Year: 1866

The following act has been introduced in the
Ncw-York Assembly by Mr.. Lyons, Democrat,
of this city, read twice and finally committed
TO the Committee Of the Whole


An AcT TO proven. nonIe'dents fOm holding stands or


stall, in the public markets in hew.i ORR City


The Pe7, ofe STATE Of Ne iork, rrr,i,ned a. SeHoie
and 8ssenbly. do enact a, 10 Hoie';


l. 1t sh. not be lawful for pefon or per'on'


who OIL the passage til. .c resident Of the State o
NcwYok 70 lave or to hold any stand. or stalls ~ any o 'hs
public market. Of the city Of Newiork.


SEc O. Tie Controller Of the City New ork /. hereby
authorized and directed notify an persons holding such
stands OF stall, H. any o. sid markets o yacse and deliver
the same within 20 day. thereafter.


SIC. 3. This act shal. take efee, Immediately


The object is plain enough; it is to deprive
country people of the privilege Of holding POSI-
tions in the public market, of this city in which
they may offer their produce FOR sale Should
it become law, the mddlcmcn will have it all
their own way, the country people must sell to
them at whatever price they may choose to TX,
and The city consumer will be compelled to- buy at
any advance they may choose TO impose. 1t IL
tax on the poor especially; on the poor pro
ducer who. by taking stall or stand may get
little more at retail than lie can realize by sell
ing out at a wholesale price; on the poor con-
sumer who can no longer fill his or her market
basket at the country stalls or wagons without
paving the extra charge made by the middle
men. II will make a combination among the
middlemen not only easy but inevitable,
first to compel the country producer to


l. o1tn ~ tls
rates fixed by the mddlemcn; second, to com
pei the consumer to buy at any enhanced price
they may choose to impose, for he can buy of
nobody else. We trust the Committee of the
Whole will bostow little more attention upon
this bill to raise the price of provisions 10 tie
New-York poor and lower it to the country
producers than they seem to have done.


And now that the subject is before them they
may as well go to the bottom Of it. Our down
town markets arc simply nuisanceS, dis
graceful to the city, inconvenient in strict
ure, in a part of the town where markets
are not needed, answering to the necessities
neither of those who supply provisions nor
those who seek them. So far are they from the
dwellings of the population that those who
90 to them must consume time in reaching
them and incur expense in carrying or send
ing provisions home, or else they do not 90 to
them at all but seek supplies nearer their own
houses from hucksters and shop-keepers whose
business has grown up because Of the distance
from the markets, and who, selling at second or
third hand charge more for poor and stale
produce. New-York wants two, three or more
large. well-buit, well-ventilated, clean market
houses in open spaces, within easy distance of
the homes Of her people, and Of easy access to
the surrounding country where the country
people can bring and sell from their own wagons
or their own stalls their produce, fresh from
their own farms, to the consumers. There
is no large city in this country, probably
none in the world, so poorly provided in
the great necessity Of wholesome and con-
yenient markets as this city, and the Legislature
that will secure them to us, without saddling
us with some swindling "job," will earn the
gratitude of the people. No measure would be
so popular, for none could so nearly touch the
daily lives of all classes. But such an act as it
is now proposed to pass at Albany is simply to
make matters worse than they now mc by in
creasng the price of every pound of meat and
every peck Of fruit Or vegetables sold in the
downtown roOkeries.