OPEN TYPES OF PUBLIC MARKETS. 11 
market developments. Practically no financial risk is involved when 
curb markets are established, and if an error is made in location the 
market can easily be transferred to another site. When, through 
the success and growth of a curb market, the existence of proper 
conditions to assure continued success is demonstrated, investment in 
permanent market equipment at or very near the site can be made 
with confidence. 
If a survey indicates conclusively that conditions are favorable for 
an open market of considerable proportions, it may be advisable im- 
mediately to establish such a market on a market tract within the 
propert}^ lines. Cities should; however, be literally sure of their 
ground before making substantial investments for market sites. It 
will sometimes be possible even where a more permanent type of 
market is to be opened to lease the ground until the feasibility of a 
market at that location is tested. If a lease may be obtained with 
privilege to buy later at a specified figure, thus protecting the munici- 
pality from being charged for increases in value which it may itself 
create through the market, such arrangements should be made. 
The products which it is desired to have sold on a market may in- 
fluence the selection of the type of market ; and conversely, the selec- 
tion of a certain type and kind of market will determine the products 
which should be handled. If it is desired that fresh meats, milk, 
and other dairy products, delicatessen preparations, baked goods, 
and similar foods be sold on the market, an open type should not be 
selected. Best market practice throughout the country recognizes 
that open markets on which products are necessarily exposed to a 
certain extent to sun, wind, and rain, to flying dust, germs, and 
spores, and to flies and other insects, can not be operated so as to in- 
sure the clean handling and sanitation that the foods enumerated de- 
mand. In many communities the municipal ordinances relating to 
public health forbid the exposure of such foods for sale on open mar- 
kets. In some communities efforts have been made to broaden the 
scope of open markets by permitting the sale of certain meats and 
other highly perishable and easily contaminated foods if they are 
kept in removable screened booths. Such practices only slightly mini- 
mize the undesirable features of handling such foods in the open, 
however, and can not be recommended. Considerations of health 
and sanitation demand that such foods be sold only in properly 
equipped shops where conditions of cleanliness can be maintained, 
and where the establishment of an inclosed market is not economically 
justified the handling of such foods had better be left to private 
shops operating under proper sanitary regulations. 
If any sort of compromise is necessary in regard to handling meats 
and similar foods on open markets, it can best be made on a seasonal 
basis. Thus, in the winter season there may be little objection in 
