 

 careful handling. In other words, it paid better from the stand- 

 point of the commission man to seek volume of traffic and lay 

 the blame for losses on forces already notoriously at fault. 



As already stated, there were certain classes of dealers during 

 the early period who attempted to store eggs until the season of 

 relative scarcity. The ice-houses used were necessarily damp, since 

 the later system of pipes or conduits providing for air circulation 

 was practically unknown. A successful system of egg storage 

 demands proper conditions both as to temperature and humidity. 

 It is now held that the best results are secured where the tem- 

 perature is kept at 29^ Fahrenheit. If the air is appreciably 

 colder the eggs will freeze. If the temperature rises above 29^ 



