488 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



from our present inquiry. To urge it, is to beg the whole question 

 which is the really vital issue for Chicago's consuming public. 



For though the local supply and demand are made to strike a 

 balance in price, the question still remains as to why it is that that 

 particular supply and demand come together. The fact is that it is 

 the market itself which determines whether shippers shall find it con- 

 venient and profitable to ship their goods to Chicago; it is the market 

 which, by its alertness, finds neglected sources of supply or more 

 direct, safe, and economical means of bringing goods to the city. 

 Likewise, it is the market which, by reason of its quarters or its 

 manners, attracts buyers or repels them, reaches all the demand or 

 only part, educates taste, alters habits of consumption, creates and 

 directs demand. Even if the market be passive in the working out 

 of the particular supply and demand into prices, it is a highly active 

 force in determining precisely what supply and what demand shall 

 be brought together in the city of Chicago. And so we ask: Is our 

 produce market rendering the best service at the lowest cost, or does 

 it need a broader outlook, better equipment, and a different type of 

 organization ? 



