The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-13
 
 MARKETS
A Book From Which Bridgeport May Obtain Hints For A
 Projected Enterprise

h deCadenC. J -
 author of a book entitled Markets TOT
 inc PeopIe.,' strongly disapproVes the
 nIanssr put forward for the executlon
 of +he snroject. believing that the op-
 5ects sought can be better allaIneu by different methods which WlH cost
 little or nothing. He ahould pe soll,. -.
 petent to speak authoritatiVely on the
 subject as to him was committed TOT
 several years for examination the nu- rnerous projects to reduce the cost. or
 living offered at the W ashington heao-
 quarters of the trade unions or A1re.1-
 ca. and the knowledge thus gained he
 has supplemented by personal study or market syste ems in Europe Ihe Work
 is written from the consumers point of view. MT. Sullivan believing tnat
 any system which does not ahoro
 means of lowering the cost of food
 products to the retail buyer is fall The underlying factors of the prob Hem are those of transportation and
 distribution Tn the typical family among the masses the ouIlay TOT zl.e.o .looo
 is 45s to 60 per cent Of the breadW1n-
 ner's earnings and therefore the most
 wfdespread reductions in the cost of living can come only by cheaper pT1ces
 for food Unless public markets af- ford these lower prices they have no excuse for being: Do they pay? is a .uuestior which Sullivan answers ia the negative and taking considerable pains to refute claims to the contrary quotes official reports from American and foreign cities in proof Of his con ttention Neither, should they pay in the sense Of being conducted for profit as that would be perversion Of their fundamenf purpose.
 The why so little has been done iii country towards the fs- tablishp and develop of the public market $ er1l is to MT. Sullivan quite lapparent. the explanation being that 1t tshurts business It is not a. busi-' ness mans institution. s.It cuts away fiat profits from grocer. butcher and baker, It is in eases an injury to real estate values for were the trade of it's stalls and street stands distributed In private grocery and other stores the Iowners thereof would be enriched by ca apitaIizeds rentals. Storekeepers may be heard complaining that the money icarried away by marketing farmers fought to De rus with the spuslness men of the town. The commercial interests of a community do not write reports lauding the local public mar ket as a public benefit. | However, private retailers can put
 forward no claim of vested rights to protect them against the competition l of the public market purveyor. As Hong as the latter are not placed at. Ian undue advantage by being subsI- idtzed from the public treasury the pri- iVate grocer has ground TOT protest which should avail against the para mount rights of the consumer. Ser l vice for transportation and selling bg the most effective methods should be l paid, for and nothing else. How wide l ly these costs vary in actual practice
 is shown by official reports indicating l that the addition to the cost of pro- l ducts when handled by wholesalers. I ljobbers and retailers is approximately l 40 to 45 per cent. while the addition 1 to cost in stores of the department type is only IS to 20 per cent.
 l Reviewing the public market fsys- tems of London. Paris and Berlin, Mr. Sullivan finds none which as whole Iconstitutes 8 model and only two main l features that can be advan geously copied by New York and other cities iof considerable size.s These are the open air market and migratory ped ding, the latter exemplifed by the coster monger Of London, the basket woman and cart pedd1er of Paris and 1 the pushcart men of New York. These 1.-two methods, be declares, regulate all forms of indoor retailing and should take precedence of all other forms of
 reducing the cost of living. Against housed, district municipal markets made up of rooms or little stalls oc- Icupied by petty dealers the author pro- I lnounces most enlphatica1ly, declaring that in the past twenty-five years they
 
 lcities of our civilization It is a sys- I tenn opposed to modern life and house ] hold conditions in large. communities. On the other hand open air markets and the pdshcart man have demons strated themselves as the most effec- tive agencies for lessening the tolls borne by Sfood commodities in their passage from the producer to the ul- timate consumer. Here, in brief, is lwhat MT. Sullivan advocates:
 
 all corners, limited in range only by necessary health laws and any higher social exigencies of other traffic.
 l 2. Open air markets to be held for a few hours semi weekly or tri-weekly, l in street or park or other public space, lin any quarter of Greater News York Iwhere bodies of consumers may de- mand them; free to all vendors either of foodstuffs or manufactured articles lof household or personal use.
 I Tn New York the. pushcart peddler has been encouraged to multiply by the substitution of smooth pavements flor cobbIe stone or block, by the exor- bitant charges of storekeepers. by the fadaptabi1ity of his wares to the needs of small buyers and by the possibili- I ties of his successful competition | through low expenses. Had they not supplied a real public need they would l not have increased in the face of
 som ething like official persecution un- l til their present estimated number is 10, 900. As to their service in lower 1 ing living costs a commission appoint ed by Mayor Mcclellan reported that a, reduction in the number of these 1 reddlers would have brought serious | lconsequences to the great mass of the poorer people of the city Witnesses (had testified before the commission I that if deprived of this source of sup lply some families would have their living expenses increased from two to three dollars a week Against the ar 1 gurnent that these pedd1ers are nuis- l anee because eumberers of the high | ways, MT. Sullivan urges the claim | that the streets are for the people and 1 consumers have the first right of con- lsideration as between themselves and the provision store dealers in the mat