HUME LIBRARY
INSTITUTE OF FOOD ArJD
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
UNIVERSiTY OF FLORIDA

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FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT
OF THE

Florida State Marketing
Bureau

JULY 1, 1917, FEBRUARY 28, 1919

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Offices, 416 and 417 St. James Building
Jacksonville, Florida

DIRECTORS
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W. A. McRae, Tallahassee
J. L. Shepard, Pomona
L. S. Light, Reddick
W. J. Singletary, Grand Ridge
L. M. RHODES MOSES FOLSOM J
Commissioner Secretary 0

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First Biennial Report

of

Florida State Marketing

Bureau

REPORT OF HON. W. A. McRAE,
Commissioner of Agriculture.

TO HON. SIDNEY J. CATTS,
Governor of Florida.

I beg to submit for your -consideration the first
report of the State Marketing Bureau. Your kind
attention is respectfully called to the statements of
the Directors and Commissioner. There is abundant
evidence of the need of the work of the Bureau.
Agriculture is the great business of Florida, and what-
ever can aid it is important. The improvement in
marketing methods cannot be brought about by
immediate and revolutionary change,-any more than
the tiger can change its stripes-but by patient ferret-
ing out of weakness wherever found and applying the
remedy the betterments can be made.
This condition having become so manifest, State
Marketing Bureaus have been created to help bring
producers nearer to consumers by reducing some of
the toll gates between them. There must always be
middlemen, but so many of them exist today, until
they have become an organized appetite to consume
nearly one-half of the products of the large majority
of producers. The remedy is better marketing
methods.

4 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

MARKETING PROBLEMS.

As the Commissioner has said the question of
marketing, as you will note in his report, is one that
touches human life at every point from the cradle to
the grave. The one of a plentiful supply and a good
quality of food is leading and vital. There are more
producers of crops than can be found in any other
occupation, but organized minorities have grown up
to manipulate and profit from the work of the major-
ity, one that is not organized.
The marketing of farm products becomes more
complicated as civilization develops, as population
increases and concentrates in cities. More than one-
half of our population is now away from the land, and
it is estimated that about one-third of our population
is now directly engaged in agricultural pursuits.
When the republic was created three-fourths of our
people were directly employed in the production of
their own living. Then the marketing problem was
simple, but now with living expenses constantly climb-
ing the situation is serious.
-Realizing the condition the Federal and State Gov-
ernments have sought to promote interest in and im-
prove farming methods, and line it up with the highly
intensified and systematized life of the cities and
towns. Schools have been established and literature
provided for the pupils. Farm agents and domestic
economy teachers have been sent into the counties to
suggest improvements. Adults are but children
grown up. They, like the children in our public
schools, need instruction in these days of intense and
rapid development. Not only should there be one
farm agent, and in time there will be more of them,
specialists in every feature of farm life,-live stock,
dairying, trucking, fruit raising, and in every other
important and distinct feature of farm effort. The
land is the source of all prosperity.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 5

The cities have become great by utilizing the raw
material of the land, meats, cereals, fruits, vegetables,
woods and ores, until now producers have become
dependents. They need help to get better returns
for what they produce, without which the cities could
not exist. Agriculture should be taught in the schools,
and every school should have its garden to instill the
fundamentals of the most necessary business on earth,
the growing and preparation of foods for the health
and perpetuation of the human race.

WHAT IS NEEDED.

We need to have our children study in God's great
book of out of doors. They should be taught that
from the land, our food is drawn, and all of the raw
material for the wonderful industrial life of the
world. We need teachers who should know the
essential facts that have a vital bearing upon com-
munity life, of what is pertinent in the adjustment of
the work of the school to the economic and spiritual
needs of the community.
The teacher can become a leader with a large vision
and think of the school as the whole district and the
pupils as the whole people. Life is a practical pro-
position and not merely a theoretical one. The
tendency of the schools is to direct the children into
professional life and away from actualities of funda-
mental conditions. Whatever may be the business
of a community it is the business of the teacher to
understand the business of that community and all
of the related factors that make for or against com-
munity happiness and prosperity. I have said that
agriculture is the chief business of Florida. The
children of today who are to be the men and women
of tomorrow should know the foundation facts relat-
ing to their welfare.
In this connection there is need of an extension of
club work among our young folks, as exemplified in

6 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

the corn, pig and other clubs now existing and doing
such good work in the country. Boys and girls have
an instinctive desire to gang or clique together, to
belong to something and do something to attract
attention. We see the get-together instinct in gangs
in town and city boys and among men in their lodges.
These instincts are most beneficial if properly guided.

