Notes  from  Department  of  Foods  and 
Markets 
204  Franklin  St.,  New  York  City 
The  wet  weather  of  the  past  week  played  havoc  with 
the  smjall  fruit  trade,  particularly  with  strawberries 
and  cherries.  The  conditions  have  been  so  had  (hat 
ranch  of  this  fruit  has  not  been  gathered.  Stock  ar¬ 
riving  in  market  has  been  soft  and  water-soaked.  The 
quality  from  New  Jersey  and  Southern  points  has  been 
particularly  poor,  and  prices  on  strawberries  range 
from  4c  to  7c  per  quart.  The  quality  from  New  York 
has  been  better,  though  in  small  volume,  and  the  prices 
innge  from  <Sc  to  32c.  Some  cherries  in  20-pound  peach 
baskets  sold  In'  the  Department  for  SO  cents  a  basket. 
State  cherries  in  quart  baskets,  packed  and  faced  as 
suggested  by  the  Department  and  shipped  in  22-qun rt 
gift  crates  sold  at  10  cents  a  quart.  Reports  from 
ether  markets  as  far  west  as  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  in¬ 
dicate  a  similar  condition  in  these  markets. 
The  California  deciduous  fruit  continues  to  arrive 
in  good  condition,  and  probably  because  of  the  short 
supply  and  poor  quality  of  local  fruit,  the  prices  for  the 
California  goods  are  abnormally  high.  A  carload  of 
cherries  in  10- pound  boxes  sold  last  week  at  $1.80  a  box. 
On  the  same  day  there  were  30  cars  of  plums,  peaches 
and  apricots,  averaging  $1,500  to  $2,000  per  ear.  This 
is  $500  to  $1,000  higher  than  the  normal  price  at  this 
season  of  the  year.  New  York  is  a  great  market  for 
good  fruit  well  graded  and  packed,  and  the  price  for 
this  quality  is  always  high.  It  is  especially  high  at 
this  time.  The  car  of  California  cherries  referred  to 
sold  in  the  auction  market  for  $5,400,  which  is  nearly 
$2,000  above  normal  for  the  season. 
The  potato  conditions  in  the  same  markets  indicate 
a  full  supply,  moderate  demand,  and  prices  rather  on  a 
decline.  ITircs  in  New  York  run  from  $2.25  to  $2.75 
from  Southern  points,  and  Eastern  Shore  a  trifle  high¬ 
er.  Receipts  for  the  last  week  were  heavy. 
A  New  Jersey  grower  writes  the  Department,  as  fol¬ 
lows:  “T  received  your  account  sales  today  and  am 
more  than  pleased  with  the  prices  you  obtained  for 
my  peas.  I  shipped  another  lot  of  exactly  the  same 
peas  to  a  commission  man  in  New  York  the  same  day, 
and  your  prices  average  2!%e  per  hamper  more  than 
his.  and  the  commission  is  5%  as  against  his  10%/’ 
The  Department  makes  no  claim  that  it  can  always 
sell  goods  in  the  New  York  market  higher  than  other 
dealers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  can  do  nothing  of  the 
kind.  It  simply  does  the  best  it  can  under  the  circum¬ 
stances  to  get  the  best  prices  that:  the  grade  of  the 
goods  will  demand,  and  it  makes  a  prompt  and  accur¬ 
ate  return  for  them.  .Sometimes,  when  perishable 
goods  arrive  late  in  the  week,  or  late  in  the  day.  after 
the  hulk  of  the  trade  is  over,  it  is  necessary  to  shade 
the  price  in  order  to  move  the  goods.  If  held  over  they 
would  be  worth  less.  There  are  many  conditions  in  the 
New  York  market  that  affect  the  price  and  the  sales, 
v  1  i<  h  cannot  in  every  instance  he  explained  to  the 
shipper.  Without  an  experience  in  the  market,  the 
grower  would  hardly  understand  all  conditions,  even 
if  explained  in  a  letter.  The  grower’s  concern  is  that, 
his  goods  are  put  in  the  hands  of  an  agency  that  will 
do  tlio  best  possible  with  it  in  all  conditions;  do,  in 
fact,  what  the  grower  would  himself  do  if  he  was  on 
the  snot,  and  give  him  the  confidence  of  knowing  that 
he  is  getting  an  accurate  return  for  his  goods.  This 
the  Department  does  for  them. 
