THIRTY CENT BREAD 71 



§ 49 — The; system 



The best of these grades are packed in cartons of 

 one dozen each and sold as "strictly fresh." 



The "leakers," "crax," and "light spots" are 

 broken out, packed in thirty-pound cans, frozen, and 

 sold to bakers. 



The system which permits a perfectly good egg 

 to become partly bad, nearly bad, or entirely bad is 

 not a system which should be tolerated even in times 

 of plenty. In times of scarcity every farmer and 

 every egg gambler in the land should be compelled, 

 through federal intervention, to prevent the unneces- 

 sary loss, and all the evils growing out of it which 

 we are about to describe. 



Prior to 1917 April eggs were put into cold stor- 

 age at a cost of between 18 and 21 cents a dozen. 

 The storage charges for the season added 40 cents 

 to this cost per case. Interest added 22 cents per 

 case, cartage 3 cents, and insurance 6 cents, which 

 added to the total 71 cents per case of thirty dozen 

 each. 



At 19 cents per dozen a case of thirty dozen eggs 

 when it went into storage cost $5.70. Plus the extra 

 charges of 71 cents each case of eggs represented an 

 investment of $6.41, or 21 1-3 cents a dozen. 



Six months later these same eggs were sold to the 

 retail trade at from 29 cents to 40 cents a dozen. 

 The retailer sold them to the consumer at prices 

 ranging from 33 cents to 55 cents a dozen. 



The egg gamblers who, November i, 1913, still 

 held 1,800,000 cases of storage eggs in New York, 

 Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Jersey City at a 

 total cost of $11,538,000, including storage, inter- 