RURAL LIFE.

The Country Life Commission, appointed during
the administration of President Roosevelt, and whose
report is perhaps the best thing that we have on our
rural life problem, says: "We must picture to our-
selves a new rural social structure, developed from
the resident forces of the open country; bring this
about. The entire people need to be aroused to this
avenue to usefulness. Most of the new leaders must
be the farmers. . . A new race of teachers must
also appear in the country. A new rural clergy is
to be trained. These leaders will see the great under-
lying problems of country life and together they will
work, each in his own field, for the one goal of a
new and permanent rural civilization."
The Marketing Bureau is one of the modern agen-
cies, with county agricultural agents, to not only
help to provide more food but to enable producers to
get a better share for their work. With more than
100,000,000 people now and inability to properly feed
them, what will it be in a quarter of a century when
our population will have doubled? That prompt steps
should be taken to meet coming conditions there is
no doubt. The State Marketing Bureau is one of the
necessary forward steps.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 7

HOW THE BUREAU IS SUPPORTED.

The maintenance of the Bureau comes from a fund
secured by a tax of 25 cents a ton on fertilizers. This
tax is a negligable one in these days of from $40 to
$70 a ton fertilizer, and plays no tangible part in the
cost to farmers. The total amount appropriated the
Bureau is $15,000 a year, and in 1918 the fertilizer
stamp tax realized $51,128.00, of which the Bureau,
received less than one-third, the expenses of the
Bureau for the year being $14,523.48.
There are 70,000 farms in the State and the Bureau
created to assist in marketing crops gets a per capital
allowance of 21 cents. Apportioned per capital to
population the amount would be 12 cents.

WORK OF THE BUREAU.

The work of the Florida State Marketing Bureau,
among other things, is to promote organized efforts
among farmers, to encourage better business pract-
ices in production, the standardization of products, to
secure more economical distribution of food and feed
stuffs, to eliminate speculation and restore to practical
operation the law of supply and demand, and to
develop direct cooperation between reliable dealers
and organized producers. There are too many toll
gates between producers and consumers, and some
can be cut out by proper organization with resultant
profit to all concerned. When farmers combine in.
producing crops of the same variety and quality, and
in quantities to ship by the carload, they can save
money, and secure and maintain reputation for
dependable products. It is a plain business matter.

8 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

COOPERATION.

The farmers of America comprise by far the largest
number of people engaged in any occupation, but
they are practically the only calling that is not organ-
ized. They'have examples of the value of organiza-
tion and cooperation on every side. They see
manufacturers, bankers, lawyers, doctors, and oper-
atives in every calling, carefully organized and in-
sisting upon a just compensation for their work, and
they see them getting it. The 6,000,000 farmers of
the United States saw an organization of 200,000
make terms with the government. Disorganized, the
farmers will remain victims of organized effort. They
are the only people in the world who do not place
a price on their labor and products, and yet without
their products there would be no industry or city.
Food is an absolute necessity; the farmer is the
sole producer, but from lack of cooperation he allows
others to set the price.

FLORIDA AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

The more than $100,000,000 worth of farm products
of Florida are produced on less than 2,000,000 acres
of the more than 35,000,000 acres in the State. The
waste from the land to the garbage can back of the
kitchen of the consumer can be safely and conservat-
ively approximated at 50 per cent of this vast sum,
and some experts place the percentage much higher.
Our State is not self supporting in the matter of
raising our foodstuffs. We buy from less favored
States approximately a hundred million dollars worth
of products, much of which can be produced here,
and of what we raise there is a large waste from the
land to the market.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 9

LEADERSHIP AND PROGRESS.

