The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-23
MUST ELIMINATE
CENTRAL MARKET
Truck Gardener Declares This
Is Necessary to Break the
Food Combine.
MIDDLEMAN IS FELLOW
WHO GETS THE MOST
Growers Should Be Allowed to
Sell When and Where
They Please.

''In your Aticle on Utah products
which you printed this morning and in
which yon quote q business man as say
ing, Eliminate your central market
scatter your farmers out so that they
will have to sell direct to the retailers
and then your prices will take tum-
ble,' is partial solution of the prob"
lem of high prices" The speaker was
q market gardener and he was talking
with The Tribune on Thursday. Contin-
uing, he said:
''I will go further and say permit
every market gardner to hawk his prod
uce throughout the city wherever he
may desire to go and this Will also
help solve the problem. 1t is not the
grower who reaps the reward IN the
end but the middleman.
No Question as to Combine.
.'It is true that there is combine
now among the growers and the prlces
are at the top notch, This is, of course.
due to the centralized market. Cut tins
central market out and see what II Will
mean. There arc many market garden
ers who would like to get away from a
central market but they are afraid OF
the combines, the growers trust, and
the butchers and grocers' trust, tor
break away for a day would mean a
leaving out in the future, for no mem
Der of the trust would dare buy of them.
'<Were there no central market, then
the farmers, the growers would be COM
pelled TO scatter out and either sell 70
the dealer direct or to the consumer. Or
course there is one thing that adds to
the price of commodities and that is tho
WAY II majority of Salt LakerS buy
stuff There is but little direct market
ing. 1t is all done over the phone.
Then everything is delivered and 1T
costs to deliver goods.
Give Growers Chance.
Now were the growers allowed to
hawk their products as they saw mt ~
would mean 4 material reduction to the
consumer. Now why should You bo COM
PEELED TO pay cents pound TOR CAP
bagc here; 1t sells in Portland Tor "a
cents. and in Denver for 11a cents per
pound: why pay ) cents head for let
tuce when. it sells in Denver for "a
cents; why pay 5 cents bunch Tor
raiishes when Denver sells three
lunches for cents2 You do 1T because
the trusts cited so order IN Salt Lake
"Here you pay 10 cents each for
cantaloupes; in many Of the cltlcs and
especially in the smaller towns they are
sold six for % cents. ] came to Utah
from an eastern state. ] was told that
market gardening was profitable here
and that If J came and invested In
truck farm that could do more than
well. ] am here and have been for hve
years, but ] want to get away.
Had to Buy From Combine.
eyes. I make money but not In the
way I have been used to. ] believe In a
legitimate profit but ] don't believe in
being a hold-up. ! had occasion the
other morning TO want some green stun
which 7 did not raise for a relative OF
mine. I cndeavorcd to buy 1t OF an,
other grower who was at the centrai
market where I was But he would not
let me have 1T. declaring thaI II ne olq
so the butchers and grocers trust
would not buy any more from him, In
other words. he would be boycottcd /
was therefore compelled to buy from
the other trust and pay the eXorbltant
price which was asked,
What Trusts Do.
"Another thing, these two trusts cited
make the cost of living higher in other
ways. If you are a renter your land
lord keeps the rent UP at the top figure;
merchants in other lines than grocers,
meats and green stuffs keep their hg'
ures up at the high notch and there you
are and you wonder why IT is that your
salary disappears so quickly But this
explains why.
HThe fact is that markets should not
be centralized; they should be scattered;
the grower should be permitted to vend
his stuff wherever he desires; these COM
bines are in restraint of trade; they
should be broken up. Until this is done
YOU as a consumer will continue to be
the sucker and you must pay the
6ddler."