The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-03
WANT KANSAS EGGS.
Now Command q Premium on the
Eastern Markets.

Kansas has always been noted for the
quality and quantity of the wheat crop,
the corn, the beef steers and for al
falfa and for the quantity, but not the
quality of the eggs. Within a year the
Kansas farmers and the egg shippers
have changed the markets of the cas-.
for the Kansas egg from one of price
discrimination against the egg to
position where the Kansas egg COM
mands premium for extra quality
Now quality and quantity in eggs have
been added to the big things in Kansas.
A year ago the price discrimination
against the Kansas egg was cents d
dozen. Then the shippers and pro-
ducers got together and by hard work
raised the egg standard until this dis
elimination was removed and an
actual premium collected.
James E. Downing of the department
of agriculture at Washington, in a
bulletin on egg marketing just issued
says:
kansas has until the last year had
reputation for quantity in eggs but
not for quality. In fact there was u
price discrimination in the markets
against the Kansas egg. Last year the
egg buyers ir the state held a meeting
and entered into an agreement to buy
only on a loss Off basis. 1t has taken
less than year to get the Kansas
product to a position where eggs from
that state have brought a premium
in the market because of quality"
Therefore Kansag moves into the
bunch of states, few and far between,
that produces the best eggs in the mar
ket. According to the government fig
ures the loss to egg shippers on ac-
count of bad eggs is II per cent. Some
states are worse than Kansas. During
the test made a year ago by the de-
partment on shipments from Frankfort
and Manhattan by employees of the de-
n ri M nj a RI Nof NJ
Packing company at Atchison the
actual loss was 10 per cent on the Kan
sas eggs. The big shippers of eggs
must figure this loss and the Kansas
farmer and egg raiser finally foots the
bill because the shipper figures this
loss into the price he pays the country
grocer for eggs and the country grocer
cuts the price he pays to the farmer
for the eggs.
The poultry shippers made the agree
ment not to buy any eggs except those
candled and they refused to paw for
bad eggs. This forced the grocers to
candle the eggs they bought from the
farmers. The farmers have set up a
terrible howl about it as they seriously
objected to bringing in ten dozen eggs
and getting paid for eight dozen and
four eggs because the Gambling process
showed that 20 eggs were bad. But the
grocers refused to stand the loss as the
shippers candled the eggs against them.
The result has been that the farmers
are getting a higher price for their
eggs and the eggs being shipped are
strictly first class and the quality can
be depended upon. In his. bulletin on
the increase of the quality of eggs Mr..
Downing tells of numerous instances in
other states of the monetary adVant-
ages in handling strictly fresh eggs us
the grocers are able to charge more and
collect a better price for the guaran-
teed eggs than for the mongrel variety
that had not been candled and shown
to be strictly first class.
The chief objection to the Kansas
eggs at this time is the variety in the
color. A white egg brings a little
higher price than the brown eggs, al
though there is little real difference in
them. But a case of fresh white OF
brown eggs, either color exclusively,
will bring 1 to 2 cents a dozen more
than a case of eggs from the same farm
where the brown, light brown and
white eggs are mixed together. Mr..
Downing says that in the eastern mar
kets the separation of the white and
brown eggs is more than paid for by
the higher prices received and he be-
lieves the shippers in Kansas should
make the difference to the growers by
offering a little higher price for the
separated eggs.