RETAIL MARKETING OF MEATS 
3 
life, and the population including villages of less than 2,500 in- 
habitants in the census of 1920 was 181,208. In them were 137 
stores selling fresh meats, in some instances for a part of the year 
only and usually with groceries and sometimes other merchandise. 
(See Table 22.) 
Information was obtained from dealers regarding their experi- 
ence, previous occupation, nationality, and the general character of 
their business as to permanency, type of store, class of business, 
volume of sales, grade of meats sold, advertising and accounting 
methods, sanitary conditions, character of the localit}^, and certain 
other items serving to give a general picture of the trade in these 
representative districts and thereby of the entire country. Special 
LOCATION OFCITIES AND COUNTIES INCLUDED IN THE PERSONAL 
CANVASS OF THE RETAIL MEAT TRADE 
Cities 
• completely 
canvassed^ 
Cities 
a partially 
canvassed 
Counties 
O completely 
canvassed 
Fig. 1. — Cities completely canvassed: Northeast section. — Concord, N. H., Franklin, N. H., 
Lowell, Mass., Hartford, Conn., Binghamton, N. Y. (including Union, Endicott, Johnson 
City), Pittsburgh, Pa. Central section. — Terre Haute, Ind., Eau Claire, Wis., St. Paul, 
Minn., Grand Forks, N. Dak., Devils Lake, N. Dak., Butte, Mont., Des Moines, Iowa, 
Lincoln, Nebr. (including Havelock, University Place|, Springfield, Mo., Amarillo, Tex., 
Paris, Tex. Southeast section. — Lynchburg, Va., Bowling Green, Ky., Raleigh, N. C, 
Winston-Salem, N. C, Columbia, S. C, Albany, Ga., Savannah, Ga., Birmingham, Ala., 
Baton Rouge, La. Pacific coast section. — Portland, Oreg., Los Angeles, Calif. 
Cities partly canvassed. — New York City, N. Y., Baltimore, Md., Chicago, 111., Memphis, 
Tenn., New Orleans, La., San Francisco, Calif. 
Coun-tbes completely canvassed. — Merrimack, N. H., Broome, N. Y., Eau Claire, Wis., 
Ramsey, N. Dak., Lancaster, Nebr., Marion, Kans., Warren, Ky., Richland, S. C. 
effort was made to locate concerns with accounting records, and 
examination was made of all available records covering the year 
1919 of concerns whose trade was exclusively or almost exclusively 
in meats and of a limited number of concerns with a combination of 
fresh meat and grocery trade, to obtain data regarding operating 
expenses, the gross margin between cost of merchandise at whole- 
sale and sales at retail, and the net profits of the dealer. In the 
rural districts information was obtained regarding such distribut- 
ing agencies as meat wagon routes, meat peddlers, and beef clubs; 
and this canvass was supplemented by requesting information by 
mail from 1,683 county agricultural agents throughout the country. 
There has also been received a considerable body of information 
obtained by a canvass of the meat trade of New York City by the 