Our Bureau seeks to impress the value of profitable
methods in marketing. The Directors have watched
the methods of the Commissioner and his assistants
and heartily approve of them. Continued they will
redound in great good to our State. In a govern-
ment of the people a leader must be a teacher, the
bearer of the torch of truth. Too many people are in
a rut, "what was good for father and grandfather is
good enough for me," is still a prevailing sentiment.
All such are slaves of habit,-followers of custom,-
relying too much on the obsolete things of the past.
Custom is a prison, locked and bound by those who
were long ago dust, the keys of which are in the
keeping of the dead. The past had no steam, electric-
ity, gasoline, and power as now applied in countless
forms, for human comfort and prosperity. When
Andrew Jackson was elected President it took him
nearly a month to travel from Nashville to Washing-
ton. When Abraham Lincoln was President it took
four days for a letter to go from Illinois to the Atlantic
Coast. Not long ago a young woman guided a flying
machine from Chicago to New York in a little less
than nine hours. It will not be long before men will
fly from America to Europe in two days.
The world is being drawn together; the people of
all countries are near to each other. We ring a bell
in Jacksonville, apply a little instrument to the ear
and talk with men in Chicago or New York. The
lightning beats the movement of the sun and we read
of events in Europe before they happen, according
to our clocks. What seems to be miracles are of daily
occurence. In the days before us man's efforts must
not be for himself alone but for his fellows as well.
To be a better farmer than his father, a boy who
is soon to be a man, must become a close student of
natural advantages in production as determined by
location, climate and market, and in connection with

10 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

his own liking and preparation. The farm to be
successful, must be one where some one thing must
be done on time and well done. If the farmer does
not make his own farm a profitable one, no one else
will do it for him. Nature is kind to Florida, but
nature cannot always help the indifferent and care-
less farmer. If he does not strive for increased pro-
duction and understand the disposal of his crop he
will miss the profit. There is a market, and new
things must be tried, without which there can be no
progress.
Our parents had none of the modern facilities. Their
sons and daughters are struggling with titanic pro-
blems, in face of an inclination to cling to old pre-
cedents and methods. Education, science and inven-
tion have left no chance for us but to adjust ourselves
to new ways. The new era of cooperation is here,
and the "I do as I like" man, the individualist, can no
longer exist. Kaiserism went down in 1917.
The real man of today, the leader and reformer,
breaks chains, levels the hills, tunnels under rivers,
drains the swamps, shows the need of soil fertility,
point out mistakes, avoids rash impulse-of which we
had too many acts in recent years,-attacks prejudice,
laughs at folly, denounces cruelty, promotes amenity,
enlightens and enlarges the mind of men and children.
and educates the conscience-not because he loves
himself, but because he loves and serves the truth,
and walking the highway of right, seeks to make his
country great and his people free.

OUR MARKETING COMMISSIONER.

The Commissioner of our State Marketing Bureau
came to his position with experience. For many years
he had been lecturer and organizer for the National
Farmers' Union, and had been in all parts of the
country. As a member of the Legislative Committee
of the National Union he incidentally suggested, after

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 11

a visit to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and in
noting with other members that there were a good
many different Bureaus, that it be a good idea to
have one on markets. He aided the committee in
drawing up the first tentative bill on the subject. It
was presented by Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia,
and carried an appropriation of $50,000. The need
of such a Bureau was so apparent that the last Con-
gress gave the Bureau $2,500,000. Its work however
differs from that of the State Bureaus, in that it does
not find buyers and give their reliability, and enter
into direct selling and buying, bringing producers
and consumers together, nor does it give advice in
collecting over due accounts. The Federal Bureau
at a large expense sends out a report of market prices
in the large cities, but it does not differ from those
appearing in the daily papers. The State Bureaus
come more directly into contact with producers and
shippers in their work, being nearer to them and more
intimately associated with them.
Our State Marketing Bureau began its career in
the midst of the world's greatest war. There was dis-
order, confusion, rumor and dismay. Labor was
withdrawn from' the farms and industries. The rail-
road congestion was unprecedented. The govern-
ment appealed for increased production. There were
food restrictions and price regulations. The people
hardly knew whether they were going somewhere or
coming back.
Assistance was asked from our Commissioner, who
is a ready and instructive speaker, to aid in the in-
numerable agencies created to stand back of our
armed forces engaged in destroying a despotism
which threatened the welfare of the world. This
prevented in a measure the carrying forward of many
initial plans in marketing work. In face of events
without precedent in our history however the Bureau
made remarkable progress and the future before it
for useful work is most promising.

