Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-04-13
PUBLIC MARKET MOVE ON
TO CUT LIVING COST HERE
Saving of 20 Per Cent and Advan-
tage of Fresh Produce Promised
With Consummation ofProject.

the railroad tracks between Broad
and Forsyth streets, or just beyond
Forsyth street," it was suggested.
There is your central location. with
land, You can pay the state and the
railroads a rental for the right to
bridge their tracks If necessary, and
still save money"
Splendid" said Mr.. Orme. THAT
may be the solution of the problem.
hope it will.
Certainly the people of Atlanta
want the market and need 1t. There
may be differences over the charter
or taxation, or politics. but practi-
cally everybody is agreed on the i'm
perative need of place where first
class foodstuffs can be purchased at
really competitive prices. The pres
ent system is extravagant for the
dealers and ruinous to the consum-
ers.
All Under One Roof.
Our idea is to have the city build
q great market house under one roof,
with perhaps a hundred stalls of va
rious sizes. The city will keep the
market clean and sanitary, and re-
quire that produce and meats be
fresh and sound and fit to eat. l do
not think the city can successfully
fax prices, but by being careful to in
sure active competition among the
stall renters that win adjust itself
These stalls will be rented at a
low price by the year. The farmer
who raises green stuffs within 20 or
80 miles of Atlanta can rent a stall
and sell his produce at retail direct
to the consumer and both will profit.
The green grocer who now pays rent
for several scattered stores twice as
big as he needs will give them up and
rent stall In the market, where his
out occupying q foot of high priced
customers will come 20 him"
Prices in Atlanta are high-too
high Why? Because the vegetables
come from distant points and pass
through many hands. There is no in
centive to farmers to raise truck for
the city because they must either
peddle II up and down the streets or
sell to a merchant perhaps overload
ed with produce, and who is in a
position to fix his own prices. AS a
consequence, there are few truck
farms near Atlanta, the best market
for truck within a thousand miles.
Most green stuff sold in Atlanta
comes from Florida. The chickens
and turkeys and eggs are shipped in
from tennessee
Means Much to City.
Mr.. Orme paid a visit to the ia
nous French market in New Orleans
and studied the system Of smaller
suburban markets, which also have
grown up in the old Creole city, He
paid a visit to the city market of
| Nashville, housed in a building i'm
medlately behind the city hall in the
ancient public square. He visited the
| big market of Knoxville, Tenn, and
! those in Washington, and he came
home more than ever convinced that a
public market would mean more to
Atlanta, rich and poor, than anything
the city ever has planned.
I'VE collected a great deal of data, "
he said, giving figures to show how
much higher prices We pay in Atlanta
| than consumers pay under the mar
| ket system. They are complicated
| by difference in seasons and qualities,
so that perhaps il would not be fair
TO take them as final But we found
! out enough TO prove conclustvely that
Atlanta pays far more, year in and
year out, for market produce than
those cities which have a public mar
ket and open competition
1t is considered very probable that
! an effort will be made this summer to
carry the market plan to a conclu-
I sion, and If the plaza plan is consid-
| cred favorably a bill will be intro
I duced in the Legislature asking per-
| mission to throw a floor over the
| tracks of the state railroad at For
syth street. A similar bill, provid-
ing for the great Bleckley plaza from
Forsyth to Central avenue, failed last
| summer, partly because of the mag
nitude of the undertaking and the
! tremendous expense involved, but ii
is believed that the market idea, in
| volving a comparatively slight cost
and rendering no inconvenience to
the railroads, would easily be passed.