2 BULLETIN 1002, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



words, merely furnishes facilities for sales, and when utilized con- 

 stitutes a group of independent dealers. 



Open public markets are the modern representatives of what were 



probably the first pieces of commercial machinery forged by man 



the trading post, the bazaar, and the seasonal market fair. In Great 

 Britain and Ireland public markets, developing from the market 

 fairs, early came to occupy a position of importance in the distribu- 

 tion of agricultural produce, and it was only natural that the market 

 ideas and practices of those countries should be brought over by 

 British settlers, who made up a large part of the early population 

 of this country. The survival to-day of names such as "Market 

 Street " and " Market Square " in the cities of Xew England and 

 those of other Atlantic Coast States bears testimony to the important 

 part which public markets played in the early city life of the United 

 States. 



Since public markets are of primitive origin, and since present 

 conditions of life are exceedingly complex, the question arises in 

 some minds whether there is any place for such agencies in the mod- 

 ern distribution system. Public markets are certainly not ideal dis- 

 tribution agencies, but the same can be said truthfully about practi- 

 cally all distribution agencies in their existing forms. In regard to 

 economic justification for public markets in the present day the 

 investigations of the Bureau of Markets indicate that the following 

 is the true situation. Taking into consideration practical alternative 

 agencies, existing customs and prejudices among both producers and 

 consumers, and the seeming innate individualism of many farmers, 

 public markets of appropriate types often solve local distribution 

 problems in regard to fresh produce better than other existing 

 agencies. 



The fact that thriving public markets exist in many cities and 

 towns demonstrates that such agencies are still popular with a con- 

 siderable number of producers and consumers who feel that public 

 markets best meet their needs. Some .farmers, especially those oper- 

 ating on a relatively small scale, are reluctant to surrender pos- 

 session of their products for sale on commission or even to sell out- 

 right to wholesalers when they know that the products probably will 

 be resold immediately for a higher price. The question of the trust- 

 worthiness of available agencies also enters at times, and farmers 

 feeling any doubt on this score, whether or not their doubts be well 

 grounded, naturally prefer to carry their products under their own 

 control as far as practicable along the channels of distribution. 

 Large scale producers, on the other hand, being in a better position 

 to select satisfactory agencies and to obtain desirable terms from 

 them, and appreciating better, perhaps, the possible time-saving value 