12 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

THE FUTURE.

Armed strife has practically ceased but the pro-.
blems of reconstruction and readjustment have not
been solved. The solution of restoration must be
by organization, as autocracy was destroyed by an
organized army and navy, and the organized in-
dustries and agencies back of them.
A mighty wave of unrest, however, almost as un-
certain as war itself, is sweeping over every country.
Posters everywhere in America, not long ago, bore
the slogan, "Food will win the war." This is equally
true in the trying period before us. The "man behind
the plow" is just as necessary now as then. The
world must eat to live. If the farmers continue to
remain isolated and individualist, act on the prin-
ciple of "every man for himself and the devil take
the hindmost," perpetuate the disorganization which
in the past gave them nothing, but neglect and weak-
ness, the horrible lesson of the war will not have
taught them anything, organized minorities will con-
tinue to rule them, and the fruitage of their efforts
will still remain bitter to the taste. This is no class
issue, but a mere suggestion that the men and women
who feed and clothe the world should have represent-
ation in public affairs and get what is due them in
proportion to their numbers, usefulness and power.
The business of the people should be done by the
people.
The readjustment before us must not be merely
one of industrial conditions, but of the American
mind and sentiment. Mind and matter must co-or-
dinate, be placed in full reciprocal relations. The
trail of the dead years cannot be altogether for-
gotten. Their marks are on the faces and foreheads
of millions, with a pang in the heart, but the new
years are before us and we must look to the rising
sun.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 13

THE FARMER'S SHARE.

The share received by farmers for their products
varies with the different conditions, but it will average
about one-half. This is not enough. The farmer
takes all of the risk of production, and they are many.
There is too much exploitation instead of judicious
and practical marketing. Anent the subject, Assistant
Secretary Ousley, of the United States Department
o0 Agriculture, in an address before the American
Bankers Association, said:
"Marketing is the business side of agriculture and
it is the side that has been the most neglected, be-
cause, to a large extent heretofore, commerce has
made little attempt to serve agriculture in the true
sense but has taken advantage of the farmer's lack
of information and aloofness from the currents of
trade to exploit his products. The necessary middle-
man is entitled to fair profit, but many of the trans-
actions between the farmer and the consumer are
unnecessary and wasteful, and some of them are mere
sharp practices which should not be countenanced in
honorable commerce."
Mr. Ousley further said, that bankers "by their in-
fluence over credits and commercial obligations gen-
erally" can do much to discourage this condition.
"That in nearly all agricultural regions there are the
beginnings of cooperative marketing by farmers.
Many of these undertakings have been wrecked by
lack of skill or lack of perseverance, or lack of
cohesion; many others have been wrecked by the
steady and sometimes by the unfair opposition of
men of commerce."
It is the opinion of Mr. Ousley and other students
of the marketing problem, that farmers can only get
their share by cooperation in their methods. Three
things are necessary:
1. Selling in larger quantities than individual farm-
ers can offer.

FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

2. Better classification, grading, or packing than
is practicable when only small quantities are offered.
3. More expert knowledge of market conditions
and prices on the part of the agent of the cooperative
group than it is possible for each farmer acting in-
dependently to get or take time to get.
This means some hard work and some mistakes,
but mistakes need not be repeated, and profit will
result. The farmers of Florida should get together
and establish their cooperative marketing associa-
tions and cooperate in all things of public benefit.
Production and marketing can be made continuous
performance as in no other state. There is no magic
about cooperation. It is only a business proposition.
It means business methods in production, the im-
provement of the product, the standardization of the
product, and the creation of trade marks to produce
confidence among consumers. Besides cooperation
creates credits.
It is only a question of time when all of the states
will have their marketing bureaus. Each state has
its own peculiar problems, and they can only be solved
by authorities right at home,.
I wish to extend my thanks for the consideration
given to our bureau by those who have taken pains
to acquaint themselves with its purposes. The bureau
has already made a much needed place for itself in
the multiplied activities of our state.

