28 
BULLETIN 1283, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
It is evident that if a dealer bought at less than the prevailing 
price at shipping point he would make an extra profit, and if he sold 
for less than the prevailing price in terminal markets he would make 
less than the usual profit. The charts represent averages only. 
A grower who consigned to a commission house on a 10 per cent 
basis lost money by so doing, after April 15 or 22 in 1916, 1917, and 
at the very end of the season in 1919. On the other hand, growers 
and shippers found it profitable to consign or sell f. o. b. destination 
through nearly all of the 1919 season and at the beginning of the 
two preceding seasons. In 1920, consignments or destination sales 
were profitable up to the last of April and f . o. b. sales the more profit- 
able thereafter. In 1921 city prices allowed shippers a steady but 
moderate net margin throughout most of the season. For a short 
while at the opening, the shippers' margin per crate was practically 
as large as the original price to the grower. In 1922 the shipper 
made money the first and third quarters of the season but lost it 
the second and fourth. 
At the beginning of the season it appears'to have been more profit- 
able generally for a grower to ship to consuming centers and sell at 
city prices than to sell locally at shipping-point prices. In the middle 
and latter part of the season the reverse has usually been true, par- 
ticularly if there were heavy commissions or other selling expenses 
to be met. Future seasons, however, will not necessarily follow the 
same course because a general realization of such a situation tends to 
stimulate competitive bids to the point where the usual early margin 
becomes narrower. Two circumstances are probably responsible 
for the extra margin of the shipper at the beginning of the season. 
(1) At that time many markets have not been sounded out by the 
arrival and sale of a car, and the prices that will be paid on all markets 
are therefore more or less problematical. (2) The usual rapid de- 
cline at the beginning of the season places the purchaser of high- 
priced onions in a precarious position. The buyer or speculator 
must take these facts into consideration in making his bid. 
The ratio of the shipper's margin to the producer's receipts varies 
widely in different years. In 1917, the producer received good 
prices generally, but the shipper made comparatively little. In 1919 
the rise in prices aided the snipper, and the producer's receipts were 
satisfactory. In 1921, the shipper made small but steady margins 
while the producer generally sold his crop for less than cost of pro- 
duction. In 1922 the producer received fairly good prices, but the 
shipper lost as much as he made, and shippers to New York and 
Philadelphia lost considerably more than they made. 
In 1922 the average producer's receipts for shipments to the six 
cities ranged from 73 to 82 per cent of the wholesale price in consum- 
ing centers, and the transportation charges from 18 per cent at St. 
Louis to 30 per cent in New York. The average percentage of the 
wholesale price taken by each factor for the six years follows : 
Average percentage of the wholesale price in consuming centers 
Reoeived by- 
L917 
1918 
1919 
1920 
L92] 
1922 
Average 
Producer 
71 
1.'. 
11 
64 
•27 
9 
67 
L3 
20 
18 
U 
39 
17 
76 
_>4 
(I 
64 
23 
Shipper 
13 
