New Ulm review., 1913-03-19
Jobber or Commits
sion Man?
Which Has Sold Your Farm
Products?

+ - + i. ST. + + + + + + +
Fifteen or twenty years ago prac-
hcally all farm products sent to the
cities were handled by certain dealers
IN commission basis. At that time
poor storage facilities, as well as de-
lays and breakage on the road, made
the risks in handling such produce
| very great. Few dealers at the pri-
mary markets were, therefore, willing
to buy outright and so local shippers
were compelled, at their own risk, to
send such produce to commission mer-
chants.
The free field afforded the early
commission merchant tended to en-
courage all sorts of illegal practices.
They had things almost their own way.
Local shippers were not in a position
to prove that they had been unfairly
treated and were, therefore, for a long
time the victims of grave abuses.
Two things have tended to change
this situation. One of these was the
aid of law passed fourteen years
ago. Under that law every commits
sion merchant dealing in farm prod
ucts must obtain license from the
railroad and warehouse commission
and file with the secretary Of state a
bond to the state for the benefit of
|consignors Abuses connected with
grain shipments were especially in
strumental in bringing about the pass
ing of this law. It was alleged that
grain received in the morning when
the price was quoted at, say 70 cents,
might 60 up in price during the day
to II or 70 cents, but that the COM
mission merchant would return
statement to the local shipper for the
earlier figure and pocket the differ
ence. The new law, therefore compelled
commission men to indicate the exact
minute and hour when grain sales were
made. While the law applies to all
commission men handling farm prod
ucts, the specific provision regarding
time of sale applies only to grain
business.
While the Minnesota law of 1899
has tended to drive irresponsible CON-
mission men out of the business, there
ia another factor that has affected COM
mission business even still more. That
is the coming of the jobber who eth
er sends agents into the local towns
to buy outright or who sends out
printed quotations to the different To-
calities Offering definite price for
different kinds of farm produce be-
fore certain dates. Other things be.
ing equal, local shippers prefer to
sell outright rather than ship on COM
mission and for this reason the job
bing business has tended to displace
that of the commission man in the
handling of butter, eggs and poultry,
as we'll as all other kinds of perish
able products. The commission man
still holds the field in the handling
of grain and live stock.
Although the commission business
has been largely supplanted by that
of the jobber, the same dealer may
operate at times as a commission man
and at other times as a jobber. The
Importance of jobbing or commission
business at any given time varies a
great deal with changes in price. Dur.
ing the period of rising prices, job
bing is encouraged, since the buyer
hopes to resell at a still higher price.
When prices are falling, however, the
jobber is apt to hold back. He may
be unwilling to receive at all except
on a commission basis and thus shift
the risks to local shippers. The re-
suit is that when prices are steady or
rising, jobbing business is encouraged
while falling prices tend to revive the
commission method of handling GER
tain farm products.-C. w. Thompson,
Agricultural Economist, University
Farm, st. Paul
N-I