W. A. McRAE,
Commissioner of Agriculture.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU

REPORT OF DIRECTORS.

TO HON. W. A. McRAE,
Commissioner of Agriculture.

We transmit herewith the first report of the Florida
State Marketing Bureau. The wisdom of the Legis-
lature of 1917 in creating it has been well justified.

THE BEGINNING.

The Bureau began operations under most trying
conditions. The country was distracted by the great
war, and to win it was the uppermost and absorbing
thought and work. A myriad of agencies were busy,
some of them conflicting, but all tending to the same
end; labor conditions were demoralized; a feeling of
uncertainty prevailed and the cost of living mounted
to figures heretofore unknown.
Commissioner Rhodes, a fluent, instructive and con-
vincing speaker, was called upon during the begin-
ning of the Bureau, and ever since, to take part in
campaigns for more food, and of the work of num-
erous agencies engaged in concentrating public
sentiment so as to hasten and consummate victory to
the .forces of democracy.
The mission of the Bureau in the midst of the con-
fusion and dismay was not fully understood, and the
difficulty to make itself known and fit itself into the
activities of the state was apparent in face of the
hundred and one "win the war" agencies, engaging
public attention.
That the Bureau has succeeded in making a useful
and necessary place for itself in face of war prepara-
tions and of difficulties incident to reconstruction and
readjustment, in which we are still, and will long be
involved, is fully outlined in the accompanying report
of the Commissioner.

16 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

A GREAT WASTE IN MARKETING.

United States government experts in a study ex-
tending- over many years report that more than fifty
per cent of all foodstuffs produced in this country is
wasted in one form or other on the way from the farm
to the market. This in total represents billions of
dollars, a loss due to poor or no methods in gathering,
storing, grading, packing, selling and cooking. The
crying need of the day is better care and distribution
of our farm crops.
This fact is now so manifest that many of the states
have established marketing bureaus. Pennsylvania,
one of the great manufacturing states, in January
last by Legislative action, created the office of Mar-
keting Commissioner with a salary of $4,000 a year.
Georgia and Oklahoma in the same month doubled
appropriations for the support of their marketing
bureaus. Nearly half of the states now have bureaus
to promote distribution, marketing and cooperation.
The marketing bureau is the only agency under
State auspices engaged in the work of cooperating
with farmers in helping them to profitably dispose
of their crops. Many of our farmers are good pro-
ducers, but their frequent unfamiliarity with market
requirements in the matter of handling, grading and
packing products, as well as a lack of knowledge of
the principles of salesmanship, and with it the art of
knowing how to buy things at an advantage, all tend
to their disadvantage.

AN IMPORTANT WORK.

The owners of railroads and of the leading in-
dustries of the country are organized and hire
trained men to operate their enterprises. The enter-
prising and successful growers of apples, prunes,
oranges, raisins, nuts, cereals, potatoes and other pro-
ducts of the northwest and Pacific Coast are organ-

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 17

ized and hire managers to assemble, grade and sell
what is grown. There are more than a dozen State
organizations and scores of county organizations in
California, each handling specialties. California has
a State Marketing Bureau with an appropriation of
$50,000 per annum, to assist all these organizations
as well as individual farmers and small shippers in
the grading, packing, shipping and selling of their
products. This shows that there is no organization
so large, or no shipment too small, that a State Mar-
keting Bureau cannot be of assistance.
The marketing and distribution of food stuffs have
become so important and necessary that most of the
large railroad lines have established market agencies
to aid individuals, and the Federal and various State
Bureaus, in their work of distribution and in preven-
tion of waste.

AGRICULTURE FALLING BEHIND.

That there is need of giving attention to better
farming methods and increased marketing facilities is
most apparent. By comparison it will be found that
the quantity of the present crops produced in the
United States increased about 10 per cent between
1900 and 1910. This increase is substantially the
same rate as the increase in the number of farms,
which is 10.9 per cent, and the increase in acreage,
which was 9.9 per cent, the aggregate average pro-
duction of these crops per farm and per acre remain-
ing substantially unchanged during the decade, while
the population of the country increased at a rate
more than twice as great as the crop production, and
the increase in the population of our cities being three
and one-half times as great. These figures speak a
condition which, if permitted to continue even for an
inconsiderable length of time, as we reckon time,
with the rapid increase in population, will bring want
and hunger to the country.

