South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-07-08
THE PROPOSED Wholesale
MARKET.

Little by little the real meaning
continues 10 leak out Gradually we
are being given 10 understand what
kind OF Improvement OF the city
market" the city administration has
in mind. Apparently the grocers and
butchers are 10 have their way. The
entering wedge is making it's ap-
proach A wholesale market is TO
supplement" the citys retail market
which, if we mistake not. means
that it will eventually "supplant" it.
The original purpose Of the city
market was 10 benefit the consumers
by furnishing place where they
might meet the producer direct and
buy without having 70 pay the middle
mans profit That eliminated the
grocers and butchers.
II is true that this was abused TO a
certain extent by peddlers who patron
lied the market in advance of the con-
sumers. and bought up supplies for
the purpose of resale.
These peddlers even occasionally
button-holed the producers on their
and then proceeded to the market and
By process Of manipulation managed
TO keep prices up.
These evils, however, 1t seems.
might be corrected without legalizing
them through a wholesale market.
open TO retail peddlers and store
keepers alike. without reducing the
retail market where producers and
consumers meet direct, TO an eventual
nonentity.
Under what obligations is the city
Of South Bend to provide either the
growers and producers. or the grocers.
butchers and peddlers. with whole
sale market place?
Providing the whole people with a
market where they can save the mid
clemens profit is one thing, but pro
viding middlemen with a buying place
where they can by manipulation vir-
tually shut off direct dealing between
consumer and producer, is quite an
other thing.
We have limited before in this col
um at a possible brand of slow
poison" that might be employed TO
undermine the market and put it out
Of business. under pretense Of an i'm
provement'- we hardly expected
il would develop so soon.
The squabble in market circles yes
terday. with regard to a meeting to
take up this matter, but which failed
10 materialize through a misunder-
standing between the g-owers and the
marketmaster. Miller. was decidedly
we'll timed in that it has served the
public with an opportunity to discern
what is going on before it has gone
too far.
May such misunderstanding with
regard TO the time for holding such
meetings, and the consequent SQUAD
bles. continue indefinitely 1t is easy
enough to guess what the anxiety of
the growers and of the grocers and
butchers, with regard to a wholesale
market means. 1t means that the
grocers and butchers will get the lion
share Of the provisions from the sur
rounding country and the public can
buy from them. or so without
The most that the public could hope
10 get from a retail market with a
wholesale market operated in con-
junction. would be the leavings. The
growers could sell at wholesale with
enough less trouble to more than off
set what they would get on the city
market at retail. and would naturally
gravitate that way.
Ii may be as Mayor Keller has
stated, that Pres. Lang OF the common
council. has nothing TO do with the
policy OF the city market. but why
should he care 20 when the policy II
the market tends so directly in line