THE EXCHANGE AND THE MARKET 211 



of the year. The exchange system has greatly reduced 

 these variations, but they still persist, and are the very fac- 

 tors that are likely to make complete unification of the dis- 

 tributing machinery impossible. At certain times and in 

 certain places especially attractive prices are anticipated> 

 so at such times the independent shippers rush their cars 

 to those places to reap the exceptional rewards. The ex- 

 change, through its information service, realizes even more 

 fully than the independent shippers that these opportunities 

 exist, but it also realizes that outside shipments are certain 

 to be on hand and that additional offerings of its own fruit 

 would make the market collapse. If the exchange had the 

 inclination it could ruin these non-cooperating shippers by 

 throwing its own cars in excessive numbers on all the prin- 

 cipal markets. For the independent shippers have no 

 choice but to ship to the large markets, as they do not have 

 the machinery for knowing the demands of the smaller 

 cities. But such a policy of aggressive competition would 

 involve a temporary loss for exchange shippers as well as 

 the discomfiture of their competitors, and, since each ex- 

 change shipper has absolute control of his own shipments 

 and is guided in his marketing policy only by an intelligent 

 and comprehensive view of general marketing conditions, 

 no shipper is likely to adopt cutthroat tactics. 



Thus non-exchange shippers have the advantage of the 

 large markets while the exchange has to go out and work 

 up the smaller markets. Also at the large centres a short- 

 age of fruit is felt much more quickly and raises prices 

 much more abruptly than in the smaller places. Hence, 

 independent shippers are often in a position to reap scarcity 

 profits. In short, non-exchange shippers are in a position 

 to gain most of the advantages of a stabilized and expanded 

 market without contributing toward the work of stabiliza- 

 tion or expansion. To the extent that this is true, the ex- 



