REPORTS OF STORAGE HOLDINGS. 3 
season of scarcity. Perhaps the greatest advantage of all lies in the 
"widening of the market, the production of foods both in seasons best 
suited and in regions best adapted to their development, and the 
placing of them on the market in seasons of scarcity and in com- 
munities far remote from the localities of production. 
As a result, the interests of producer, middleman, and consumer are 
brought more closely into harmony. With the assurance that waste 
will be avoided and that the entire product can be marketed, the pro- 
ducer will be encouraged to increase his output and can afford to sell 
his product at a lower price per unit. The consumer will inevitably 
buy on more favorable terms, since the providing of a large supply 
in seasons of scarcity must lower the extreme prices demanded at 
such times, and the increase of the total annual supply must result 
in placing the product on the market upon more favorable terms. 
The avoidance of waste for the middleman, owing to the holding of 
perishable products under favorable conditions of temperature dur- 
ing the marketing process, and the moving of such commodities in 
larger quantities through the markets, must result under conditions 
of reasonable competition in a smaller margin of profit per unit of 
the article handled, with corresponding advantage to producer and 
consumer. While in many instances there may be abuses in the com- 
mercial operations of the cold-storage industry, its general economic 
effects are highly advantageous and under present conditions of life 
almost indispensable, and its general operations should ordinarily 
prove commercially advantageous to all parties concerned. 
One serious obstacle at present to further growth of this industry 
is an undue prejudice against commodities that have been held in 
cold storage. While it is true that in many instances goods held for 
the usual season in storage are somewhat less palatable than fresh 
stock, the difference in the price; is ordinarily greater than is war- 
ranted by the difference in the quality of the goods. When the pub- 
lic has learned to purchase fresh and cold-storage products according 
to quality, a further increase in the use of cold-storage facilities, and 
accordingly in economic gain, will undoubtedly follow. 
The dealer's success, however, is dependent upon so many factors 
that the most comprehensive information concerning market con- 
ditions is essential to such stability of the industry as will result 
from conducting cold-storage operations at reasonable and steady 
profits rather than at alternating excessive profits and losses. The 
industry can not attain complete success except by reducing the 
speculative element of the transactions to a minimum. 
To this end it is necessary that in the storing season producers 
and dealers be supplied with information showing how much of each 
article is being stored, whether the quantity is more or less than 
usual, and whether under all the circumstances it is going into stor- 
