Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1917-08-02
ALvA AGEE'
SPEAKS OUT
Says Food Resources Are
Unscientific.
The DIFFICULTIES
Efforts rlade to Stop the Waste
of Food Products i'm Trans
portation.

Trenton, July Redistribution or
transportation of food products in re-
lation to the wastage of excessive
supplies and the cost of food has been
considered in some detail in a report
submitted to Governor Edge by Sec
retary Alva Agee of the State Depart
ment of Agriculture. Mr.. Agee de-
scribed methods of distribution as un-
scientific and costly and said they
limit consumption of perishable pro-
ducts that should be eaten freely.
The present inquiry was prompted
by letter to the Governor from John
A. Sleicher, editor of Leslie's Weekly.
who gave some instances of high
prices. coming under his personal no
tice
L note" wrote Mr.. Sleicher, "that
you are deeply interested in tne mat
ter of conservation of food supplies. I
also note in the press the items that
thousands of baskets of strawberries
are going to waste in New Jersey and
there is an apparent glut of peas,
spinach, lettuce and berries in South
Jersey truck patches
Il have written to Mr.. Hoover and
also to some of the Governors of our
states to ask the question whether
the distribution of food is not as
much question as the conservation
of its supply? For instance, at AL
bany, only 140 miles UP the Hudson
from New York City, spinach was re-
Gently selling at ten cents a barrel
| and some farmers were giving it away
while in this city, spinach at the same
time was selling at 81 a barrel.
Every year as automobile
through the country, not more than
200 miles from New York city. I see
piles of apples rotting on the ground,
while the New York apples are from
two to three cents apiece. I am told
that worse conditions prevail in
Western sections. While passing
through the State of Washington two
years ago, l found delicious peaches
at one of the stations-the finest |
had ever eaten-for twenty-five cents
a basket. l asked why these peaches
were not sent to New York. They
said: 1T doesn't pay and we are cut
ting our peach trees down-tne prob
lem of distribution.
Gould you not take this up in your
state through your agricultural COL
lege and divert some of this extraor-
dinary activity that we are having in
other directions of the simple plan
of making a census of your state, so
as to indicate where there may be an
untimely and unmarketable excess
production and arrange for its distri-
button or possibly its canning or de-
hydrating?'
Replying to the Governor, Director
Agee said:
II thank you for the opportunity of
seeing Mr.. Sleicher's letter dealing
with conservation of food supplies.
There can be no doubt that methods
of distribution are unscientific and
costly. The high prices paid by the
public make the cost of living nearly
unbearable for many, and they limit
consumption of perishable products
that should be eaten freely. Some of
use have promoted cooperative sell
ing enterprises in the effort to bring
producers and consumer closer to-
gether. There are some notable ex-
amples of success. but tle greater part
of our products continue to be dis
tributed in the only way. One diff
Guilty in the way of cooperative en-
terprise is the lack of standardization
and another is the uncertainty re-
garding the quantity of any grade
that may be furnished from day to
day by local organization of pro-
ducers. An example of this may be
found in the berry market, heavy
rains in the height of the season in
terfering with picking and often ruin
ing the quality of the fruit. 1 believe,
however, that it is only through CO.
operative effort on the part of the
producers that some problems in dis
tribution will ever be solved.
"a valuable feature of food conser-
vation IS the work being done by
the specialists in home economics in