Omaha daily bee., 1917-02-24
Ways of Marketing Food
Literary Digest

A recent investigation of the parcels post as
means OF getting food products directly from
the farm to the consumer is compared editorialy
in Table Talk with test of transportation by
motor, made by Chicago packing firm. The
parcel post plan, after exhaustive investigation
by the University of Wisconsin, was pronounced
a failure by that institution. The motor trip from
Chicago to New York was apparently not only
successful from the advertisers standpoint but
also as practical demonstration. Says the editor
OF Table Talk:
The particular object of this auto demonstra-
ton was to show that the packer has means Of
distributing our meats to us, even though the
railways might fail. Strikes fortunately, come
few and far between; but when they do come this
is practical demonstration of the packers ability
to keep meats in circulation. War; should it
come, might be another means of taking our rail-
ways out of public service for shipping Of food
stuffs. Here, then, the packers have second line
of defense in the great auto trucks. This partic-
ular truck which made the test run carried prod
ucts to thirty-fve cities and letters to their re-
spective mayors
There is much more than appears on the sur
face of this demonstration of the packers ability
to distribute his products to all his branches
keeping the means of doing so under his own
management. 1t shows just how independent
meat consumers can be of strikes and local dis
turbances which hold up usual means of shipping
when the men who have the meat to distribute
can man their own autos and send them out from
their great packing plants to their smaller plants
and from there to the retail shops. 1t shows, too
how well equipped our modern meat industry is
to take care of every emergency which may arise
to interfere with the business,
why, in this connection, can packer do
successfully what Uncle Sans parcel post--ac-
cepting the University of Wisconsin's decision
can not doe Why is it impracticable for the
farmer to sell his products direct to his customers
via the parcel post route1 The answer is the
simplest thing one can imagine. To sell his hams
and bacon and other meats, to say nothing of the
rest of his farm-products, the farmer needs
must do what every other individual in bust
ness must do--bud up his trade and have
his distributing machinery. He can not mail his
products hit or miss on the chance of the one to
whom he mails them buying them. He must
either advertise in local newspapers, or he must
write direct to other friends and thus create
demand for his wares. This drumming up trade
is business in itself. 1t is the job of the middle
man or retailer-a thankless task, if we may Judge
from the many attacks made upon the retailer or
middleman in the last few wears. Now the aver
age farmer knows the raising of stock and of
produce much better than he knows the retail
business He reads price lists from the side of
the seller, not of the buyer. To keep track of
market fluctuations while he peddled his meats
through the mails would be no small task He
would have to stand the loss of spoiled goods
which his mail order customers refused to accept
But why go into further details? Any one can
see just where the plan of sending meats, espe-
cially by mail, is not practical