WHOLESALE DISTEIBUTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 11 



been purchased outright in car lots, part purchased in small lots from 

 other receivers, and part consigned on commission. While one firm 

 may act in the triple capacity of car-lot wholesaler, commission man, 

 and jobber, the three lines of business thus carried on at the same 

 time are very distinct and for purposes of discussion may be consid- 

 ered as being performed by three separate firms. In every large 

 market there are concerns which confine themselves to one of these 

 lines, but by far the greater number of produce distributors do busi- 

 ness in several lines. 



CAUSES OF COMPLICATED METHODS. 



Various factors have contributed to the development of manifold 

 methods of marketing. The use of refrigerator cars for shipping- 

 perishables from distant producing sections and the attendant growth 

 of business in handling goods out of season have had a tremendous 

 effect. With the radius of the zone of supplies thus lengthened, mar- 

 keting activities have increased to keep pace with the movement, and 

 with increased activity have come increases in complexity and in 

 costs. 



When consideration is given to the vast territory which supplies 

 any one of our large cities with its fruits and vegetables, the wonder 

 is that distributive machinery is not more hampered and labored in 

 its action. Thus, on one day in the fall of 1914 Kansas City was 

 receiving peaches from Utah, Idaho, and Washington; grapes from 

 California and Michigan; cantaloupes from Colorado, New Mexico, 

 Arkansas, and Missouri ; pears from California and Colorado ; sweet 

 potatoes from Virginia and Georgia; and apples from Colorado, 

 Washington, New Mexico, New York, Arkansas, and Missouri. With 

 daily supplies coming from all sections of the country and with the 

 necessity for adjusting machinery to care for varying quantities, it 

 is not to be expected that the flow of produce through market chan- 

 nels will be smooth and uninterrupted, nor that prices will be stable 

 and uniformly satisfactory. 



SALES BY BROKERS. 



In spite of general complexity, however, explanations of the sales 

 methods of souk? of the principal, independent, distributing agencies 

 may prove useful. Thus, there is the broker who handles car lots 

 only, as ;i Fllle, and who draws his business from cooperative asso- 

 ciations, country speculators, large operators, private exchanges, and 

 in some cases private shippers. According to strict interpretation, 

 the term "broker" can be applied only to those middlemen who act 

 :i intermediaries between the principals in contemplated transac- 

 tions and have nothing further to do with the contract itself. The 

 broker normally does not have possession of the articles he deals in, 



