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and possibly many smaller ones, can consume within a few days a carload 

 of one or more kinds of highly perishable fruits or vegetables. According 

 to the report of one of the large merchant shippers of Jacksonville, Florida, 

 in 1912 car-lot shipments of Florida produce were made to 210 different 

 cities, located in 46 states. This number includes most all of the cities 

 of this country having a population of at least 25,000. " 



This being so, it may be seen at a glance that the real problem before 

 the country today is not so much the growing of foodstuffs as their economic 

 collection, transportation and distribution. In some ways the develop- 

 ment of good methods of cultivation has already gone ahead of the develop- 

 ment of good methods of marketing. From the moment the goods are 

 placed on board the cars or boat, the question is one of distribution. In 

 most of our cities the distribution of foodstuffs is primarily a railroad 

 question, so that the market best fitted for the assembling and marketing 

 of provisions in the city is the wholesale railroad terminal market, into 

 which and out of which run as many railroad lines as possible. 



Such markets should be large in size so that there will be provision 

 for a considerable expansion of the present trade, and so that as larger 

 number of buyers and sellers as possible may meet in them. They should 

 be supplied with refrigeration, so that goods arriving in refrigerated cars 

 may not suffer from exposure to harmful temperatures, and so that surplus 

 may be kept without deterioration. They should have ample unloading 

 platforms and storage space, as well as exhibition and selling space. In 

 each market one or more licensed city auctioneers should be stationed to 

 dispose of goods consigned directly to the market. 



The object of any market should be to facilitate distribution by bring- 

 ing producer and consumer a step closer together, and though the form of 

 market may differ widely according to the conditions in the city it is to 

 serve, the principle of the thing is everywhere the same: the best type 

 of market for any city is the terminal market, adapted to the nature of 

 the carrier which brings the food products, whether such carrier be farm 

 wagon, freight trolley, railroad or boat. The market at the terminal makes 

 for the elimination of waste in handling and for a better articulation of all 

 the processes of distribution. Such a market in a city should be in the 

 control of a market department or official, to publish daily bulletins of 

 the quantity, quality and prices of foodstuffs in the market and in other 

 ways make the system efficient. 



It must be recognized that the best methods of marketing our crops 

 requires the co-operation of our farmers, shippers, railroads and market 

 men. No one of these forces, no matter how well organized, is sufficient 

 in itself to effect the desired end. The Federal Government has realized 

 the necessity of the co-ordination of these various forces. The last session 

 of the Sixty-second Congress made an appropriation of $50,000, of which 

 $10,000 was available immediately, "to enable the Secretary of Agriculture 

 to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful 