18 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

Under the pressure to increase meat supplies there
has been an increase in the number of hogs, due to a
guaranty of price, but there has been no reduction in
the retail cost of pork products. Sheep have steadily
decreased in number during the past three or four
decades. Nor has the poultry industry kept pace with
the demands.
There is no question as to the importance of the
farming industry. It is the foundation of all business.
Without the farm all other business would stagnate
and die, the railroads would cease to run, the banks
and mercantile establishments could no longer oper-
ate, and grass would grow in the streets of our cities.
No other business can succeed without the farmer.
The time is right know when America must take
steps to check the drain on our agricultural resources.
Statesmen who have charge of making laws regulat-
ing our affairs, must consider the future. Our forests
are disappearing. The lesson of older civilizations
show that the wasted forests made the desert and the
people perished. Not only are the forests going, but
we are drawing on the natural fertility of the soil. We
know what it means to rob the soil as taugtit by the
movement of wheat growing from the Atlantic Coast
to the interior, and now it is being crowded over the
line into Canada. There must be conservation, rest-
oration and maintenance of our soils, and better
distribution and marketing of our farm products, or
else there will in time be widespread hunger and want.
The great war has been a burden upon this country,
We must feed ourselves, and supplies of many kinds
must for years go across the seas to our destitute
allies and even to recent enemies now hungry and
helpless. It has been well said that a man who is piti-
less to helpless enemies is most likely to be pitiless to
the helpless in his own land.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 19

THE NEED OF RIGHT MARKETING.

"Better ship a dozen cars of good oranges and hold
the market steady than to ship fifteen cars, three of
them bad, and break prices and demoralize the dem-
and for weeks ahead."
The above pungent paragraph in a recent issue of
the New York Packer applies to shipments of any
size. One poor package in a dozen will help to con-
demn the eleven good ones.
Another pertinent fact is from a statement by C. E.
Bassett, formerly with the U. S. Bureau of Markets,
but now director of field organization of the North
American Fruit Exchange of New York, as follows:
"My observations lead me to believe that market-
ing fruits and vegetables is a game-the game of get-
ting products that are wanted; in the style, condition
and quantity they are wanted; when and where they
are wanted and with the least waste and expense. The
weakness and present marketing methods lies in the
failure to meet one or more of these essentials in .the
marketing 'game'."
Mr. Bassett, while with the U.S. Bureau of Markets,
had occasion to visit from time to time practically all
the fruit producing districts of the country, which
offered him unusual opportunities to study the strong
and weak points of every feature of marketing, and
his opinion is summed up in this sentence:
"A group of growers, working together in an or-
ganization, can do their work better and cheaper than
when working as individuals."
The individual who has a small shipment can by
combination make it a part of a carload and get the
benefit of a cheaper rate.
Mr. Bassett has visited all parts of our state and
says that "Florida with its vast output of perishables
needs to give close attention to the business side of
farming-the standardization of products, with proper
grading, packing, loading, shipping, distributing and

20 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

selling, and these essentials are possible only by co-
operative methods of individuals or else through
established agencies."
He further says, "individuals too often ship pro-
ducts to unknown concerns and then complain at not
getting returns. There are reliable houses in every
consuming center, and where growers are organized
with managers blunders of any kind are rare. Mar-
keting is the business end of production, and while
a farmer may be a good producer he may not be a
good seller. He must depend upon somebody, there
is no getting out of that fact, and it is the right thing
to have the dependable man right at home, in the form
of a practical and experienced manager."

DOING THINGS RIGHT MAKES
REPUTATION.

