142 



advance in the prices of nearly all commodities." (Chart exhibited con- 

 taining comparisons and conclusions as above from Mr. Urner's 

 figures.) 



Mr. George K. Holmes, Chief of Division of Production and Distri- 

 bution, Bureau of Statistics, U. S. Department of Agriculture, thus con- 

 cludes Bulletin No. 93, issued April 5, 1913, on Cold Storage Business 

 Features: ''The reader must be aware that this investigation has nega- 

 tived some popular misconceptions with regard to the cold storage busi- 

 ness and has substantially sustained some of the assertions made by cold 

 storage warehousemen." The same authority in Bulletin No. 101, issued 

 April 5, 1913, says: ''The cold storage situation, as it has presented itself 

 to some writers, has been assumed to be one in which the cold storage 

 interests have combined to raise the price of commodities. Evidence 

 would need to be presented to sustain this contention and to indicate 

 the feasibility of the combination of an immense number of wholesale 

 dealers in all parts of the country for the purpose of regulating prices 

 through the use of cold storage warehouses. Perhaps it is not generally 

 known that the owners of the cold storage warehouses do not store com- 

 modities for themselves, but, on the contrary, let cubic space in their 

 warehouses to customers, who place therein such perishable and other 

 commodities as they please." Again this report states: "It is by no 

 means to be admitted that the cold storage business is responsible if the 

 prices of its commodities have increased or if the price levels of its com- 

 modities have increased. Let the fact be what it will with regard to the 

 effect of cold storage on prices, the fact remains that cold storage has been 

 of incalculable benefit to consumers in providing commodities for con- 

 sumption out of the natural productive season." (Charts exhibited from 

 Bureau of Statistics.) 



As to the new inquiry now suggested by the Attorney General regard- 

 ing conspiracy in restraint of trade, or of the House of Representatives 

 as to the economic effects of cold storage, we are willing to submit our 

 facts, knowing these departments of the government will come to the 

 same conclusion as the Department of Agriculture, if the investigation 

 be honest and thorough. 



With respect to the alleged injurious effect of cold storage on health, 

 there is an abundance of scientific testimony to the contrary. This phase 

 of the subject has not been attacked in the present agitation as it was 

 several years ago. The Massachusetts Commission declared itself on 

 this side of the question as follows: "Instead of being a menace to the 

 public health, cold storage has, in the main, exhibited itself as a great 

 agency for the conservation of the vital resources of the population. It 

 has enlarged, diversified and enriched the food supply of the people. 

 Without cold storage the crowded masses in the urban centers would be 

 obliged to subsist on a dietary at once more meagre and more costly than 

 that enjoyed at the present time." 



