ety in general.

CHAPTER XVIII

SHIPPING

The means of facile transportation and the machinery of trade are the
need and the development of a complex civilization. The importance of
these useful adjuncts of everyday life is indicated by the fact that
about one-fourth of all the people engaged in gainful occupations in
civilized communities are employed in them. Nevertheless the expense
of transportation and trade constitutes a tax upon the consumer which
it is the aim of modern methods to reduce to the lowest limits. Recent
investigations indicate that for every thirteen dollars the consumer
expends for farm products the producers receive six dollars. In some
directions most remarkable results have been accomplished. A recent
quotation on wheat per bushel was as follows: Chicago, $0.93; Antwerp,
$1.04; London, $1.06; Hamburg, $1.07. Eleven to 14 cents per bushel
represents the cost of haul and commissions between Chicago and the
European cities named. Methods of handling have been so perfected that
from the time the western farmer places the bundle of wheat at the
mouth of the threshing machine the grain literally flows through the
channels of trade until it reaches the flour sack. On an average the
English miller pays about 20 cents a bushel more for wheat than the
American farmer receives for it.

The cost of distributing many other farm products is greater, although
the range of distribution is much less. The cost of haulage and
selling potatoes is from 25 to 50% of the retail price, while with hay
it is still higher. The cost of distributing all forms of truck and
market garden produce is high and often wasteful. Many attempts have
been made to eliminate a part of this cost as well as to better the
conditions of the supplies when they reach the consumer. While many
individuals have been quite successful in dealing directly with the
consumer, little has thus far been accomplished that affects general
trade conditions. Great improvements have been made in methods of
transportation and methods of preservation. Cold storage and canned
goods have been the direction in which progress has been notable.

WASTEFUL METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION

Owing to customs and traditions there is frequently a great waste of
effort in some of the methods of trade. The meat trade of France is an
excellent illustration. Certain sections of France make a sp