CHAPTER XXXV 

 SQUAB MARKETS 



The Commission Merchants and Their Trials — Excellent Letters from 

 Four of ^Vmerica's Leading and Largest Squab Recei^■e^s. 



To a great many breeders the returns from squab shipments 

 to commission morclianls are not what tliey miglit be. While 

 Secretary of the American Squat) Breeders Association it was 

 observed l)y tlio autlior that tlie commission mercliants are not 

 always at fault for the poor returns and in a great many in- 

 stances tlie shipper is solely to lilame. There are always two 

 sides to every question and some of us are a little too hasty to 

 i)lame the other fellow entirely. It is very trying to see a sliip- 

 ment of nice plump squabs lea\ e your plant and liave a check 

 come liacic for about oue-fourtli of what you expected to get. 

 Of course shipments are delayed en route to destination and 

 materially decrease in value and sometimes they go "green." 

 In this case they have to be dumped and all yoti get is a notice 

 to tliat effect signed by an official of the Board of Health of 

 the city to which they were shipped. The commission man is 

 up against a proposition then — he knows full well that he will 

 be blamed wrongly. The carrier handling the shipment is 

 mainly to blame and no doubt the shipper partially so. The 

 carrier delays the shipment and the shipper, ten to one chances, 

 does not properly cool the squabs before packing them for ship- 

 ment. Yet the commission merchant is blamed. I have re- 

 ceived two Board of Health dump slips from one of our largest 

 cities and it was forwarded to me by one of the firms whose 

 letter appears later. I then and there learned a lesson — proper 

 cooling before shipment and plenty of ice in the container. 



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