Florida is a large producer of perishable products,
and it is necessary in securing markets that prompt-
ness be observed, but it is essential to getting right
prices that products be of standard varieties, uniform-
ly graded and safely packed. When this course is
followed it makes, reputation for producers and ship-
pers. This Mfct has been constantly impressed by
our Bureau. As a rule there is always sale for good
products. / There are established and reliable buyers
in every city, and the aim of our Bureau has been to
encourage producers to establish relations with in-
dividual concerns, ship dependable products, and
avoid attempts to follow the markets from one city
to another in a chase after high prices due to tem-
porary shortage. There are instances where the
Bureau found sale for car lots and shipments failed
to go forward without explanation, in which case
dealers were put to inconvenience to accommodate
their customers. This has been true in many small
shipments, a practice certainly very hurtful to farm
marketing.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU

New York city alone handles thousands of farm
products a week. The total of all cities and consum-
ing centers runs into very large figures. So there is
a market. It is in the main question of dependability
and right methods in the disposal of products for any
producer to realize all that is coming to him.
The faults and losses in marketing cannot all be
charged to dealers and carriers. The trouble in a full
share of cases has origin with producer or shipper.
The products are mixed, not properly graded, the
containers too often flimsy, and unsafely loaded in
cars.

WHAT OUR BUREAU IS DOING.

Our Bureau has printed a dozen or more valuable
bulletins on marketing and Florida topics, for which
requests have been made by libraries, producers, ship-
pers and home seekers, in nearly all of the states, and
it has also supplied the newspapers of Florida with
a large volume of facts and suggestions about market-
ing and related subjects. It is pleasing to say that
this educational work has been most kindly received
by the editors of the State.
Our Bureau also prints twice a month a bulletin
containing a classified list of products offered for sale,
as well as a "wanted to buy" list of things by farmers
who are in the market for special products, or who
wish to make exchanges of live stock or machinery.
This has become very popular.
Other helpful features, having in view the better-
ment of farm marketing, will appear from time to
time. It is also planned to print, as the work pro-
gresses, lists of farm and live stock organizations,
farm and domestic science agents, nurseries, mills and
factories engaged in the manufacture of food and
feedstuffs, dealers in fertilizers, live stock and farm
products, etc., to enable producers to get in touch
with reliable persons and dealers at most convenient
points.

22 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

Our Bureau has lists of all produce dealers in the
United States and is prepared to give Florida ship-
pers the names of reliable dealers in any city or town,
as may be desired.
The bill creating our Bureau provided an annual
appropriation of $15,000 for its support, taken from a
fund secured by a tax on fertilizers and paid by the
farmers and not the general public, although every
person in the state is benefited when foodstuffs are
plentiful.
Our relations with the Commissioner and his office
force have been most cordial, and we feel they have
left no stone unturned to promote the welfare of the
people of Florida in the matter of investigating and
promoting methods and practices in connection with
the cultivating, producing, standardizing, grading, in-
specting, packing, storing, transporting and selling
the farm products of our state. In connection too
with this exacting work the Commissioner did his
full share as an executive worker and speaker in all
phases of war work.
We wish also to thank officers and members of
other State commissions and boards as well as in-
dividuals in all parts of the state for their cooperation
with our Bureau in the work it has in hand. When
the public understand the objects of the Bureau and
fully cooperate, its usefulness to our State will be
beyond any moderate measurement.

J. L. SHEPARD,
L. S. LIGHT,
W. J. SINGLETARY,

Directors.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 23

REPORT OF L. M. RHODES,
Commissioner.
TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE FLORIDA
STATE MARKETING BUREAU:
Gentlemen:-
The Legislature of 1917, knowing Florida shipped
an average of 150 cars of farm and grove products
daily; knowing three-fourths of these products are
perishables which must be sold when ready, or the
seller will suffer loss; knowing an average of a car-
load of valuable perishable products are solid in Flor-
ida every ten minutes, all of which should be properly
graded, packed, shipped and marketed; knowing suc-
sessful agriculture must include a knowledge of buy-
ing and selling; believing Florida's annual loss from
improper marketing runs into millions; knowing that
if the farmer quits his job the machinery of human
endeavor will automatically cease,-even life itself;
that in war or peace the army of the plow must ever
be busy, as human beings must have food-its pro-
duction is one absolute fact; being fully aware that
2,000 American High Schools, Universities and State
Agricultural Schools, together with the State and
National Departments of Agriculture and many other
agencies, are teaching scientific methods of produc-
tion, and thereby increasing the yields of our farms,
which naturally increase the marketing problem;
knowing more than 20 states had created State Mar-
keting Bureaus and that marketing must be a vital
question as long as human beings exist, wisely passed
the bill creating the State Marketing Bureau.
The bill provided that the office of the Bureau
should be opened in Jacksonville, July 1st, 1917. At
that time we were in the throe of the world's greatest
war. The octopus of militarism had fastened its fangs
in the heart of the industrial and commercial life of
our country. The energies of one half of the popula-

