OPEN" TYPES OF PUBLIC MARKETS. 7 



markets of their own. Such markets may be operated by ordinary 

 corporations, joint-stock companies, or nonprofit or cooperative asso- 

 ciations. In practically all respects except ownership, producer- 

 owned markets are comparable to the better municipal markets. 

 They furnish, for the most part for a reasonable fee, the loca- 

 tion and facilities for marketing and general supervision over opera- 

 tions, leaving the actual sales to the individual producers. In a few 

 instances such producer-owned markets have assisted in the develop- 

 ment of growers' exchanges which take care of sales for their mem- 

 bers. The latter agencies, however, are obviously vitally different 

 from public markets. 



Open markets under the ownership and control of private persons 

 or corporations composed of other than producers are in most cases 

 frankly operated as commercial money-making enterprises. Only a 

 few such markets exist, usually in cities in which neither the munici- 

 pality nor the producers have established public markets or where 

 existing public markets are inconveniently located, poorly operated, 

 or are otherwise unsatisfactory. The fees charged for the use of 

 space on privately owned commercial markets are naturally higher 

 in most cases than fees on municipal or producer owned markets. 



ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL OPEN MARKET. 



Open public markets, especially the simpler kinds, are capable 

 of more general establishment than inclosed markets. It can not 

 be emphasized too strongly, however, that even the simplest type of 

 market can not be established successfully in a haphazard way 

 under chance circumstances. There are certain essential conditions, 

 mostly economic, that must exist before a public market can be 

 a success, and enthusiasm alone or a mere desire, however laudable 

 and earnest, to reduce living costs will not take the place of such 

 necessary conditions. Numerous communities have learned this 

 lesson by bitter experience. Wherever successful public markets 

 exist they have, consciously or unconsciously, been established and 

 maintained in accordance with the essential conditions referred to. 



In the first place the size of the city or town must be taken into 

 consideration in relation to the type and land of market proposed. 

 Villages may be too small, and cities too large for open public mar- 

 kets. In the former case the community is likely to be in close touch 

 with the surrounding farming country, so that much produce is 

 sold directly from farm to home. Many residents of villages also 

 own neighboring farms and obtain supplies from them, and the 

 custom of maintaining commodious home gardens is much com- 

 moner in villages than in larger towns. There is, therefore, in most 

 small villages an insufficient demand to support even the simplest 

 type of open market. 



