Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-06
MARKETING FARM PRODUCTS
In VARIETY OF CHANNELS.
Special Report to Congress by Secretary of
Agriculture, of Interest to Every
Farmer Of Maine.


| lowing was given out from the office of
| the secretary of the United States De-
part:nent of Agriculture. at Washing
| ton, -. c.
Systems of marketing farm products
and the demand for them at trade
centers are the subjects of a special
report to Congress by the Secretary of
Agriculture. recently published. The
report was made by special direction
of Congress in order that information
might pc at hand concerning the es-
tablishnrent of a division of markets
in the Department of Agriculture. The
Secretary specifies various items of
service than could be performed by
such an office, with recommendations
that they be- adopted. if it is created.
The report covers 391 pages and is
crowded with information with regard
to the subjects treated.
The report treats of the movement of
farm products from the farm to con-
channels. The simplest distribution is
the direct one of delivery by farmer
to consumer, and next after this is the
delivery by individual farmers or as
sociations of farmers to individual
ers. In these direct forms of distribu-
ton, the mdddlen1an is eliminated, al
though of course intermediate services
are performed either by producers or
by consumers or by both parties.
Intervention of Middlemen.
Among the varieties of middlemen
concerned in the marketing of farm
products are the travelling hucksters
70 GOT bnf.
eggs butter. poultry, calves. and other
commodities. which they sell to ship
pers. jobbers. or retail dealers. The
country merchant is often the first re-
eeivel. of such products as eggs, farm
made butter, poultry, wool. hides, cot
ton. and sometimes grain and hay. In
regions where grain is the staple pro-
duct, the tendency has been To displaee
the country merchant by the grain
buyer and the local elevator man.
Farmers commonly sell through
commission merchants and to some ex-
tent directly to wholesale dealers and
also to retail dealers. The, farmer who
EMPLOYS trustworthy commission
merchant who will handle his products
honestly and honorably will get the
current prices for them within the
business but the farmer often finds
himself in the hands of a commission
merchant who falsely reports that the
products were received in damaged
condition CT that they were of a grade
lower than they were in fact, or he
reports receiving prices lower than
those actually received by him for the
products. Worse than this, it is by
no means rare that the commission
merchant has sold the products and
failed to return the, net proceeds.
Samples of tran sactions in which
only one middlem9n interVenes be-
tween producer and consumer include
the commission man at a large mar
ket who receives consignments of live
stock from farmers and sells to pack
ers; the factor to wlaom the planter
consigns his rice or cotton and from
whom purchases are made by millers;
the warehousemen who manage the
sale of Virginia planters tobacco.
The intervention of two men between
producer and consumer IS common
occurrence. Fruits and vegetables are
often marketed through the aid of two
middlemen, the city commission deal
er and retail merchant.
More Than Two Intermediates.
A series of three middlemen may in
clude first the local buyer or the ship
per: second, the commission dealer or
the wholesale merchant; and third,
the retail merchant. In the sale of
fruit by auction, which is common in
large cities east of the Mississippi
River, the aucticner is an additional
middleman. He may sell for a COM
mission dealer. to whom the, consign-
ment may have been made by a eoun-
try buyer; and tine purchaser at such
an auction may be jobber, who in
turn sells to retail merchant. Five
middlemen are thus concerned in such
transaction. 4er
Onions raised in Kentucky are some
times bought by a local merchant and
shipped to Louisville; here they may
be put into sacks and consigned to a
New York wholesaler or a commits
sion man who in turn sells to New
York retailer. Eggs and poultry fire.
least four lniddlemen.
The marketing of clover seed is an
example of transfer from one farmer
to another through a number of mid
dlemen. The first mddleman may be
an Indiana jobber, who consigns to a
commission dealer in Toledo, Ohio;
here the seed may be purchased by q
merchant and shipped to a wholesale