Newark post., 1922-05-03
Bureau OF Markets
Opens Offices
w. .Derickson, Chief of Blu.
reau, in Charge at Dover
Radio Phone to be Used

Tor by the Legislature OF l92l
has been opened at Dover by the State
Board of Agriculture in the Old
County Building, now owned by the
State, with W. T. Derickson, chief
of the bureau, in charge. Because of
the unsettled conditions of fruit, vege-
tables and other marketable products
last year, the State Board of Agricul-
ture did not deem it advisable to open
the bureau then, but with good pros
pect of heavy fruit and vegetable
crops this year, it was deemed prac-
ticable to open it now. Mr.. Derrick
son resides in Milford. He is grad
uate of Pierce Business College,
Philadelphia, and has spent several
years in marketing work in West
Virginia. He expects to be at the
Dover office, each weekday, to consult
with farmers and aid them in any
way regarding their marketing. Re-
ceiving and dispensing market in
formation will be one of the chief
duties of the new office. The officials
in charge are considering a plan to
install radio phone for the purpose
of receiving market quotations each
day. The plan for dispensing the in
formation after it is received will be
determined at later date. The
standardization of packages and
grades also will receive the attention
| Of the Bureau of Markets.
Mr.. Derickson in a statement says:
his first work will be towards proper
marketing of the prospective Della
ware fruit crop, and that a special
effort will be made to standardize the
grades and packages, and although,
in his opinion it would take consider
able time to accomplish this, he hoped
to make some progress in the next
few months. Most of the Delaware
fruit and produce has been going into
market without any standardization
and brokers purchasing the Delaware
produce were never sure of what they
were buying until after opening and
examining the package. The Bureau
of Markets hopes to establish with
fruit and produce first, second grade
and culls Of known standard, and
instead of some farmers shipping the
same crop in hampers, some in bas-
kets and some in crates, to agree upon
a carrier of known size that will con-
tain certain quantity of a special
grade of fruit or produce, and thus
making the package command better
prices in the city markets. Mr..
Derickson says that Delaware is pro-
ducing just as fine fruit as any other
state, but the agriculturists have not
been obtaining prices they are entitled
to because the carriers were not
marked according to known stand
ard.
Mr. Derickson says another mat
ter that would be given immediate at
tention was the establishment of a
Market News Service. That radio
phone would be placed in his office,
where market conditions and market
~rices from all sections would be oh
tanned hourly and this information
disseminated to those in the State who
had products to ship. The method of
dissemination has as yet not been de-
cided upon, but in all probability tele-
phone communication will be used. A
grower or broker, having strawberries
or any fruit or produce to ship will be
able to call this bureau by phone and
Immediately ascertain what cities are
"glutted" and which are good markets
that day for their particular kind of
shipment. Another matter that will
be taken up by this department is OBJ
tanning data on the manufactured
products of the state and to compile
complete statistics of Delaware pack
ing establishments and the products
canned. This information will be
available to outside purchasers.
In carrying out these lines of work,
especially in the standardization of
grades and packages, the bureau
hopes to work in conjunction with the
agricultural organizations of the
State and secure their cooperation in
the matter. The influence and pub
licity Of the State newspapers will
also be solicited to create sentiment
for progress among the Delaware pro-
ducers that will elevate their scale of
standards. The Delaware Grange and
other farmers organizations will be
encouraged to the end that a State
wide organization be perfected for the
establishment Of uniform standards.
The Bureau of Markets, as stated,
was created by the last session of the