THE  EGG  TRADE. 
CJ*<?  RURAL,  NEW-YORKER 
dueers  ought  to  consider,  m  matter  where  they  are  sell¬ 
ing  their  eggs.  It  is  not  so  much  a  matter  as  to  wheth¬ 
er  the  Department  can  return  more,  or  even  as  much 
in  every  instance  as  another  receiver  in  the  same  mar¬ 
ket;  it  is  a  fair  question  to  consider  how  much  the 
dealer  would  return  and  what  the  prices  would  be  with¬ 
out  the  influence  the  Department  is  exerting  on  the 
market. 
Auction  sales  are  reported  as  follows: 
Summary  of  sales  of  miscellaneous  farm  products 
during  the  week  ending  June  22nd,  1016: 
223%  cases 
DAIRY  PRODUCTS. 
1.052  lhs.  cheese  . 
20  lbs.  butter  . 
22  lbs.  butter  . 
520  lbs.  butter  . 
203  lbs.  butter  . 
264  lbs.  butter  . 
226  lbs.  butter  . . . . 
VEGETABLES. 
32  hampers  peas  . . 
7  hampers  pears  . 
0  hampers  peas  . 
20  hampers  peas  . 
2  hampers  peas  . . . 
5  hampers  peas  . 
2  doz.  bunches  asparagus . 
6  doz.  bunches  asparagus . 
3  crate  tomatoes  . 
4  crates  peppers  . 
2  crates  peppers  . 
4  baskets  pens  . 
4  boxes  rhubarb  . 
1  bbl.  potatoes  . 
4  ltbls.  potatoes  . 
3  bids,  potatoes  . 
DRESSED  MEATS. 
3  e.-Cf,  HI  lbs . 
1  ea'f.  72  lhs . 
1  calf.  02  lbs . 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
0  lbs.  calf  sk'n  . 
1)  lbs.  calf  skiu  . 
$0.14% 
.  .$0.20 
.  .  .2$ 
.  .  .27 
. .  .20 
.  .  .25 
.  .  .24 
_ $1.50 
_  1.62% 
. . . .  1.75 
1.12% 
1.25 
3.50 
2  25 
L50 
2  25 
2^00 
1.83  1-3 
.  1.25 
$0.1  8 
.16 
.18 
$0.40 
.38 
FRUIT. 
64  qts.  cherries  . $0.10 
04  qts.  cherries  . 07% 
128  qts.  ^berries  . . 00% 
32.8  qts.  cherries  . . . 00 
2  baskets  cherries  . 00 
5  baskets  cherries  . 50 
11  baskets  cherries  . 40 
1)0  qts.  gooseberries  .  05% 
04  qts.  strawberries  . 12 
102  qts.  strawberries . 30 
100  qts.  strawberries  . 00 
70S  qts.  strawberries  . 08 
384  qts.  strawberries  . 07 
00  qts,  strawberries  . 00% 
700  qts.  strawberries  . 00 
102  qts.  strawberries  . 05% 
809  qts.  strawberries  . 05 
223  qts.  strawberries  . 04% 
It  is  well  known  in  the  New  York  trade  that  the 
Mercantile  Exchange  sets  the  price  daily  for  eggs. 
This  has  been  the  custom  for  years,  and  its  price-mak¬ 
ing  lias  beau  the  subject  of  litigation,  of  court  decree, 
a  ml  of  State  investigation.  The  rejiort  of  the  last  in- 
\  instigation  by  Referee  Edward  R.  O’Malley  has  been 
recently  published,  ami  severely  criticises  the  Exchange 
for  its  influence  in  manipulating  prices,  and  criticises 
the  Finer- Barry  Price  Current,  which  the  referee 
characterizes  as  “a  mechanism  for  the  manipulation  of 
I  rices.” 
