Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-15
Supt. Sherman Suggests Lines
to Bring Food From Guilty.
ing Truck Farms.
NEWS AGENCY TO POST
PUBLIC REGARDING PRICES
Conversion of Georgetown Market
Into Receiving Station Recon-
mended in Annual Report.

reimbursement or trolley freight
service for bringing food into Wash
| ington from points in Virginia and
Maryland. and a news agency whereby
the public may be kept accurately in
| formed as to the state of the ma ct
are new suggestions advanced in the
| annual report of John II. Sherman,
| superintendent of weights measures
and markets of the District, for i'm
proving cost of living conditions in the
| capital.
| The report is the first to be made by
Mr.. Sherman, who several months ago
was appointed to fill the vacancy
created by the death of Col. William
c. Haskell. Containing many sugges-
ttons designed to improve Washington s
| markets, it is built on the basic con-
| tention that there must be co-opera-
ton between consumers and dealers
before anything can be accomplished
in the direction of stabilizing the cost
of living.
The recommendation for the trolley
freight service carries with it a pro-
posed plan for the conversion of the
Georgetown market into receiving
station for produce brought in from
| Virginia.
Zone of Most Important Steps,"
One Of the most important steps
which must be taken if we are to maxi
full use of the resources of the sur
rounding territory to feed the city
| cheaply," states the report, lis the es-
Enlistment, within the city, of a troll
ley freight service between midnight
and am. and for two or three hours
r nj do
traffic is now lightest. Such service
should extend on all lines of the city
and should provide for running loaded
cars directly from the country section
| to their destinatio in the city without
rehandling the load
Our local produce. markets are now
supplied, in the main, by wagons from
RADIUS of about twenty miles. With
trolley freight and switches to every
market, both municipal and private, we
can iced the markets by trolley from
radius. in some directions, of fifty
miles, with greatly increased supply
OF goods, at lower cost.
Inc District should maintain an
agency whereby the public may be
Kept accurately and promptly in
formed as to the true state of the mar
ket for foodstuffs; the supply on the
market, the prospect for incoming sup
ing. and the probable course of prices
Tor two days ahead. At present large
consignments of perishable products
rot on our wharves every year for lack
of market which could be provided
for them by such service. The public
would by this service be able to buy
far more intelligently than at present
Such a service will be welcome to
the better class of dealers of the Dis
trict, who, if they undertake to con-
duct such service for themselves, do
SO at considerable personal risk
In connection with the proposed con-
version of the Georgetown market into
a receiving station, Mr.. Sherman states
The Georgetown market is badly
situated for a retail market, and is far
from satisfactory in it's present condi-
| ton. In the event of the erection of
| a new bridge between Georgetown and
| Rosslyn. Va, permitting of the trans
| portation of trolley freight from Nir-
GINA directly into the District, this
| market should be transformed into a
ginia -raised goods, to be operated by
the District for the assistance of the
distant farmer and the local dealer
alike. to increase the available supply
| of foodstuffs for the District.
| The report states there is urgent need
of new municipal fish market, where
| retail trade last year recorded an in
| crease of 40 per cent. Discussing con-
|
| Business conditions at the municipal
| fish wharf and market are exceedingly
| encouraging. When this market was
taken over by the District in March,
| 1913, there was great hope and expec-
! tation that a new market building
would speedily be built. When the ap-
preparation law was passed without
| this item it was expected that there
would be a falling off of business, at
least until some better facilities could
10 thov hi
Instead of declining. business has
! steadily increased at this point, and
this despite the fact that few of the
buildings are fit for business occu-
| pancy. Most of the roofs leak, founda-
| lions are washed away from under sew
| eral, which have settled askew into
| the mud, and some are actually dan
! gerous to life and limb. leaning and
settling noticeably with every wind.
Nevertheless. the past year has
| wholesale trade and 40 per cent in the
retail trade over any previous year.
Marine Foods Gaining Popularity,
with the prices of meats and eggs
rapidly rising, and no relief in sight,
people are turning more and more to
the use of marine foods. Also. as the
II city Of Washington has grown there
has developed need for the products
of the trucking sections along the Poto-
mac in eastern Virginia and lower
Maryland. All of these products must
come in wholesale quantities to this
marktt, where there are at present no
adequate facilities for handling such
trade. or any trade in large Quantities
The result is a tremendous wastase and
necessarily higher prices to Consumers
n I'VE need new market building. ade.
Quate to accommodate all of th.s wbo1a
sale business and such further rat.i1
business as may develop at this noint
having railroad connection With ~ =
freight yards west of 18TH streat 80
with chilling and freezing rooms anG
storage capacity to enabIe any Nast
ington dealer for nominal cost 70 81,
the advantage of the Reduced nricas. -,
freight rates on large lots of nariSbahie
products by either rail or wafer
II Need of standard bread law and ~
more efhclent apparatus for testio,
weight of coal is emphasized in ~
( report. III 'H
Concerning the former recommends
ton. 1t is stated that from tho dat.
available 1t is evident that n,akarS n
bread don't stand the normal risks ~
their business, but. when adverse fac
tors affect them, pass the strain or :,
I a short-weighted public, which stand
\ for 1t only because it is not aware n
< the fact.
n Would Standardize Loaves.
4 THE theory of our system of nri
vately owned industries" declares Nh