6 BULLETIN 1317, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
middlemen in the handling of dressed meat than of any other food 
product which passes on a large scale through the manufacturing 
process. 
Branch houses. — For a time after the refrigerator car had length- 
ened the radius of the market, properly equipped commission mer- 
chants and independent wholesalers were largely employed to sell 
the fresh meats, and the smaller packers still employ these agencies 
as the chief market outlet for their surplus product. However, as 
the larger packers early found it desirable to own and control 
facilities for distribution, branch houses with refrigerated rooms 
were established at strategic points. 
There are approximately 2,000 such branch houses distributed 
among practically all the principal cities. Of these branch houses, 
42.3 per cent are in the North Atlantic division, 11.8 per cent in the 
South Atlantic, 22.0 per cent in the North Central, 13.6 per cent in 
the South Central, and 10.3 per cent in the Western division. These 
branch houses are usually built adjacent to railroad tracks, making 
possible the direct discharge of meats from the cars, and are gen- 
erally equipped with systems of overhead tracking on which quarters 
of beef and carcasses of small stock are handled and stored. 
As soon as it became evident that this method was successful, 
packers began to add other lines which made necessary the addition 
of sausage factories, smoke houses, and storerooms for canned 
meat, lard, and other products. Larger retailers and others conven- 
iently located customarily visit the branch house and personally 
select their purchases. The smaller retailers, especially those in the 
outlying districts, in many instances buy through packer branch 
salesmen, and the purchases are delivered. The branch houses are 
held responsible for canvassing the towns and villages in the adja- 
cent territory. The out-of-town trade is served by local freight and 
express. 
Refrigerator-car routes. — The packer refrigerator cars operating 
on established car routes are an important means of distribution. As 
they formerly sold meats and other perishable foods from the cars 
en route, they are sometimes called " peddler cars." By this method 
retailers in centers not large enough to support branch houses are 
supplied two or three times a week and sometimes daily direct from 
the packer. Traveling salesmen solicit orders from route customers. 
Shipments are generally loaded in station order for convenience of 
the train crew in unloading. The cars are routed over the different 
railway lines on regular schedules and are often moved considerable 
distances as parts of through fast freight trains till they reach 
distributing territory, where they are placed in local trains. 
The shipments are handled at unloading stations much as other 
ordinary less-than-carload freight. Retail dealers, particularly in 
warm weather, meet the cars on arrival or call for their shipments 
soon afterward. An important feature of the car-route system of 
distribution is its flexibility. Thus, any territory reached by a rail- 
road furnishes a possible market; and, since no expense is involved 
in erecting buildings or equipment, new territory can easily be tested. 
The car-route method is more commonly used in the livestock-pro- 
ducing area and in the region where die cities are too small to 
support branch houses. 
