The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-05
FROM FARM TO TABLE
By Frederic j. Haskin, Director
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNE.
INFORMATION BUREAU
Washington, ID. G.


of agriculture. The little call was ar
ranged by Julius Rosenwald of the
Council of National Defense, and the
half dozen Chicago r1en represented
the biggest meat packing industry in
the world. They suggested that the
Department of Agriculture should su-
pervise their billion-dollar business
during the period of the emergency,
and if necessary, fix maximum and
minimum meat prices The results
ture, and they may well be enormous
ly important.
Problem of Food Needs.
1t will come as news to many Amer
leans that the Department has already
the adequate foundations for a system
which could far more readily take
over the national problem of food
requirements and supply than any
other organization in the country. The
machinery of this system is largely
concentrated in the Office of Markets
and Rural Organization; and the chief
of this office himself is authority for
the statement that not so long ago
there were men to be found in posi-
tons of high authority who had never
even heard of it. Yet this office al
ready has a nationwide system of in
formation covering the meat supply
and the movement of most of the
more perishable food-stuffs.
The Office of Markets keeps in
touch with the food supply thru sew
eral channels. 1t conducts a market
news service by mail and telegraph
which is the only thing of its kind
maintained by any government. This
news service keeps track by wire of
the movement of every car of perish
able food-stuffs, such as potatoes and
onions, in the country. Since the first
OF the year a Geographic news service
on the shipments of livestock and the
conditions at all the principal live
stock markets has been operated. The
information gathered by these SER
vices is sent free to any one interested
by mail, or it is furnished by tele-
graph to anyone who cares to pay the
telegraph charges. A special force at
headquarters works all night sending
out the daily telegraphic reports.
Daily Market Service
Reports for the market news SER
wee are received largely from rail-
road division superintendents. In 1916
the news service only covered the
more important fruits and yegeta bIes
put reports were received from 665
DIVISION superintendent, representing
225,0OO miles of railroad Reports
were received from every railroad
which handled carload lots of the
fruits and vegetables covered Nv the
service. At the height of the seq son
as many as 230 superintendents were
reporting at one time
Inc value of such a market news
service lies in what it can do for-the
farmer and the ultimate consumer. IT
steadies prices and eliminates wa ste
me olStrlput1on system for farm pro-
ducts has become enormously complex
ana no single farmer or association of
farmers can tell where their goods are
needed As result, without accurate
Information, some markets are flooded
and others are left short
II
1shable products rot and decay: in the
short markets, the shortage makes the
consumer pay extravagant prices for
fruits and vegetables that are rotting
IN some other city a few hundred miles
away The whole object of the news
service is to spread broadcast the ne
eessary information about the SUNNY
IN every important city. The canta-
loupe growers in the Imperial Valley
of California alone estimate that the
news service saved them S25OOOO in
one season. The Bermuda onion
growers of Texas say the service was
worth a million dollars to them in
single year.
Saves PerishabIe Products.
The situation in perishable products
is illustrated by a case like that of
the strawberry crop of Louisiana.
Louisiana Strawberries are shipped in
carload lots all over the country, even
into Canada. Strawberries are one of
the most perishable products, and an
overloaded market anywhere means a
heavy loss The state has to ship
some 400 carloads in a short season.
Obviously the only way for the straw
berry crop to be marketed economical
ly>is for the shippers to have accdrate
information daily by telegraph as to
the number of Strawberries on hand
in every one of the forty or fifty mar
kets in the United States and Canada.
The daily market reports on perishabl
products were taken last year by some
200 growers. The movements of
1900 cars We're reported by the
railroads to the service.
The market news service on meats
promises to develop into something
even bigger The office of markets
estimates that it will cover the move
ments of 1900 900 cars a year. The
purpose of the service is fl damental-
" the same-to report to shippers the
condition of the various livestock mar
kets, and distribute the supply where
it is needed.
Meats and Cold Storage.
The office of markets has been at
work collecting and distributing in
formation on the total amount of food
held in cold storage turnout the United
States. The cooperation of 1,450 meat
packing cold storage houses has al
ready Deen ennSleQ. 1nGSG houses
represent SO per cent of the total ca
pacity of their class in the country.
Figures are being compiled that will
tell the total cold storage capacity of
all the plants of this nature in the
century, and of canning factories and
general foodstuff warehouses as well.
A list of factories which manufacture
all the substitute fat products. such as
oleomargarine and compound lSrd is
being prepared. The value of such
information in case of a centralized
control of the nations food is very
clear. 1t should not be forgotten that
one of the biggest meat packers in the
world predicted that if the war lasts
q year. we may well have to put IN
force a system of meat cards such as
are used in Germany.
Classification of Grain.
Recent legislation has provided for