Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1920-12-10

ChdSe SOlne eggs. heT ueSlTe Is lOI
eggs and nothing but eggs, Are they
good and fresh?" she inquiries of the
retailer. Assured that they are, she
purchases a dozen of them and carries
them carefully home. But Mrs. Jones
may be shortly dlsillusioned. She finds
that the eggs are not only poor in
quality, but that among them a pOten-
tlal hOme-breaker may be lurking She
makes rapid mental calculation.
Two bad eggs in a dozen increases the
price OF the ten good eggs. She re-
solves that thereafter her family will
do without eggs.
Typical Of Many Cases.
The experience of Mrs. Jones is
typical of that Of tens Of thousands of
housewives every day, say marketing
specialists of the bureau of markets,
United States Department of Agricul-
ture. High prices asked for fancy
eggs compel a large majority Of house
wives In cities to purchase ordinary
eggs; but because the number Of bad
eggs In a dozen of ordinary eggs may
be such as to make the price of the
remainder prohlbitive, eggs are not
used as a basic part of the family diet,
The result is a decreased demand for
eggs whereas the demand might be
increased were these housewives GER
tain Of receiving good eggs every time
they made a purchase.
According to specialists of The bu-
reau of markets, the bulk of the eggs
marketed in some markets are of or
binary quality. Moreover, many Of
these eggs pass the inspection tests
upon the merest margin Of safety,
with the result that they may become
bad unless sold and used quickly. In
addition, enormous quantities Of bad
and broken eggs constantly arrive at
markets. No figures are available to
show the precise loss, but the close Of
the days business at any egg market
generally finds many cases Of eggs
Culled from the receipts that are to-
tally unfit for human consumption.
Besides the out-of-pocket cost that
this condition produces, transportation
space that Is sOrely needed In these
times is wasted and a food .oss occa-
stoned that the bureau maintains could
be prevented by the use of proper pro
duction grading, packing and shipping
methods
Bad and inferior eggs cost as much
money to produce and transport as do
good eggs, and when the loss on the
bad and inferior eggs is added to the
cost Of the good eggs It often occurs
that the farmers entire prof Is wiped
out. In any event it reduces the prof
It's on the entire shipment. A concrete
illustration Of such a loss is a ship
ment of 90 dozen eggs recently re-
ceivet by a Washington commission
firm Of these eggs 18% dozen were
condemned as unfit for food Upon
an arbitrary basis of so cents a dozen
to cover the production and transpor-
taHon costs on the entire shipment,
the fact that 20 per cent Of the eggs
were condemned automatically In
creased these costs on the remainder
Of the eggs 121a cents a dozen, or %
per cent On this basis the shipper
was compelled to take an actual loss
on the entire shipment, for the eggs
marketed were not sufficient in quality
to command a price of 6212 cents a
dozen.
Jeopards Fair Business Relations.
While, of course, every shipment of
eggs is not 20 per cent bad the princi-
pie in the foregoing Illustration ap-
plies to every instance where other
than perfectly sound eggs are shipped
to market Inferior eggs are some
times included with good eggs, upon
the assumption that even a small price
for them is better than nothing This
is a fallacy, for even though the price
realized may pay the cost Of handling
and transportation the practice
jeopardIzes the fair and abOye-boarc
business relationship that should exis'
between seller and buyer,
The bureau of markets maintains {
special division with regard to the
marketing of dairy products, Baset
upon the actual experiences of thou
sands Of dairy farmers throughout tbs
United States, careful studies o
every phase of dairy products market
Ing are made by this division and th'
results used to help farmers soly'
their marketing problems.
Solution Of Problem.
No matter how hopeless of solution
your marketing problems may seem
call upon the bureau of markets. Ger
tainly. out of the experience of thou