The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-06-14


city, is the day when the pric,
breaks, and it does not recover unit
there is a shortage. The task O
merchandising is to prevent the
oversupply and hold the price to nor
NAL and make no losses of good.
spelling in a glutted market and ne
loss Of money by selling in a broker
market. The steady, gradual NOV
ing of the product in good condition
to the right place at the right time
is merchandising. But there are
certain definite things that must be
done all the time to round out the
job of merchandising. They must
extend the time of shipment and sale
to- harmonic with the time of con-
sumption; they must extend the
place of sale so they will serve all
the consumers who will use their
product; they must educate people
regarding their product, who have
not hitherto been acquainted with
1t or with some OF its uses They
must grade, pack, label, guarantee
land keep on delivering and guaran-
teeing. There must be such an m
fallible system of grading and pack
ing, storing and shipping. that goods
/ will satisfy consumers and whens by
some circumstance there is q claim
for refund, there will be a definite
means for the injured. customer to
secure his refund or replacement
promptly and without annoyance.
That is merchandising contrasted
with dumping. Factories do. not
dump their goods on the market;
they study production and consump-
ton; and move the product to points
of consumption only SO fast as the
consumers can absorb them. Wher-
ever mistakes have been made in
distribution of factory products, it
has broken the market in some de-
gree, and the more perishable the
product, the more complete has been
| the collapse. in price. Factories and
merchants have studied those things
thru all times, and farming is just
getting into study of these prin-
ciples of merchandising and prepar-
ing to avoid the disastrous effects
OF dumping.
Last fall the government reports
showed a crop of 400 million bushels
of potatoes in the United States, and
a record of consumption of about
$50 million bushels. The fact that
there was surplus in sight, only in
tensified the activities of dumping
and broke the market right at the
outset. Then people became dis
couraged and left 70 million bushels
of potatoes in the ground to freeze
and rot, and this loss of 70 million
bushels, along with what was fed to
stock to get rid of them, cut down
the actual supply to just about what
the nation normally consumes. The
consumers paid normal price for
what they ate, but they paid nothing
for what was wasted or what froze
or rotted in the ground or cars or
city dumping grounds. The only
potatoes that affected the price to
consumers was the potatoes at
points of consumption. The pota-
toes at points of production governed |
the price to producers, and the 70
million bushels left in the ground
fixed the low price to producers. !
Turnout the year the consumers of
potatoes paid a normal price just as
If there had been only normal CROP
but the price paid to producers har-
monized with an Overproduction. A
study of what became of the dollar ,
which the consumer paid for given
amount of potatoes showed that the
farmer in Maine whose potatoes were
consumed in New York City, re-
ceived only twelve cents out of each
dollar which the consumer paid for
his potatoes, and those that were
used in Philadelphia brought the
farmer only sixteen to twenty cents
out of each dollar which the con-
sumner paid.
Under unorganized marketing,
Kansas City, for example, may be-
come overstocked with potatoes, and
there will be a loss. Chicago may
be overstocked, and the price rises.
Dealers all over the country observe
the rise in price and go to routing
cars of potatoes into Chicago, and
soon glut the market, for none of
the dealers know what the other
shipper is routing into Chicago.
Under the organized, merchandise
ing plan, where the potatoes, or
whatever the product is, are mar
keted thru one selling office, they
can keep track of the number Of
cars routed to each city and keep it
harmonized with their ability to
consume. If they find they have too
many cars routed to one place they
divert some of them and save the
Cutting of the market, with the
breaking of prices. Most of the
oranges of the United States are sold
thru one organization in California
and one in Florida, and the two
offices confer together by wire and
Keep routing and distribution on an
even keel and we no longer witness
he Cutting of the orange market.
t does not matter how many oranges
here are rotting in California or
it does not break the price
lmong the consumers; they keep on
,aying reasonable price. AS a
of this principle,
Henry Ford found in 1920 that he
lad 100000 cars on hand and he
lad to raise seventy million dollars
o use in the month Of April. Did
lie announce an auction sale and call
n all the buyers he could to bid on
ars at point of production and let
hem go at i've dollars apiece? No,