MARKET PROBLEMS 



193 



dollars or more for a stall at the public market or the forty 

 dollars required for a huckster's license are forbidden to sell 

 garden produce in the city by peddling it about. This shuts 

 off a market gardener from selling his produce by going from 

 store to store. This prohibition prevails even against those 

 who may rent a stall or pay a market fee for a day. We be- 

 lieve that when the people of Rochester realize what this pro- 

 vision means they will either demand that it be repealed or 

 that the public market be abandoned. 



''When a market gardener goes to market with his wagon 

 load of produce, there is no assurance that he will sell the 

 whole load. Sometimes he does not. Now what is he to do? 

 Under the previous market regulations he could drive about 

 to stores until he managed to dispose of the remnant of his 

 load. Almost necessarily this meant that he would dispose 

 of his produce at some concession in price, with a consequent 

 lower scale of prices to the consumer. There are many in 

 the country surrounding Rochester who do market garden- 

 ing on a small scale. They bring in a few vegetables in the 

 spring or some berries later and occasionally butter and eggs. 

 Their total profit for the year is probably only about forty 

 or fifty dollars. They cannot afford to pay forty dollars for 

 a market license. They do not come to market on more than 

 twenty-five days in the year. They were accustomed to pay 

 the twenty-five cent fee. If they failed to dispose of their 

 goods, they then peddled them about the city. They will now 

 he forced to keep out of Rochester and Rochester will have 

 to pay higher prices as the result of a decrease in its food 

 supply. The only ones benefited will be the hucksters. 



''It has always been a puzzle to many how the hucksters 

 have such influence with our lawmakers. The huckster of 

 today is, of course, vastly different from the swindling ped- 

 dler of years ago. But even his present status as a hustling 

 business man does not explain his present strength. He is 

 generally, but not always, a resident of the city and directly 

 or indirectly a taxpayer. This gives and should give him an 

 advantage over a non-resident of the city in any controversy 

 that may arise in regard to business. But the people of the 

 city have the right to as much of the benefit that comes from 



