Housing 149 



other ways, but they are only by-paths and can never help 

 them as State ownership will. 



Under State ownership of cold storage plants, the poultry- 

 men would be able through cooperation to control the price 

 of eggs. They would no longer have to deal with outside 

 interests which make millions by buying their eggs at the 

 lowest possible price in the spring and which, through theif 

 ownership of the cold storage plants, are able to control the 

 price of eggs. 



Under State ownership of the cold storage plants that 

 powerful influence which is used to control the price of eggs 

 below the cost of production would be instantly removed. 



Under State ownership, when the price of eggs reached a cer- 

 tain low figure in the spring, you could place your eggs in the 

 State cold-storage plants, receiving from the State the price that 

 eggs were actually selling for at that time, and in the fall when 

 the eggs were sold at an advance in price you would receive that 

 price for them, less the amount that was advanced to you in the 

 spring and the cost of handling. By this method you would 

 always be sure that you could produce your eggs at a profit. 



When State ownership is established the 95% of failures 

 in the poultry business will be stopped, but they will never be 

 stopped until then. 



As the feed problem is today the feed dealers, the mer- 

 chants, and the mills are organized. The mills refuse to sell 

 to you directly except in a very few places. Time after time 

 I could have made a success had I been able to get a reason- 

 able price for my eggs and buy my feed at a reasonable 

 figure; but in many places (there are a few exceptions) 

 where I have been I have had to pay from 30c to 50c on the 

 $1.00 above quotations for my poultry feeds. Moreover, 

 I was charged for the best grades, while I generally received 

 the poorest grades. 



