CHAPTER 73 



Markets, Marketing and Co-operation 



The rapid increase in the size and number of cities has increased the 

 need of markets; not only has the number of people that gain a livelihood 

 in the market business increased, but the proportion of them to the total 

 population has also increased. This is due to the increased complexity of 

 the marketing system. At present, the cost of getting perishable products 

 from the producer to the consumer is greater than the actual cost of 

 production. 



A reduction in the cost of production can not be hoped for. Living 

 costs can be lowered only through more economical methods of distribution. 

 This important problem is now engaging the attention of town and city 

 organizations in many centers. 



Cost of Distribution. — Careful investigations have been conducted 

 in recent years in a number of large cities to ascertain through what hands 

 products pass in transit from producer to consumer and the increase in 

 cost resulting from each transfer. The following table from a report by Dr. 

 C. L. King, of the University of Pennsylvania, to Mayor Rudolph Blank- 

 enburg of Philadelphia, shows the prices of various products as they passed 

 from farmers in counties near Philadelphia to the consumer in the city: 



Table Giving the Price Received by the Producer and Each Middleman and 

 the Per Cent Increase of Each Price over the Preceding Price, Together 

 with the Total Increase of Consumers' Prices over Producers' Prices. 



(909) 



