MARKET METHODS AND PROBLEMS 



47 



5. A certain auction company advertises: "In case of ' trouble' 



in or near , divert your cars to the Auction Company. 



Any cars of perishable goods arriving in damaged condition should 

 be immediately turned over to the Auction Company for dis- 

 position. Holding perishables indefinitely means deterioration, car 

 service, demurrage, waste of time and money." Why should these 

 particular cases be cited ? Is this the only field of auction selling ? 

 Is it the most important ? 



6. "New Yorkers today are buying butter from Minnesota, eggs 

 from Iowa, cantaloupes from Arizona, and apples from Oregon. 

 Every one of these articles can be raised in our climate and the present 

 enormous cost of long-distance marketing saved." Is this argument 

 good? Can you show how the costs of marketing from a distant 

 point may be less than those from the near-by point ? What other 

 factors may influence the situation ? 



7. " Whenever it is possible to make human nature over, eliminate 

 greed from one man, sloth from another, dishonesty from another, 

 and above all graft from the promoters, then co-operation in the 

 growing and marketing of produce will be a success and not before." 

 Suggest some ordinary business devices now in use by co-operative 

 organizations that have welded ordinary imperfect mortals into ef- 

 fective working systems. Have the courts upheld the right of the 

 association to demand that members live up to their agreements ? 



8. There is much talk in certain quarters about the "scientific 

 marketing of farm products." Is there a science of marketing? 

 What is meant by the expression "a scientific approach to the prob- 

 lem of marketing" ? The following chart has been used to illustrate 

 unscientific marketing. What was wrong ? 



CHART SHOWING MOVEMENT OF BARTLETT PEARS FOR ONE 

 WEEK, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 



9. The Industrial Commission (1900) said: "In the distribution 

 of livestock, of cotton, grain, tobacco, and wool, the main tendency 

 is to eliminate the more expensive middleman. The telegraph and 

 mail bring to the cotton and grain producers the prices of the world's 

 markets day by day. The shipper simply ascertains by what means 