The  receivers  of  eggs  accept  the  quotations  of  Timer- 
Larry  and  the  Mercantile  Exchange  without  much  ques- 
I  on  and  eggs  are  sold  all  over  the  city  on  those  prices. 
When  the  conditions  warranted,  the  Department  has  en¬ 
deavored  to  sell  at  prices  higher  than  the  quotations. 
I I  was  the  first  to  advance  tile  price  from  26e  to  27  c. 
l  ast  week  it  was  the  first  again  to  advance  from  27c 
to  28c.  and  again  from  2Sc  to  29c.  Its  vol¬ 
ume  of  receipts  is  not  large  enough  to  control  the  mar¬ 
ket  in  itself,  and  of  course  hut  a  limited  amount  of  its 
receipts  sell  at  these  high  prices.  It  requires  strictly 
fancy  stock  to  bring  the  price,  lmt  it  does  help  make 
the  quotations,  and  in  that  way,  does  help  make  a  gon- 
<  ral  advance  in  the  wholesale  price  of  eggs. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  speculators  and  large 
dealers  in  eggs,  the  first  part  of  the  season,  met  at 
their  convention  in  Kansas  City,  and  made  an  attempt 
to  fix  the  price  on  storage  eggs  for  the  season  at  19c. 
Whether  the  publicity  given  the  scheme  at  the  time,  and 
the  small  hut  constant  influence  of  the  Department  in 
forcing  an  open  market  is  responsible  for  the  result,  the 
fact  remains  that  lew,  if  any.  eggs  have  been  sold  at 
the  Kansas  City  price,  ami  eggs  have  gone  into  storage 
this  year  at  prices  ranging  from  22c  to  24c.  Last  year 
eggs  were  stored  from  18c  to  22c  a  dozen,  and  the  sup- 
lily  this  year  is  greater  than  it  was  last  year.  Just 
how  much  influence  the  open  market,  accurate  returns, 
and  publicity  of  the  Department  has  on  these  matters 
it  is  not  possible  to  accurately  define;  we  can  only  take 
results  as  a  whole,  but  it  is  an  influence  that  pro- 
POULTRY. 
59 
lhs. 
chickens 
50 
lbs. 
poultry 
49 
lhs. 
poultry 
111 
lbs. 
'broilers 
538 
lbs. 
broilers 
210 
lbs. 
broilers 
5.81 
lbs. 
broilers 
doz. 
sq  uabs 
147 
lbs. 
fowl  .  .  . 
62 
lbs. 
fowl  .  . . 
194 
lbs. 
fowl  .  .  . 
341 
lbs. 
fowl  _ 
146 
lbs. 
fowl  .  .  . 
252 
lbs. 
fowl  .  .  . 
37 
lbs. 
fowl  ... 
1.8 
lbs. 
duclc  .  . . 
26 
lbs. 
duck  .  . , 
22 
lbs. 
old  encks 
75 
lbs. 
old  cocks 
.$0.26 
.  .26 
.  .28 
.  .20 
.  .2S 
.26 
1.00 
-22% 
...  .21  % 
. . .  .21 
.  . .  .20 
. . .  .19 
. . .  .IS 
...  .20 
. . .  .18 
. . .  .15 
. . .  .14 
Claims  Collected 
During  the  past  four  months  the  Department  of 
Foods  and  Markets  has  collected  40  claims  against 
transportation  companies  for  delays  or  damage  to  goods 
in  shipment.  The  claims  have  varied  from  24  cents  to 
$77.80  in  amount.  They  aggregate  about  $500.  It  has 
required  considerable  detail  work  to  recover  these 
claims.  No  commission  dealer  would  give  the  time  to 
it;  and  the  shippers  never  could  follow  the  claims  to  a 
successful  issue.  It  is  properly  a  work  of  the  Depart¬ 
ment. 
