THE MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS 895 



the intermediate men, as there is none of certain lines left in the 

 hands of the real wholesalers. 



Some of the largest retailers are also wholesalers in a sense, 

 as they supply other small retailers in their neighborhood, making 

 about 3d. per package on the transaction. The grocers are fight- 

 ing hard to have the market made up of wholesalers only, but so 

 far nothing has been done. It would seem to be very difficult 

 to define a true wholesaler and regulate the selling accordingly. 

 The grocers are also fighting against two forms of competition 

 which they consider unfair : (a) the hawkers who have push-carts 

 and sell vegetables in the poor sections or have more fixed stands 

 and sell fruit on the business streets, and (b) the custom of some 

 of the wholesalers on the market of fixing up their stalls a little 

 on Saturday afternoon and evening after the business is over, 

 for retailing fruit. At this time there are large crowds who come 

 for the general market in the surrounding district and, in stroll- 

 ing through the market, spend a few pennies on fruit. This does 

 not seem to be a competition against the average grocer, however, 

 as the fruit would probably not have been bought at all, if it were 

 not for the general market. As has been mentioned before, the 

 slack weights are a point of contention for the grocers who are 

 working for the compulsory marking of net weights. Another 

 point which they are working to obtain is the abolishing of the 

 system of returnable empties. They claim that it is an unneces- 

 sary bother and expense to return empties and that there is a 

 large chance for fraud by the porters who have in charge the 

 returning of the empties and at the same time handle the 

 money which the grocers have previously paid as a deposit to 

 the wholesalers. 



With unreturnable empties, the leakage caused by the loss of 

 empties or the failure to return them would be abolished. This 

 leakage is, of course, at the expense of the grocer, who has paid 

 a deposit on them, and in some cases might amount to quite a 

 large sum. They claim that the unreturnable empty would benefit 

 the wholesaler and shipper or grocer as well, as there would be 

 no up-keep or storage and a much smaller cost. This is especially 

 the case for the Jersey potatoes which come in the grape barrels, 



