530 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



If the entire retail trade were to attempt to get in direct touch 

 with car-lot wholesalers on our large markets, the congestion of busi- 

 ness would be so great as to block most seriously the economical 

 movement of perishable food products. 



Perhaps a graphic representation of the more common steps in 

 distribution will serve to make this subject more clear. In Fig. i the 

 interlocking circles are intended to show the intimate relation between 

 certain of the agencies interested in distribution. Thus the grower 

 may operate individually or he may combine with his neighbors. One 

 firm often performs the function of the car-lot wholesaler, commission 

 merchant, and jobber, and the business details overlap in such a way 

 that it is difficult to dissociate the three lines of business. Perishables 

 do not and cannot pass through the hands of all the distributing 

 agencies which are indicated. As a matter of fact, usually only a 

 few agencies are instrumental in handling the contents of any given 

 car. The contents of two cars coming to a large market on the same 

 day may pass into consumption through very different channels. 

 Thus one car may be consigned to a commission merchant, who 

 divides the car among a large number of jobbers and retailers, while 

 the other car may be purchased by a buyer for a car-lot wholesaler 

 who sells to the jobbing and retail trade. 



There are usually very definite reasons why goods coming to mar- 

 ket pass on to consumption through such diverse channels. Among 

 those factors which decide along what course and through what hands 

 perishables shall pass in going from producer to consumer are: (i) the 

 condition or tone of the market; (2) grade, pack, and quality of the 

 shipment; (3) district in which the shipment originates; and (4) the 

 shipper's knowledge of market conditions. 



167. THE RETAILER'S PART 1 

 BY G. HAROLD POWELL 



Taking the 30 representative citrus fruit markets, including 

 5,485 reports extending over the year 1914, the distribution of 

 the consumer's dollar is as follows: 36.5 per cent of the consumer's 

 dollar is returned to the grower in California, of which 9.8 per cent 

 represents the proportion allotted to picking, hauling, and packing; 



1 Adapted from an address delivered at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the 

 Western Fruit Jobbers' Association and printed in the Western Fruit Jobber, 

 April, 1915, pp. 23-31. 



