g the same period.

CHAPTER XIX

MARKETING

Without stopping to inquire the reasons, it may be recalled that there
are two rather distinct forms of trade, wholesale and retail. The
wholesale trade is conducted by three classes of persons: dealers or
merchants, commission men, and brokers. The dealer is one who buys the
goods outright and takes his own risk on making a favorable sale to
the retailer. The commission man is one who receives the goods, sells
them at such price as he may be able to obtain and remits to the
seller the amount obtained less expenses and his commission. The
broker is a man who effects a sale without coming in contact in any
way with the materials sold. A cheese broker, for example, receives
instruction from different factories to sell for them a certain
quantity of cheese of a given kind and quality each week or month as
the case may be. At the same time he receives from grocery stores
which retail cheese orders for various amounts, kinds and quality of
cheeses. With this information at hand, he directs the various
factories intrusting their business to him to ship the kind, quantity,
and quality of cheese required by his several customers. For such
service he receives a brokerage, which is less than that charged by a
commission man because he is not required to handle or store the
material.

Since the different farm products are purchased by different classes
of retailers, and since their handling and sale require different
facilities and special knowledge, there have arisen in the great
centers of trade different kinds of markets, each having its
particular facilities for the handling, care and sale, and each
conducted by commission men or brokers with a special knowledge of the
trade. Furthermore, certain cities have become, on account of their
favorable position--to mention but one reason--headquarters for
certain products or groups of products. Thus Petersburg, Virginia, has
the principal wholesale market for peanuts. Elgin, Illinois, has been
noted for its butter market. St. Louis is the leading mart for mules.

In a general way, the following five more or less distinct and
important classes of markets for farm products may be recognized:
Grain, Live Stock, Produce, Cotton and Tobacco.

METHODS OF TRADE

The brokers or commission men doing business in any one of these
markets usually form