RETAIL MARKETING OF MEATS 11 
each. The total number of stores of these 22 systems on January 
1, 1922, was 1,928 of which 1,160 carried groceries and in many 
instances cured meats, 701 carried fresh meats in addition to gro- 
ceries and cured meats, and 67 carried meats only. Among these 
24 combination systems, three reported having more than 100 stores 
each in which fresh meats were carried, the number being 512, 204, 
and 101, respectively. Although cured meats are carried in sub- 
stantially all stores in these combination systems, fresh meats were 
reported as being carried in all stores in only four systems, the total 
number of stores in these systems being 173. 
Of systems selling meats only, or in no instance handling other 
products amounting to more than 10 or 20 per cent of total sales, 
19 systems reported 10 or more stores each. In these systems a total 
of 357 stores are included, four systems having more than 20 each 
and the remaining 15 less than 20 each. 
These 70 systems have furnished complete data showing the in- 
crease in numbers of their stores from January 1, 1916, to January 
1, 1922. At the end of the 6-}^ear period, the number of stores of 
each kind was between two and one-half and three times as great 
as at the beginning. Since the systems of grocery stores maintained 
substantially an equal rate of expansion, notwithstanding the much 
larger average numbers, it is obvious that the possibility of develop- 
ment of large systems is much greater in the -grocery than in the 
meat trade. If the enumeration included all the systems in the 
country, the total number of stores in 1922 would probably be much 
more than three times as great as in 1916, since most of the smaller 
systems have begun operations since 1916. 
There are clearly defined reasons for the development of larger 
chain systems in the grocery trade than in the meat trade. 
(1) In the grocery trade, the actual selling is largely a matter 
of routine, consisting merely of weighing, measuring, or counting 
the articles to be sold and calculating the total charge on the basis 
of units of uniform quality. In the general management and super- 
vision of such routine work there is ample opportunity for the de- 
velopment of merchandising methods on a large scale> particularly 
in the cash-and-carry trade. In the fresh-meat trade however, the 
lack of homogeneity of the article on sale and the necessity for deter- 
mining the amount of trim in each instance and for frequent adjust- 
ments of prices in order to dispose of slow-moving cuts render the 
immediate supervision of the owner of comparatively greater im- 
portance and the methods of general merchandising of compara- 
tively less importance than in the grocery trade. 
(2) The difficulty of obtaining suitable employees for the cut- 
ting and sale of meats is much greater than for the sale of gro- 
ceries. Years of experience in judging quality and developed skill 
in the most economical methods of cutting are essential in retailing 
meats, whereas alertness of mind and body with comparatively little 
experience are entirely sufficient for the sale of groceries. It is 
difficult to bring into one system more than a few trustworthy and 
experienced meat cutters, but the general manager of the grocery 
chain may be able to employ considerable numbers of adaptable 
but little experienced clerks and even local managers for the stores 
of his system. 
