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Show l kSituatibii,J I in the Middle West that the reaching out of the Pacific Coast buyers for 'their suppies due to curtailed ho:; reduction on the Coast has hroutrht (a new competitive element into th-; th-; purchasing of hogs, forcing direct j buying. It is true that California i? furnishing only about 10 per cent of 1 the hogs necessary to meet her pork mil pork product requirements lr:'. in viewing the situation from a country coun-try wide standpoint, even if th. Pacific Coast Federal inspectc ! :h.i:ghter it can be seen that this represents re-presents only a small factor in th? entire volume and would not be c' enough consequence to have any material effect on the whole scheme of tilings. It should be of considerable benefit bene-fit to everyone concerned from pro-du pro-du cor down through all of the marketing mar-keting and distributing channels to the consumer to have a continuation of the publicity being given this subject sub-ject both from the viewpoint of those who believe direct buying is economically econ-omically sound and from those who foel that the central markets are the economical and practical channels through which a well balanced distribution distri-bution may be realized. T'.icve hr.s been so much said of i i".te on the subject of direct buying 1 of hogs in the country that I pre-!.mi: pre-!.mi: it is timely to present some of ! viie ttements on the subject pro ' rnd con as to the merits of the practice prac-tice or otherwise. Advocates of that system contend ilirt the price of hogs at the central markets is not affected by direct ujying, as for every withdrawal of j buying power from the market, just ! so many hogs are kept off of the market, the relation of supply to demand not being affected. Those who believe that a 100 per cent movement through the central markets mar-kets is essential to a well balanced , distribution, point out that the way it actually works is that supplies . handled in the country are an un-, un-, known quantity, whereas supplies at! cr-ntr?l points are visible and by vir- j t-o of this, supply and dsmand is j rllo-ved to more effectively govern prices and a better balanced distribution distri-bution is obtained. This has been demonstrated of late by heavy hog runs at the central markets m the free of bvyers already having se-! se-! c red substantial supplies direct and ':.' ithdvawal of buying power in ' he face of heavy receipts has na- i 'u'';'lly depressed prices until the re- ipts were absorbed, j In justifying the direct buying of !hegs the statement is made that price declines of 1927 were in no way brought about by direct buying but rather by increased pork supplies and n diminishing exnort demand and Uiat the break in prices would have come about regardless of where hogs were purchased. This is based on . the contention that pork prices broke and brought down live prices. To refute this the element adverse to ! direct buying points out that this is not necessarily correct as heavy receipts re-ceipts with a diminished purchasing power due to direct buying might cause breaks in live hog prices which would reflect themselves in the prices of dressed pork. It is like the question ques-tion of which came first, the hen or the egg, wdien the subject is discussed discus-sed as to whether dressed meat prices break the live animal market breaks dressed meat prices. No doubt it happens both ways'. i There is no doubt that the opera-; tions of the interior packers (those, operating near the source of supply) have created a competitive element in tko purchasing of hogs which has ' had some bearing on the packers lo-1 cated near the central maikets going back into the country after their sup- j plies. It is also true that the hog situation differs from the cattle and , sheep situation in that the benefits i gained from by-products are not as great as on cattle and hogs but still it would see reasonable to assume j that the advantage gained through j volume operations at a central point i both in buying and manufacture of i finished products would to a large extent offset any advantage gained by the buyer in making direct purchases pur-chases at widely scattered points. The argument has been advanced |