The RURAL. NEW-VORKER 
997 
The Egg Trade of New York City 
The returns that we get for our eggs from the com¬ 
mission houses in New York City are very unsatisfac¬ 
tory. This is a general complaint from all egg pro¬ 
ducers in this section. For example, recently a friend 
was in New York and called in at a commission house, 
lie was a stranger to the commission people. On see¬ 
ing a case of eggs from a party he knew in his home 
town, he inquired wliat the commission house people 
would take for them. They asked 36c per dozen. That 
was highest New York quotation at that time. On re¬ 
turning home he inquired of the shipper what he re¬ 
ceived for this particular case of eggs. The shipper got 
-Uc. less commission and express. 
This tiling is happening every day with the commis¬ 
sion men m New York, They are taking advantage of 
the egg producers all over the country in this way. 
They keep whatever they core to. There is no compe¬ 
tition among them. They are allied together to pay a 
certain price and bank the difference to their own credit. 
The consumer in New York City is paying from 15c to 
40c a dozen more for eggs than the producer gets. In 
other words, the cost of selling a dozen eggs in New 
York City is from 15c to 40c. This state of affairs has 
developed to this unreasonable stage recently. We 
used to think if we were beaten out of only 8c or 4c a 
dozen we were doing pretty well. Now the dealers or 
commission men take 10c per dozen, and in some cases 
more, besides the regular 5 per cent commission. 
Is there anything that can be done to stop this kind 
of stealing? c. j. h. 
New York. 
Our correspondent has a pretty thorough under¬ 
standing of the New York egg trade. He neglects 
only the cold storage egg feature. This has a bear¬ 
ing on the fresh egg market, because the storage eggs 
are bought up to the season of greatest production 
and lowest prices in the South and West, and sold 
when eggs are scarce and high, as strictly fresh 
eggs. Therefore they come in competition with 
really fresh eggs produced at the highest cost. 
New York City is the best egg market in the 
world. It consumes around 130,000 cases of 30 doz- 
• ns a week, O.TOO.tHK) eases a year. That means 46.- 
>'00,000 eggs a week, or 2,400.000,000 eggs a year. It 
i; a profitable trade to handle. It is probably more 
completely saturated with trickery and pilfering than 
any other one line of trade in the country, with the 
possible exception of the New York live poultry bus¬ 
iness, which is a constant scandal. 
To answer our friend's question, we think the 
abuses in the egg trade can be corrected, but we 
doubt if they will soon be corrected. The system un¬ 
der which the egg trade is handled is well estab¬ 
lished. It represents a large amount of wealth. 
The big packers are in it in a big way. The cold 
storage houses are concerned. The banks that fur¬ 
nish the money for egg speculation have an interest 
in the system. The insurance companies find it a 
profitable line. and. finally, the commission dealers 
and jobbers and wholesalers are anxious to keep the 
system just as it is. Through politics the city and 
State governments protect the system as it is. Indi¬ 
vidual and local groups have little chance to work 
out a reform in a crooked system so well entrenched. 
I'nder the auspices of the New York Agricultural 
Society in 1912 we discovered these conditions, and 
concluded that since the city and State invisible 
governments were protecting the system, the only 
way to correct it was to induce the State openly and 
frankly to declare a purpose to correct it. and find a 
way to do it. The Department of Foods and Mar¬ 
kets was created for the purpose, and in the face of 
the most strenuous and persistent. Opposition it made 
progress. H improvised a market and invited ship¬ 
ments. In 15 months it was the largest receiver of 
fresh eggs iu the city, and led the high quotations. 
It reduced the commission in the city from 10 to 5 
per cent. It held the railroads responsible for break¬ 
age and loss. It issued an order that practically 
stopped the sale of storage eggs as fresh eggs. The 
order was sustained by every court in the State 
against the packers and other powerful dealers. 
l'lans were under way to extend and Improve the 
service to fresh egg producers, but t.ruler the pre¬ 
tence of improving and enlarging the work, which 
be approved in words, the Governor of the State 
yielded to their demands to create and approve a 
law to defeat the purposes that the department was 
created to serve. It was all proposed under the 
cloak of patriotism to help win the war. and to 
oppose it at the time was to invite accusations of 
disloyalty to the flag. 
The new law once in force, the egg sales were 
promptly stopped, and the order forbidding the 
fraudulent sale of storage eggs as fresh eggs was 
repealed. In three weeks the storage eggs were on 
sale all over the city at 05c a dozen, against 43c 
when previously sold for what they were. The com¬ 
mission advanced from 5 to 10 per cent, and all the 
old tricks reappeared. This iu a simple recital of 
what happened in the egg trade in 15 months’ effort 
to correct the abuses in it. 
