REPORTS OF STORAGE HOLDINGS. 3 



season of scarcity. Perhaps the greatest advantage of all lies in the 

 widening of the market, the production of foods both in seasons best 

 suited and in regions best adapted to their development, and the 

 placing of them on the market in seasons of scarcity and in com- 

 munities far remote from the localities of production. 



As a result, the interests of producer, middleman, and consumer are 

 brought more closely into harmony. With the assurance that waste 

 will be avoided and that the entire product can be marketed, the pro- 

 ducer will be encouraged to increase his output and can afford to sell 

 his product at a lower price per unit. The consumer will inevitably 

 buy on more favorable terms, since the providing of a large supply 

 in seasons of scarcity must lower the extreme prices demanded at 

 such times, and the increase of the total annual supply must result 

 in placing the product on the market upon more favorable terms. 

 The avoidance of waste for the middleman, owing to the holding of 

 perishable products under favorable conditions of temperature dur- 

 ing the marketing process, and the moving of such commodities in 

 larger quantities through the markets, must result under conditions 

 of reasonable competition in a smaller margin of profit per unit of 

 the article handled, with corresponding advantage to producer and 

 consumer. While in many instances there may be abuses in the com- 

 mercial operations of the cold-storage industry, its general economic 

 effects are highly advantageous and under present conditions of life 

 almost indispensable, and its general operations should ordinarily 

 prove commercially advantageous to all parties concerned. 



One serious obstacle at present to further growth of this industry 

 is an undue prejudice against commodities that have been held in. 

 cold storage. While it is true that in mauy iilstances goods held for 

 the usual season in storage are somewhat less palatable than fresh 

 stock, the difference in the pric0 is ordinarily greater than is war- 

 ranted by the difference in the quality of the goods. When the pub- 

 lic has learned to purchase fresh and cold-storage products according 

 to quality, a further increase in. the use of cold-storage facilities, and 

 accordingly in economic gain, will undoubtedly follow. 



The dealer's success, however, is dependent upon so many factors 

 that the most comprehensive information concerning market con- 

 ditions is essential to such stability of the industry as will result 

 from conducting cold-storage operations at reasonable and steady 

 profits rather than at alternating excessive profits and losses. The 

 industry can not attain complete success except by reducing the 

 speculative element of the transactions to a minimum. 



To this end it is necessary that in the storing season producers 

 and dealers be supplied with information showing how much of each 

 article is being stored, whether the quantity is more or less than 

 usual, and whether under all the circumstances it is going into stor- 



