ECONOMICS OF FRUIT MERCHANDISING 
that the banana is so much more perish- 
able than the apple that there is hardly 
any comparison. They are, in fact, al- 
most as perishable as strawberries. They 
will chill at a temperature of 50; in fact, 
55 is considered dangerous. They will 
cook at a temperature of 65 to 70. So 
that the problem of transporting bananas 
from Central and South America in 
steamers, transshipping them under all 
sorts of weather conditions at seaboard, 
and forwarding them across the contin- 
ent to Pacific coast cities, even to Alaska, 
as well as to England and the continent 
of Europe, is an exceedingly difficult and 
complicated one. 
Yet all these things have been worked 
out successfully, and the company has, 
through its own intelligent effort, made 
the banana an article of household con-- 
sumption in every hamlet, town and city, 
not only in this country but in Europe, 
where, prior to the organization of the 
company, American bananas were un- 
known. During the early days of their 
introduction in Europe, the company had 
also to overcome the determined opposi- 
tion of the dealers, who denounced them 
as vegetables rather than fruit. So, the 
point to be made is that the perishable 
nature of the fruit business does not 
indicate that under proper organization 
it is a business of too great hazard 
for the banks to figure on as closely 
as they would on any other article of mer- 
chandise. 
Co-operation With the Railroads 
The physical side of the industry 
should be so organized that the trans- 
portation risks of the railroads are re- 
duced to almost a pig-iron basis, there- 
by saving them tens of thousands of dol- 
lars annually in loss and damage claims. 
Growers should co-operate with them, and 
they with the growers in the supply of 
adequate storage facilities at shipping 
point, whereby we not only serve our- 
selves but also relieve them of the al- 
most impossible task of supplying suffi- 
cient refrigerator equipment to move our 
whole crop in six weeks. Then can we 
go to them for recognition in the way of 
reduction in rates proportionate to the re- 
1307 
duction in their risk and expense, and 
with confidence in their reasonableness. 
Co-operation With the Middlemen 
Before denouncing them as parasites 
and demanding their elimination, let us 
first study them and examine into their 
relations to ourselves and to the con- 
sumers and see whether they are not men, 
like ourselves, neither better nor worse 
than we, and whether they are not per- 
forming a useful service and doing it 
better than we could ourselves, and there- 
fore entitled to their place in the econ- 
omic scheme of our organization. If, 
after we have made a thorough study of 
the subject, it appears that there are 
superfluous middlemen, then the superflu- 
ous has no justification for existence, and 
should be eliminated. If we find that 
abuses exist among the middlemen let 
us by co-operation and education elim- 
inate the abuses. 
What is a middleman? The United 
States Department of Agriculture (Re- 
port No. 98) describes him thus: 
“In ‘addition to finding purchasers for 
commodities on the market, securing 
goods for persons intending to buy, at- 
tending to transportation and storage and 
making and transmitting collections of 
money, the functions of a middleman may 
include also the collection of small lots 
to make a carload, shipload or other large 
unit desired by a certain buyer or class 
of buyers; and likewise the middleman 
may serve to distribute a large consign- 
ment among many purchasers. A carload 
of berries is too much for an average re- 
tail merchant to handle; it is generally 
necessary to secure a4 number of such 
buyers in order to dispose of a car of 
such produce. On the other hand, the 
trade in fruit, as in many other farm 
products, is conducted over such a vast 
extent of territory and in such large 
quantities that it has become necessary 
for most of the individual consignments 
to be of considerable size. Freight rates 
and conditions of freight service make it 
almost necessary that shipments of most 
farm products be made in car lots. Hence 
the double service of collecting small con- 
signments into carloads and of distribut- 
