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ing, there began an agitation blaming cold storage for high prices. It 

 was asserted that cold storage facilities were used to artificially control 

 markets and increase prices; that foods were carried for long periods of 

 time and that the process was detrimental to the public health. There- 

 upon there were held a series of investigations and hearings to determine 

 the facts, such as the Massachusetts Commission to Investigate the Sub- 

 ject of the Cold Storage of Food, the Hearings before the Committee on 

 Manufactures of the United States Senate, the investigations of the 

 Food Research Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture, the study 

 of Cold Storage Business Features and Prices by the Bureau of Statistics, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture and the report of the Chicago Chamber 

 of Commerce on the subject. Without exception, all these investigations 

 pronounced in favor of cold storage as a valuable modem public utility 

 in performing the function of conserving our perishable foods, preventing 

 deterioration and waste and affording a highly developed method by 

 which the great surplus products of the flush season could be wholesomely 

 preserved for consumption out of season, during nature's scant period of 

 production. 



For a time the attitude of the press was much more favorable and 

 the laws passed by quite a number of states were fair and reasonable in 

 regulating the business, with the exception of the law passed in Pennsyl- 

 vania, which is extremely drastic, and the New York law, which is burden- 

 some in some of its features. 



At the time of the meeting of the Third International Congress of 

 Refrigeration in this country at Chicago, as recently as last September,' 

 the newspapers and magazines, quite generally, paid tribute to the science 

 of refrigeration in all its modern apphcations. But how fickle is public 

 opinion as reflected in the daily press, and how quickly the passing cur- 

 rents of discussion sweep us from our bearings and conclusions. 



Now that Mrs. Hen has curtailed her activity and Mr. Man has 

 increased his demand for her product, these economists of a day settle 

 it all in a single editorial, the politicians attempt to solve the problem in 

 his legislative panacea, and the cold-storage man is the ''goat" of the 

 situation. 



The cold storage industry is between the ''upper and nether mill- 

 stone" in the politics of the agitation. The Republicans said it was cold 

 storage and not the high tariff that did it, and now the Democrats claim 

 it is cold storage in spite of the low tariff that makes our living high. 



Let us now consider the facts in the case as established by market 

 statistics, government investigation and the testimony of experts, and 

 attempt to correct popular misconceptions by getting at the demon- 

 strated truth of the matter. 



The extent of the facilities for the conservation of foods by refrigera- 

 tion is indicated by the following figures from the Ice and Refrigeration 

 Blue Book: In 1911 there were 860 public cold storage warehouses having 



