New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-19
MiddIemen Get Half of
What City Pays for
Thanksgiving Bird
DINNER AND "FLXlNS'
UP FROM SIS TO $3.50
Food Spectators Con
tinue to Make Big Profits,
Reports Show

New Workers who contemplate din
ing Oh the national bird Thanksgiving
will pay more than sl,5oo0oO TO inc
rniddlemen who handle The fowl AFTER
q leave, the farmer, government crop
experts declare Nearly half OF the
price paid for the ore million tur-
KEYS that will be consumed IN greater
New York Thursday week Will be paid
70 the middlemen. according TO figures
published IN the November crop report
The monthly statement which was Is
sued yesterday failed to show that inc
farmers who raised this seasons supply
OF turkeys were being paid the exoroi-
4ant nrees local commission msn have
said they were paying. An average
nriee Of Al cents 8 pound was psid 70
the upstats farmers who have sold
their turkeys, says the report In
many Of the other states that sell most
% their product IN New York CITY,
however. the price was much lower.
Nevada Gets Highest Price
In virginiA for instance, the farmer
received only IS cents pound Tor MS
fowl: IN both North and South Caro-
Ina the average price 70 the farmer
was 1s cents. and ranged down to a
minimum Of fraction over Is cents
Maid IN Texas. The Nevada farmer sp-
pears 70 have been the most Fortunate
rse.,vine an average price Of 70 cents
a pound-but Nevada turkey is not
shipped to New York.
CITY and state market officials here
eynresssd great interest IN the meth
DDS by which the reported scarcity OF
turkeys has been engineered and why
IL has been asserted here that IN
beArd-of prices are being paid to tur-
kew raisers for their product this year
The average price in New York this
wear will be about s8.25, said the mar
tet men. taken on an estimate that the
fowl will weigh slightly more than
nine pounds. II the eity's hotels, res
taurapts and private homes take the
usual 100000 turkeys. the profit to
4he men who handle them after they
BASS beyond control Of the farmer will
be nearly half Of the total cost Of more
than sl,5oO,O0o.
Much the same situation obtains IN
regard 20 cranberries, sweet potatoes
and all OF the other items that Will
enter into the makeup Of the average
family Thanksgiving dinner. EXPers
ia the Offices Of both the state and the
city market departments agreed mat
dinner for a family Of six that cost
s5 a wear ago cannot be acquired for
this Thanksgiving for less than SOU
with the possibilities that II will he
even more expensive.
Food Spectators Busy
Investigations completed by John j.
Dillon, state Foods and Market COM
missioner. show, he says, that tor every
dollar spent for food by a New YORK
housewife 65 cents goes TO food specu-
lators, while the remaining 80 cents /
goes 70 the producer. In a statement
issued last evening the Market Coin-
missioner denounced food spectators
and recommended the immediate estab-
lisbment Of cold storage plants under
state supervision.
"Our cold storage facilities are
eouallv inadequate" he said. such
AS we have is controlled by spectators
in foods Neither the producer nor
the consumer has access to them, with
a result that IN times like these the
epeculator is in a position TO exact any
price that his greed may dictate Tor
The food products that he controls
through his monopoly Of cold storage
facilities.
"If this is the system that the peo-
pie Of New York want they ought 70
have il. but If they do, they ought 20
stop growing about paying for It II
thew want "a better system they have
IL within their power 20 get II, but
they will never get it by study and
investigation.
Big Saving In Storage
"They will have 70 pay for cold stor'
age facilities and they will have TO pay
FOR terminal facilities or wholesale
market provisions. They need not,
however. be discouraged with the cost
of these facilities. They will pay for
themselves every six months and pro-
vide food at q reasonable cost in the
meantime.
at least $1,000, 900 year can be
saved in the wholesale handling Of live
poultry for New York City; Sl0,000,0OO
on eggs, and a similar amount on
dressed poultry. Ten million dollars
can be saved on distribution Of butter,
and besides these savings in the neces-
sary cost Of the physical handling Of
these products. at the present time, an
efficient system OF marketing would
save the people untold millions In the
speculative prices that they are now
having for Il In the one item OF milk
alone Sl5.000.0O0 can besaved 70 the
people in the distribution Of H."
George W Perkins. Mr. Dillon and
numerous others who have interested
themselves In the food situation. will
begin a campaign before the Legislature
at the opening OF it's next session for
the purpose Of obtaining such legtsla-
tion as Is necessary for the remedying
= RIOT conditions