Our conviction is that the commission trade in 
eggs cannot be much changed while the State sup¬ 
ports the j)resent system. We proved that the State 
could reform it, if it undertook the task in good 
faith, but no group of citizens is strong enough to 
defeat a system supported by the State government. 
The State is the people, but the State government is 
the politicians. The politicians are in virtual part¬ 
nership with the egg dealers, and before we can re¬ 
form the egg trade we must dissolve that partner¬ 
ship. 
Purchasing Power of Farm Crops 
Diminished 
The Department of Agriculture each month fig¬ 
ures the buying power of farm products. What is 
called the index number shows a fair comparison 
with other years. For instance, take the year 1913 
as the standard, and figure the purchasing power of 
ordinary farm products at 100 per cent. Other years 
or months are compared with this. The following 
table shows how this has worked out: 
Wholesale Purchasing 
price power of farm 
all eommodl- products ex- 
Tear and month 
Crops and 
lire stork 
combined 
lies, except pressed ill terms 
farm pro- of commodities 
duets and food farmers hny 
1913 . 
100 
100 
100 
1914 . 
106 
94 
112 
1915 . 
102 
97 
106 
1916 . 
118 
132 
89 
1917 . 
186 
176 
106 
1918 . 
208 
186 
112 
1919 . 
216 
195 
111 
1920 . 
203 
234 
86 
1921 . 
108 
161 
67 
1921 
J une .. 
106 
158 
67 
July . 
108 
152 
71 
August . 
110 
150 
74 
September . 
106 
149 
71 
October . 
101 
152 
66 
November . 
95 
152 
62 
December . 
94 
152 
62 
1922 
January . 
96 
150 
65 
February . 
106 
149 
71 
March .. 
114 
150 
76 
April . 
115 
153 
i D 
May . 
118 
161 
73 
June . 
119 
164 
72 
See if we can make this clear. Iu 1913 the price 
of farm products represented 100 and their purchas¬ 
ing power also 100. In June of this year the aver¬ 
age price had risen to 119, while the purchasing 
power was only 72. while at the same time the whole¬ 
sale price of what a farmer had to buy was 164. 
Put in another way, farmers received only 19 per 
cent more for their crops than in 1913. while the 
wholesale cost of what they buy had advanced 64 
per cent. In spite of all increases of cost in labor 
and material, and the awful increase of taxes, the 
farmers’ crop had lost 2S per cent of its purchasing 
power. T’hat is the average, including many farms 
which are so favorably situated that they made good 
profit. Many a farmer finds himself with no in¬ 
crease in prices for his crop, and the purchasing 
power cut in half. There can be no permanent pros¬ 
perity until the farmer is prosperous. 
“Charlie Cole,” Oliver Cabana and the 
Holstein Cow 
It is now three years since the infamous “Cabana 
case" burst like a bombshell in the ranks of the IIol- 
stein-Fnesian Cattle Breeders’ Association. A low- 
grade individual. Charlie Cole, confessed that he had 
made fraudulent tests of dairy cows. Coder his 
skillful hands cows of no more than fair ability pro¬ 
duced a wonderful amount of cream, and thus con¬ 
veyed remarkable breeding value to all their off¬ 
spring. No one besides Cole was able to make cows 
produce such milk. And Cole seemed to regard these 
great cows very much like the old song: 
If I hail a cow that gave such milk 
I'd dress her in the finest silk. 
I’d feed her on the choicest hay. 
And milk her 50 times a day. 
Charlie Cole certainly eared for the cow, and was 
careful to milk her himself, for without his own 
manipulations her milk always fell off about 2 per 
cent in cream. Cole's method was very simple. lie 
did not give the cow drugs or feed her on brandy or 
whisky, lie had a surer thing than that. There 
was a rubber bag or water bottle strapped around 
his waist, under his blouse or jumper. This con¬ 
tained a good supply of cream. A small rubber tube 
ran down from this bag. so arranged that when de¬ 
sired Cole could slip tlie tube into the milk pail and 
let the cream run out of the bag. A very slick 
scheme it was, and he worked it on a number of 
cows—or at least so he confessed. 
By the help of this water bag some of those cows 
became famous as record breakers, and naturally 
their fame extended to their "uncles and their cous¬ 
ins and their aunts.” and all near relatives. Fab¬ 
ulous prices were paid or suggested for young stock 
carrying the blood of these animals. If you will trace 
the "greatness" of some human families back to the 
origin of things, you will often find some very com¬ 
mon blood. These “world beaters” traced back to 
Charlie Cole's water bottle, and when the truth be¬ 
came known there was an explosion. We know of 
at least one suicide as the result, of this fraudulent 
work. 
