The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-08-15

high prices, stirred up by a few daily
papers in Seattle which is short of
news features, the city of Seattle has
been induced to experiment with the
public market, and will open one on
Pike Place for the first time on Sat
urday. August II. Here the farmers
who live near the city will bring their
garden truck, back their wagons
against the curb. and sell directly to
those consumers who desire to come
thence to patronize them.
The funny thing about this is the
fact that this movement will not af-
feet the Western avenue dealers and
commission men in the least. The
newspapers blamed these people for
the high prices which prevailed on
fruits and farm produce, and advo-
Gated a public market to carry the
farmers products around Western
avenue and sell direct to the con-
sumer. But the garden trucks and
other things that will be dealt with
in this market are not now and very
seldom have been handled by West
ern avenue This produce as rule
has been sold by the growers them
selves directly to the retailer, and the
consumer bought from the retailer
The Western avenue people are en-
gagged in heavier business than this.
They have Alaska and outside trade
to look after, and what local business
they do is with a class of customers
who will not be affected one way or
the other by the public market, but
will keep right on buying where they
have before.
The Seattle produce dealers and
commission men are glad to see the
public market established, and hope
it will be a success. They claim
that if the market is successful and
is conducted properly, it will help
them in a great many ways. We Will
take the heavier shippers to Alaska,
for instance. At the present time
dealers like J. B. Powles and H. S.
Emerson must place their orders with
the gardeners who have associations
which dictate the prices to be paid.
In order to get the produce for north
ern shipments they must place these
orders in advance at the speclhed
prices. In the meantime, if there is
a delay in the sailing of the boat, they
are nevertheless compelled to take
this produce on the day they have
ordered, and if they have to hold it
two or three days it often proves
loss to them. 1t is at least an in
convenience to carry produce over,
and often it must be disposed of on
the local market for what price it
will bring, as the produce shipped
north must be absolutely fresh and up
to grade With the public market,
they would be enabled to wait until
the last minute, and then when as
sured of the exact time of the sailing
of the steamer, they could send their
representatives to the market on the
morning of the boats sailing, pick out
just what they needed, and only what
they needed, pay the farmers price
for it and ship it away without taking
any risk of loss whatsoever. In this
and other ways, the public market
would benefit the Western avenue
dealers as much as anyone else.
H. S. Emerson is one of those who
heartily wishes for the success of the
public market, but he is inclined to
be a little skeptical about it. He says
that the plan to rent selling booths
the year around to the farmers is
impracticable, as there are only about
four months out of the year when the
farmer has green vegetables from his
own ranch that he can bring to mar
ket and supply his booth. And yet
he must rent this booth during the
entire year, or the public market will
lose it's source of support and prove
a failure. The only way man could
rent one of these booths successfully
would be to supply it when it is pos
sible from his own ranch, about four