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Show TRAVEL OF FOODSTUFFS BETWEEN RAILWAY AND ULTIMATE CONSUMER STBBBBM VKaafVBBBSTvaaBi i Lh c sssasnr ,. ? itH SBlsjMaWBig mswbb4 I BBBBBsff Bm Wf TnTSTaTBYT t - fsr-BBB I -JEjJK T i 1 1 1 'i I BHMIBH fltJtlBBBBlf '"" . BjA vajf B ( JlfKvt BBBBBBBBBB E(Hj Jj I tn B K a V if 'VJlvS " A Glimpse of tne Long and Costly Route Which Most of Our Foodstuffs Travel Between the Railway and the Consumer. A line from u popular song "TIkto's u Long, Long Trail A-wlndlng" np-plies np-plies to at least ono of tho many and devious paths which old man 11. 0. L. (roads In his. effort to mnko living complex and expensive for tho average person. The pnrtlculnr byway referred to Is' that which. wholcnlo ' shipments of food follow in their costly trnvgl from the railway car to (he retailer. A cnr-( load ot fruit or vegetables can he sped half wny across the continent In n day or two, but on arriving In tho city where the food Is to ho retailed, tiio shipment starts on n winding trail which too often adds little but unnecessary un-necessary costs nnd delny. Eliminating Expensive Carting. This expensive shunting nnd hauling of foodstuffs from point to point In the cities mid the spollnge which the unnecessary un-necessary handling causes are tho big Items centralized wholesale tennlnnls eliminate. Tho bureau of markets. United States department of agriculture, agricul-ture, hns been on this trail, literally, following shipments step by step to determine how much expense Is milled mill-ed to the cost of food by unnecessary handling between the shipper and tho retailer. The route followed by a carload car-load of peaches entering n inlddlo Western city over n railroad not provided pro-vided with team tracks well Illustrates this phnso of the distribution problem. This car hod to bo switched from tho rallrond on which It entered tho city, through the crowded switch yard, to another trnck which Is accessible ac-cessible to teams. Hero It stood until tho receiving wholesalers' teamsters could finish nnother Job. After this delny two wngons wero drawn up ho-' side tho car, In turn, nnd wero londed with the peaches. Thereupon they started for the wholesale houso which was two miles nwny. The teamsters' route lay through tho most congested part of the city, the wholesale district being closo to the busy retail section, Tho wngons wero n full hour nnd n quarter making tho (rip. Meanwhile, tho sun bent down an the penches nnd tho city's dust nnd llrt filtered In through tho crates so (hat the fruit was far from being as fresh and nttrnctlve as when token from tho cnr. Moreover, the Journey so Jostled nnd bruised tho Irult that some of It hnd to be sold at a discount. dis-count. Though the wholesalers wero particularly partic-ularly anxious to get the peaches delivered de-livered to their hales room on the dny of orrlMil, boeouso of the favorable market, only about one-third of the shipment came In by closing time, nnd ,lt wns noon the next dny beforo tho Teinalniler wns delivered. The long, winding trnll did not end nt tho wholesalers'. Onco unloaded, the pcaihes were put on display for ,ihe benefit of various Jobbers, some of ,Whom purchased a fow dozen crates and snnie larger amounts. Some of these men were situated within two or three squares of tho wholesaler and their purchases wero delivered on 1uind trucks. In tho case of other Jobbers Job-bers nnother wagon transfer wns necessary. nec-essary. Next In this process which economists econo-mists call distribution, camo the retailers retail-ers to look over the lots, In the end iui)hig unall quantities such ns they could sell In n day 'or two. This, ot course, necessltntod another handling nnd carting oer tho city's rougli pnvo-ments. pnvo-ments. Lnst, but not least, camo the consumers, con-sumers, ench buying only n smnll fraction frac-tion of a crato and paying n big shnre of the expense nil tho hnudllng had cntnlled. Cartage Is Costly. ThK Instance Is no exaggeration. A er.v largo part of the foodstuffs lirought to American cities goes over some such devious trnll. One Washington Wash-ington (D. C.) wholesale merchant hns stated that he spends J'.'O.OOO a year for cartngo which could bo saved If (he city hnd a wholesale terminal where cars could ho unloaded directly Into premise occupied by tho wholesalers. whole-salers. Following nn Investigation In New York city It yns estimated by n locnl organisation thnt the saving in handling costs which would result II ndequnfo terminal fncllltles were es tabllshed would lio $2,000,000 nnnunl-ly nnnunl-ly by the borough of Richmond; $8,000,000 by Queens; $10,000,000 by the Bronx; $U1.000,000 by Brooklyn, nnd nn even vaster sum by Manhattan. Manhat-tan. Marketing experts admit thnt thoic nro many hallllng aspects to tho high-cost-of-living problem, but contend thnt tho remedy for tho phnso of our costly distribution system Just dc scribed Is plain. Cities which will provide pro-vide modern wholesale tennlnnls, where shipments can bo delivered from tho railroad cars direct to wholesalers whole-salers a few feet nwny, will mnko possible pos-sible the saving of Immense sums of money now charged up to tho consumer. |
