Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-08-09

De dispenser WlIn- lie determines
what time each train shall have the
exclusive right Of way over every
piece Of track. BY this organized
distribution of privilege of the
trains, collisions are rare, delays are
reduced to a minimum, and the vol
ume Of traffic is vastly greater than
could be moved without such distri-
button of opportunity by the train
dispatcher.
Now what is needed in the fruit
and truck business is simply a car
dispatcher, who shall determine for
all competing shippers, at what time
each may have the right of way in
each market. ! find the illustration
Unexpectedly perfect: without such
dispatcher, as at present, there is
every day some disastrous collision
of car lots of fruit and produce in
one or more markets, with resulting
smashing Of prices. Such smash-ups
are much more injurious tt the pro-
ducer's business than can be meas
ured by the money loss involved in
the specific car lots sacrificed, for
an inevitable result is ITO produce
lower prices in other nearby towns,
which without such depressing in
fluence, would stand firm. Again,
it restricts the volume of business,
for the more uncertainty there is in
the price of commodities, quickly
perishable products | mean, the less
freely dealers will buy them, fearing
to lose thereby.
Thus the maximum volume OF
shipments which the markets will
take under the present choatic way
of shipment, may safely be greatly
exceeded when such products shall
be really distributed in orderly fash
ion. The average prices are now
much lower than would prevail il
the car dispatcher distribution were
obtained. For now each man who
BUYS a car takes a serious risk.
since he can not know whether OF
not the prices current when he buys
the car will prevail at its arrival and
during its sale. simultaneously
twice as many cars may arrive as
can be disposed Of without a seriou;
break in prices. 1t may be urged
that some may be diverted to other
markets; but the same situation may
meet them there, since it is all a
matter of chance, because Of the
many shippers sending out cars
without knowledge of each others
destination. | have often known
ears thus diverted to reach a worse
market than that for which they
were first intended.
Such risks attach quite as much
TO the retail trade. Thus the buyer
under present conditions, must be
subject to much uncertainty. He
must take a risk, and he will not
he a not afford to, take it fol-
nothing. He must insure himself
against loss by buying low. The
cost Of insurance is always in pro
portion to the risk, and the grower
pays it.
There is much saiG in favor OF
selling on the track for cash, or GER
titled draft. Some consider this the
ideal method, although such sales
must always be made with a firm
market, when it is comparatively
easy for any one to sell, and must be
made at a discount from net deliy-
cred prices to pay the expenses and
! speculative profits of the track sales
brokers, an amount frequently ex'
ceeding the total cost of getting the
car TO market. The idea is very
popular with the growers, for they
have observed that it usually hap
pens that their returns from such
sales are better than upon the cars
consigned. 1t is not strange that
this should be so, for track buyers
when the market slumps, usually
disappear or offer such low prices "a
cover their risks, that it forces the
shipper to consign. Thus such track
sales are only an indication of the
scant supplies generally in the mar
kets, and can offer no advantage
over consignment, when the con
signee Is trustworthy and competent
So far as | can see, track buying
in no way helps an orderly distri-
button of produce, it only transfers
the risk upon the particular car
loads sold. If the buyers are unfor-
~tunate, they will offer lower prices
on the next car loads so that the
grower must take the loss finally, in
any case. In the absence OF an as
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