When these facts became known through Cole's 
confession and later repudiation, the executive com¬ 
mittee and the directors of the Holstein-Friesian 
Association attempted to do what they could to 
straighten out the tangled mess. A number of the 
cows which Cole said he “rubber-bagged*’ were 
owned by Mr. Oliver Cabana. Jr., a wealthy manu¬ 
facturer who ran a farm as a side line. One would 
naturally suppose that a man in Mr. Cabana's posi¬ 
tion would come out instantly and open the way to 
a prompt and thorough “clean-up." Instead of doing 
that Mr. Cabana went into that favorite resort of the 
rich when they seek to delay justice—the courts, 
lie tried to restrain and enjoin the directors from 
acting on the records of his cattle. For three years 
this wealthy procrastinator fought his case through 
the Supreme Court, the Appellate Division and the 
Court of Appeals iu New York. He was beaten at 
every point, bur he succeeded iu delaying the ease 
for nearly three years, until much of the details 
have passed out of mind. 
As if this was not enough, after these Cabana 
eases were decided, Mr. I’aul T. Brady, who had pur¬ 
chased several head of cattle from Cabana, brought 
still another suit against the association. This was 
simply an effort to tie the hands of the directors and 
cause further delay. This case lias been argued but 
it not yet decided. We think it will go as the others 
have done, but quite likely someone else will come 
forward with still another suit to delay proceedings 
and prevent the directors from clearing up this 
nasty mess. 
This case reveals in the most striking way the 
ease with which a wealthy man, through a skilled 
lawyer, can use the courts—not for justice, hut for 
a plain, common hold-up. A poor man has no chance 
against any such law. He is crushed out by the 
dollar, but the rich man may go slowly from court 
to court until he tires out his opponent or ruins him 
financially, and thus forces him to quit. Thus a bit 
of legal machinery originally designed to give justice 
to I he innocent becomes in the hands of rich men a 
rank injustice and weapon for delay. We are glad 
the llolstein-Friesian Association stood right up to 
the rack in this case and fought it through. 
New York State Notes 
That the culling of poultry is a business proposition 
was never so evident as this year, when ponlfrymen 
who are not deriving the major part of their income 
from their poultry are joining with those who are em¬ 
ploying a culler to go through their entire flock and 
cull out the non-producers. Some are keeping these 
non-producers in a pen for a time to see if by chance 
there are any that are laying that have been thrown 
out. They are finding very few of these where experi¬ 
enced cullers are employed. 
Packing houses of apples throughout the State are 
finding as one of their problems the large number of 
varieties of apples. This of course adds to the expense 
of operation. If it were possible to limit the number 
to Id or 12 standard sorts the cost would be very much 
reduced. Of course this cannot be done. The one con¬ 
soling thing to the association is that this same prob¬ 
lem has been met in other States. For example, in the 
Sebastopol district of California nine packing houses 
reported 68 per cent of Gravensieins. Spitzenburg S per 
cent, while some of the other varieties ran as low as 
Delicious. TO boxes; Pippins, 22 boxes; Willowtwigs, 
IS boxes. 
Seneca County Hay Growers’ Association held their 
annual meeting at Romulus on July 10. This associa¬ 
tion is one of the outstanding co-operative associations 
or the State, having made a steady growth since it was 
organized. The association employs a man who is famil¬ 
iar with the hay market who receives a commission per 
ton for the hay sold. They also handle the crop of 
clover seed which they produce. This association is 
well past the experimental stage. 
Tne Columbia County Sheep Growers’ Association 
pooled seven tons of wool this year Mr the State pool. 
One thing should not pass unnoticed in regard to this 
pool, and that is the increase iu the local price of wool 
a few days before the county wool was loaded. This is 
a case where those outside of the organization received 
benefit from the organization. It is nothing to boast 
about, however. 
One of the features of the Dairymen’s Field Day at 
Copake was the row judging contest oti the basis of 
'ahat the animals were actually producing. There were 
five animals in the ring, and not one of the contestants 
got four placed right. The exterior of u emv is often 
deceiving. Milk weighing even if not done regularly, 
has an important place in modern dairying, where the 
profits must be made on the consistent produeers. 
The Cayuga growers pooled 9.916 lbs. of wool this 
year. They pooled last year and have gone in again, 
satisfied that co-operation has paid and is paying. 
When representatives of the Farm Bureau and the 
Market Growers’ Association appeared before the mayor 
of the city of Buffalo requesting permits be granted for. 
peddling produc- on the streets of Buffalo, the same rs 
were issued for tin past two years, these permits were 
flatly refused. It is possible that such permits will be 
issued this Fall where there is a large surplus of such 
vegetables as potatoes and cabbage. 
Tlie Greene County Sheep Growers’ Association Fad¬ 
ed eight tons of wool at the Cat skill station on July 10 
and 11. This is a good shown g from Greene County 
for the sheep population of that county. e. a. f. 
