72 THIRTY CENT BREAD 



est, cartage, and insurance, sold them at an average 

 price of 30 cents a dozen or $9 a case, thus realizing 

 on the eggs held by them $16,200,000, showing a 

 profit of nearly $5,000,000. 



The jobber who purchased these eggs from the 

 warehousemen sold them to the retailer at another 

 profit of 2 cents a dozen or 60 cents a case, thus 

 netting another lump sum of $1,080,000. 



The retailers' profit on the same eggs, at from 5 

 to 10 cents a dozen, was not less than $3,000,000. 



In all this taking of profit on the eggs sold in but 

 five cities of the United States the consumer secured 

 a food product ranging in quality from good to bad, 

 the vast intermediate bulk of which can be accu- 

 rately described as "poor." 



In 1917 the situation as regards quality, loss 

 through deterioration, and a clurnsy, bungling sys- 

 tem of handling remains unchanged. We have not 

 only learned nothing from our mistakes of other 

 years, but now stand face to face with a situation 

 Avhich threatens us with a nondescript mass of eggs 

 which before Christmas, 1917, will be worth $1 a 

 dozen. 



§ 50 — ^THE; GAMBIvEjR . 



One New York City egg gambler of my acquaint- 

 ance purchased on March i, 1917, from fifty other 

 egg gamblers 50,000 cases of eggs which would not 

 even be laid until April on contract prices ranging 

 between 25^ and 26^4 cents a dozen. 



The wholesale market price of eggs March 28, 

 1917, was 32 cents. The fifty little gamblers, who 

 contracted to sell to the one big gambler (at from 

 25>^ to 26j4 cents a dozen) eggs so fresh that they 