Alleged  Egg  Damage 
An  investigation  by  the  State  Department  of  Foods 
and  Markets,  of  a  shipment  of  six  cases  of  eggs  by  A. 
0.  Parsons  of  King  City,  Mo.,  to  ,T*  K.  Lasher  &  Rro. 
of  Harrison  street.  Now  York  City,  shows  that  the  eggs 
were  sold  on  commission  at.  25%e.  per  dozen  to  a  buyer 
in  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y.  The  day  following  the  sale, 
the  buyer  called  Mr.  Lasher  Oil  the  'phone  and  put  in  a 
complaint  that  some  of  the  eggs  were  cracked  and 
leaked,  so  that  others  were  moldy,  and  made  a  claim  of 
l%c.  a  dozen  of  an  allowance.  Without  any  further 
examination  by  Lusher  the  allowance  was  made  and  an 
939 
account  sales  of  the  eggs  was  then  sent  the  shipper  at 
24c.  per  dozen.  The  telephone  charge  for  making  the 
claim  for  an  allowance  was  20e.,  and  this  was  n!«  > 
charged  up  against  the  shipper.  Whether  the  eggs  were 
broken  and  moldy  or  not  could  not,  of  course,  lie  verified 
by  the  Department  at  the  time  of  the  investigation,  a 
month  later.  The  custom  of  allowances  of  this  kind 
between  commission  dealers  and  buyers  is  rather  com¬ 
mon.  Similar  allowances  have  been  found  in  several 
eases  investigated,  and  to  say  the  least  reveals  rather  n 
loose  method  on  the  part  of  the  commission  dealer  in 
the  handling  of  shipments  on  consignment. 
The  Milk  Situation 
Some  months  ago  the  milk  producers  at  Little  Falls. 
N.  Y.,  organized  a  Producers’  Co-operative  Association 
to  handle  and  market  their  own  milk.  They  took  tie1 
subject  of  finding  a  customer  up  with  the  Department 
of  Foods  and  Markets  in  this  city,  and  the  Depart¬ 
ment  found  a  customer  for  them  at  a  price  which  nets 
the  producer  fully  one  cent  a  quart  above  the  Borden's 
schedule  price  from  April  to  October. 
Last  week  a  representative  of  a  big  dealer  solieite  1 
the  milk  from  the  Little  Falls  Company  and  offered  a 
premium  above  their  present  contract.  The  De¬ 
partment  has  found  customers  for  other  producers’ 
associations  on  equally  favorable  terms.  Last 
week  we  closed  a  contract  for  a  Northern  New 
York  association  of  producers  at  a  price  for  cream 
equivalent  to  2.8  cents  per  pound  for  butter,  or  about  20 
cents  per  pound  for  cheese,  and  twenty-five  per  cent, 
above  the  schedule  prices  issued  by  the  regular  dealers 
for  milk.  Butter  is  now  selling  at  30  cents  for 
"extras,”  and  cheese  16  cents  per  pound  for  best  grades. 
We  know  where  one.  contract  with  a  co-operative  as¬ 
sociation  exists  for  the  sale  of  cream  at  $1.50  per  can 
tinier  the  present  prices  of  cream.  One  factory  produc¬ 
ing  40  cans  of  cream  a  day  is  losing  just  $00  a  day  «  n 
its  present  contract. 
There  is  certainly  food  for  thought  and  cause  for  re¬ 
flection  in  these  records  for  men  who  are  producing 
milk.  It  does  not  do  farmers  any  good  to  organize  a 
co-operative  association  unless  they  are  able  to  market 
the  milk  to  tin*  best  advantage.  This  want  of  an  out¬ 
let  has  been  the  great  drawback  to  the  co-operative  as¬ 
sociations.  After  they  have  been  formed  and  their 
Creameries  organized,  the  officers  were  not  in  a  posi¬ 
tion  to  find  a  profitable  outlet  for  the  milk,  and  the  best 
they  could  do  was  to  turn  the  creamery  over  to  some 
dealer  on  a  contract,  and  this  left  them  in  little  if  any 
better  condition  than  before  the  association  was  formed. 
