The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-09-01

from the points of advantage as set
forth by the members of the daily
press who have advocated it, namely,
better prices to the farmers and lower
prices to the consumers, the first pub
lie market day in Seattle was not a
success. In the first place it did not
prove to be the medium of exchange
which was so deliberately outlined by
its advocates. The consumers were
there with bells. They flocked to Pike
Place on the morning of August 18th
by the hundreds. There was a contin.
ual stream of women with market
baskets, curious people who wanted to
see what it was going to be like, newly
rich people who wanted to show their
automobiles, and the horse-show con-
tingent with their smart rigs and ami
mails. Indeed from a social standpoint
and from a vehicle and buzz-wagon
exploitation standpoint, the public mar
ket was very successful. 1t was quite
a fad on the opening day. Just how
long the fad will last, however, is like
ly to depend more upon the caprice OF
the people than the wearing qualities
of their brand new market baskets.
From a commercial standpoint, how
ever, your correspondent regrets to
state that the whole affair was rather
Disappointment for all concerned. In
the first place, the idea was for the
farmers to come in large numbers with
their sturdy Moline and Studebaker
wagons laden with what farm produce
they could gather in the early dawn,
and backing their steel-tired wheels
up against the curb on Pike Place,
proceed to act as their own brokers
and auctioneers, and sell their onions
and potatoes and beans and parsnips
directly into the baskets of the anx-
ious, bargain-hunting housewives OF
Seattle. 1t was a "direct from pro-
Queer to consumer" scheme, with a
"rouse NIT the middle man" motive,
but it failed in two important particu-
lars. The. producer, largely for whose
benefit the public market bacteria
were generated, didn't happen along at
the right time, and the middle man
wouldn't "rouse." The consumer was
the only one who kept good faith in
the entire public market compact, and
we have already stated that he was
there with bells-likewise with four
in-hands and the horse and horseless
kind
The public market might have been
more successful had there been farm
ers there to sell the goods. AS it was
there were thousands of consumers
with yawning baskets who had to be
supplied, and it was too good chance
for the peddlers to pass up. The Sc
attic public was astonished, upon first
gaze, at the tremendous proportion OF
the farm population that seemed to be
of the Hebrew and Italian persuasion,
and then after a while, when they had
bought peaches from box labeled
"Wenatchee," and apricots from a
crate labelled Yakima" and got to
figuring on the railroad time tables,
they straightway did not understand
how the farmers had been able to
travel so far in the early dawn, and
came to the conclusion that perhaps
they were not dealing with farmers at
all, but with peddlers and hucksters.
And since this class of merchants are
not accustomed to buy in carload lots
districts, these same people concluded
that they hadn't managed to get
around the hated commission row
trust" after all, and were paying not
only a just profit to the Western Ave
nue. dealers, but likewise the retailers
profit to the foreign-looking gentlemen
in the peddlers' wagons. But it really
didn't matter so much after all. They
had a public market and it was fun to
traipse down to it the first day. 1t was
popular move and they saw many of
their friends. But after all, many have
concluded that they might as well pat
ronize their groceryman, when they
can buy just as cheaply from him, for
the carfare was quite an item; the
time lost in spending the morning
down town was another item, and then