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does mean that every urban community especially will have to meet a 

 very grave crisis unless food costs can at least be kept at existing levels. 

 The avenue through which this can be done, it appears, is in simplify- 

 ing and in making more economic and efficient the marketing of food 

 products. 



At the present time the consumer pays over two dollars for the same 

 produce for which the farmer receives one dollar. In other words, it costs 

 much more to get our food products from the farmer's gate to the con- 

 sumer's table than it does to produce them. Such are the facts that have 

 been given winged publicity throughout the past year. The result of the 

 dissemination of information of this character is that certain definite 

 steps are being taken and certain demands are being made by farmer and 

 consumer, transportation and business interests alike, for lowering dis- 

 tribution costs. Let us see what these activities are. 



II. What Are the Farmers Doing? 



The activities of the farmers may be grouped in three classes: (1) 

 their attempts to sell directly through mimicipal markets, hampers and 

 similar methods; (2) the organization of producers' co-operative societies, 

 and (3) careful scientific studies, assisted by experts, to determine exactly 

 what can be done to return to the farmer a greater proportion of the price 

 paid for food by consumers. 



The farmers' attempts to sell directly have led to a demand for open 

 air, curbstone, water-front and terminal wholesale markets. Hon. Cyrus 

 C. Miller, of New York, has done much to show the need and value of a 

 wholesale terminal market which will allow not only direct sales by farm- 

 ers but also sales to retailers at minimum costs. European cities have 

 long made use of this method, and by keeping in each of their wholesale 

 markets a bonded city-appointed agent who sells at auction any goods 

 consigned to him, have not only reduced distribution costs but also given 

 facilities for the preservation of foods and for quick and inexpensive sales 

 of produce from all countries of the earth. Municipal markets have 

 recently been adopted in many cities throughout the United States, and 

 in certain cities where municipal markets already exist, there is a growing 

 demand for additional ones. The hamper method of sales has, within the 

 last year, received a great deal of careful attention, and, combined with 

 the parcel post, promises results of significant though limited character. 



The formation of producers' co-operative associations is deeply sig- 

 nificant because it is essential to minimizing and simplifying distribution 

 costs. A prime essential to any trade is that the goods be reUably sorted, 

 properly packed in a way fitted to the trade, and honestly branded and 

 marked. When these three things are performed, the risk that must 

 now be assmned by the wholesaler^ jobber and country buyer can largely 

 be eliminated — a risk that has necessarily been expressed in higher prices 

 for consumers. Producers' co-operation not only accomplishes these ends 



