PartlL] FEDERAL OFFICE OF MARKETS. 119 



A Member. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask Mr. Gilbert if he 

 thinks it feasible to sell at auction carloads of vegetable prod- 

 ucts at the freight yard, as the Harris Fruit Company now sell 

 carload lots of fruit. 



Mr. Gilbert. It would be rather diflacult for me to say 

 whether it is feasible or not. It is hardly within the province 

 of the Office of Markets to say that one form of sale is more 

 advantageous than another form of sale. I can tell you this, 

 though, regarding the situation in Boston at the present time: 

 the auction sale of apples is bringing much lower prices than the 

 private sale of apples, and no two days' business, either on the 

 auction market or by private sale, is alike. The situation in a 

 market such as Boston changes very largely from day to day, 

 and the desirability of using one form of sale over another form 

 of sale would depend very largely upon the problem of that day, 

 and so, in answer to your question, I would have to know just 

 what the problems were confronting the sale of tlieir product, 

 both by auction and by private sale, on the particular day on 

 which it was offered for sale. The situation has to be followed 

 very closely. It might be that the establishment of another 

 auction in Boston would complicate the problem. It might be 

 that the establishment of another vegetable auction there would 

 be desirable. That can only be found by trying it out. 



The Chairman. Doesn't the variation in grading have more 

 effect on the prices than almost anything else, from day to day? 



Mr. Gilbert. The variation of grades does have a consider- 

 able effect upon prices which are received, but in my opinion it 

 is impossible to get away from the old law of supply and de- 

 mand. If you have a quantity of stuff, — no matter how good 

 it is, no matter how desirable it is, — if there's more of it than 

 the buyers want it will lie in the boxes in the warehouses of the 

 people who have it for sale until it rots sometimes, because they 

 won't take it. Just a specific instance of that: this is the season 

 when strawberries are first coming from Florida, and strawber- 

 ries in January are usually considered quite a luxury, — usually 

 considered beyond the pocketbook of most of us. Well, the 

 other day, because of some unaccountable circumstance in ship- 

 ping, or otherwise, about six times as many strawberries arrived 

 in Boston as is usually the case; in fact, there were 120 refriger- 



