South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-08-20
POSTAL MARKET
IS SUGGESTED AS
H. c. |. REMEDY
NOtre Dame Professor Pre-
SentS Plan TO Government
for Immediate Action.

fighting the high cost Of living BY
the purchase OF army food dis
tributed through the Z. s. postofice.
will he pleased TO know that this
cheap method OF marketing may be
adopted upon a wider scale
Prof Robert Lee Green, dean Of
the college of pharmacy at the Uni
vers.ty of Notre' Dame claims that
the government is acting upon his
suggestion of postal markets in this
present distribution, and is confident
that the rest Of his plan Will yet
be adopted. Prof. Green has for
five years past been attacking ex-
pensive methods OF distribution, and
has been urging upon the postoffice
department his plan for postal
markets" a part of which has dem
onstrated its usefulness in the pres
ent crisis.
Presents Method.
The method as advocated by Prof.
Green follows:
To establish a postal market or
federal food exchange, it would be
necessary 10 have a suitable build
ing for a market house near. the
postoffice where all sorts of foods
would be exposed for sale in stand
ard GRADE and in standard packages.
great deal of food is already put
up IN this way, namely, butter in
pound packages, milk in pint and
quart bottles, bread In loaves of a
standard weight. berries and small
fruit in crates and boxes apples.
peaches. pears, oranges and grape
fruit all come in standard boxes.
standard pack and standard grades.
other foods, fruit and vege-
tables could be put mp in a similar
way and classified as fancy, good,
medium and common, with price
adjusted accordingly. This grading
and packing would be done by the
producer in conformity with the
regulations of the market master.
The food would proceed from
farm to the postal market by the
motor truck service which is estab
lished already in certain localities
Until this truck service becomes
general, the farmers would haul
their produce 10 the market them
selves. Producers would get their
pay Immediately on acceptance of
their produce by the market mas
ter. This would eliminate book &C
counts.
"A postoffice official would act as
market master and would employ
an adequate force Of clerks TO han
die he food The market master
would keep in active touch by tele-
phone with the producers in his
territory and would know each day
what kind of food was available
and in what quantity This informa-
/ ton would be tabulated on a card
1 system and used in disposing Of
| food in excess of local needs. He
would report the surplus to the
I county market master who in turn
! would report 10 the state official
who would report TO Washington.
/ The county state and national or
ganization would thus act as a sort
of clearing house for all foods, sur
plus as we'll as deficiencies. With
such an organization, surplus food
would proceed 10 the point needed
/ by the shortest and quickest route,
being very mobile and instantly re-
/ sponsive 10 all demands.
1 Could L sc PnOneS.
I People could visit the postal
market and carry home their pur
/ chases or they could order by tele- !
phone specifying the grades desired !
I and have IL sent out on the regular
delivery and be sure of getting ex-
actly what was wanted. There I
would be two deliveries a day. early /
morning and one in the afternoon, |
each carrying mail as well.
Delivery would proceed from the /
postoffice in motor vans TO the as
signed locality. Then, push carts .
would be used 10 complete the de-
livery from the van TO the home. |
utilizing for the work, wire baskets, |
u inches by 16 inches. by six in
ches deep. A cart three feet high, !
four feet wide and six feet long
would hold 96 baskets Of such dimen-
sions The vans would move one |
block at a time and stop to refill the |
carts when empty. To facilitate the .
work each patron would have box /
at the curb TO receive the basket. |
and 10 still further save time and |
effort these baskets should be ar 1
ranged in groups Of five. for adjOin- !
ing neighbors. Two baskets would |
be needed for each patron. The car !
rier would remove the empty one !
and leave the filed one.
Use Cash Basis.
ITO avoid bookkeeping the service |
would be done on a strictly cash !
basis. A bill would accompany each /
delivery, and on the following day |
this bill with the exact change in a |
scaled envelope would be put in the |
empty basket and left in the mail |
box If two consecutive bills re-
NAMED unpaid delivery would be |
suspended until adjustment had |
been made at headquarters.
such a centralized and proper
~ coordtnated system would reduce
the delivery charges TO a minimum
and save a vast amount Of man pow
er which is so precious at present
1T would not be difficult TO estab-
lish postal market. The frame
work OF the organization is already
az hand and in successful operation.
An extension OF this organization is
all that is needed. Coordinate the
food administration with the post
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