The  best  that  producers  could  do  under  sucli  circum¬ 
stances  was  to  contract  for  six  months  for  what  they 
could  get. 
We  believe  that  the  time  has  come  now  when  this  con¬ 
dition  can  he  changed.  The  Department  of  Foods  and 
Markets  has  had  no  appropriation  that  it  could  use  to 
furnish  suitable  facilities  for  handling  milk  in  New 
York  City.  It  has  had  no  appropriation  fur  the  service 
at  all.  Yet,  it  has  been  able  to  do  something.  It  has 
found  an  outlet  for  some  co-operative  associations  in  the 
State  at  better  prices  than  the  regular  dealers  were 
paying,  and  it  can  now  sell  milk  at  prices  consider¬ 
ably  in  advance  of  the  schedules  adopted  by  the  regular 
dealers  for  either  immediate  or  future  delivery.  The 
dealers  will  soon  approach  producers  for  new  contracts 
for  the  delivery  of  milk  from  October  1st  to  April  1st. 
Fnder  the  conditions  as  made  known  above,  it  seems 
to  us  that  milk  producers  in  the  State  will  refuse  to 
make  contracts  on  tile  basis  of  other  years  or  even  at 
small  advanced  prices.  If  they  do,  the  milk  problem  is 
almost  hopeless.  To  say  the  least,  there  is  no  need  of 
associations  accepting  any  such  terms.  Their  policy 
should  he  to  refuse  to  cuter  contracts  for  anything  more 
than  a  month  at  the  time,  and  if  the  price  is  not  made 
from  day  to  day  as  it  may  be,  k-t  it  be  made  from 
mouth  to  month  at  the  least.  In  making  long  term  con¬ 
tracts.  the  dealers  are  bound  to  be  on  the  safe  side. 
They  make  the  price  on  the  basis  of  a  full  supply  and 
the  producer  loses  the  advantage  that  would  come  to 
him  on  the  higher  price  of  a  short  market. 
The  producers  have  control  of  the  supply.  Tin* 
dealer  is  helpless  without  it.  All  the  producer  need  do 
is  to  take  care  of  his  surplus  at  times  of  over-supply 
and  establish  his  own  agency  for  the  selling  of  the  reg¬ 
ular  supply  from  month  to  month  in  the  New  York 
market,  and  he  will  have  solved  the  milk  problem  as 
completely  as  it  can  ever  be  solved  as  a  business  prop¬ 
osition.  1  lie  business  will  then  be  on  an  economic 
basis  and  under  a  system  as  complete  and  efficient  as 
the  sale  of  any  other  commodity  in  the  market.  The 
Department  of  Foods  and  Markets  was  organized  to 
supply  just  such  a  selling  agency-  It  is  prepared  for 
the  task  and  all  that  is  required  is  the  proper  organ¬ 
ization  of  the  producers  to  supply  the  milk  as  needed. 
It  is  hi  effect  an  organization  of  and  by  the  producers 
themselves.  They  need  not  entrust  the  management  of 
it  to  auy  stranger  or  to  anyone  about  whom  they  enter¬ 
tain  any  doubt  as  to  his  ability  to  handle  it.  They  have 
it  within  their  power  to  furnish  their  own  man  to  d<» 
the  work  and  all  the  prestige  and  power  and  regula¬ 
tion  of  the  State  to  see  that,  the  work  is  done  efficiently 
and  honestly. 
No  State  ever  offered  more.  No  producers  ever  had 
a  greater  opportunity.  It  only  remains  for  the  men 
who  produce  milk  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  this  agency 
to  sell  it  for  them. 