24 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

tion of the earth were turned from production to
destruction and men in every walk of life were drawn
from normal channels of trade to abnormal ones.
Some industries were stimulated, others paralyzed.
We were passing through the red mist of the world's
greatest tragedy, and our first duty was to win the
war,-other business was secondary.
Regardless of conditions and in spite of difficulties,
the work of the Bureau has been vigorously prosecut-
ed during the past twenty-one months and we believe
that the results obtained fully justify the conclusion
that the Bureau has rendered service to both the pro-
ducers and consumers of Florida worth many times
the amount of money expended.

SOME OF THE WORK OF THE MARKETING
BUREAU.

The first duty of the State Marketing Bureau is to
find markets, and assist in the buying and selling of
products grown in the State. Our files and records
for the period of twenty-one months show a business
of several million dollars. We have sold in carlots:
sweet potatoes, syrup, green beans, tomatoes, water-
melons, cucumbers, celery, lettuce, cabbage, peanuts,
velvet beans, pears, hay, chickens, honey, hogs, cattle,
goats, scrap iron, wool, corn-shucks, citrus fruit,
grapefruit juice, syrup, waste paper, corn, lime, moss,
wood, seed corn, and seed potatoes. In less than car-
lots we have sold all the above named products and in
addition: eggs, persimmons, dasheens, canned fruits,
pecans, dried beans and peas, cowpeas, egg-plants,
jellies, figs, peppers, strawberries, preserves, dried
fruits, peaches, grapes, broom-corn, pop-corn, seed-
corn, cured meats, beets, rutabagas, bees-wax, cauli-
flower, furs, onions, feathers, cantaloupes squash,
hog-bristles, rice, cotton seed, turnips, green peas,
radishes, pumpkins, nursery stock, bees, chufas, chufa
seed, seed wheat, cabbage plants, sweet potato plants,

STATE MARKETING BUREAU Zo

sorghum seed, tomato plants, pepper plants, celery
plants, strawberry plants, sun-flower seed, seed pea-
nuts, watermelon seed, turnip seed, soy-beans, corn
meal, Belgian hares, guinea pigs, squabs, milk goats,
milk cows, horses, mules, brood sows, boars, bulls,
geese, ducks, etc.
We have secured best quotations on and bought
for Florida producers: Wire, fertilizers, seeds, cotton
seed meal, corn, dairy feed, poultry feed, thorough-
bred poultry and live stock, farm implements, trucks,
etc., to the amount of many thousands of dollars.

OTHER THINGS THE BUREAU HAS DONE.

It has issued an Exchange Bulletin that goes to
thousands of farmers twice a month, which greatly
assists in the advertising, selling and exchanging or
purchasing their products.
As instance of what the "For Sale, Want and Ex-
change Bulletin is doing, I quote a few letters selected
at random out of the many received, written by those
who have been benefitted, not only by the Bulletin,
but by other features of our work.

Waldo, Fla., March 29, 1919.
"Please discontinue all of my ads except for the 1,000
pounds of cotton seed. Everything else sold out. Your
method of advertising is good, better than any other
I have ever tried. I hope your bulletin will be con-
tinued. I have heard several persons speak of it in the
highest terms."
T. S. McMANUS.

Green Cove Springs, Fla., March 14, 1919.
"I hear lots of favorable comments on your Exchange
and For Sale Bulletin. It is doing a good piece of
work."
W. T. NETTLES,
Agricultural Agent, Clay County.

26 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

Monticello, Fla., Dec. 20, 1918.
"Through your assistance we have sold all the velvet
beans we had for sale, netting us a good profit. Also
sold two carloads corn shucks to ----------whom you
referred to us."
JOHN PASCO,
President Jefferson County Products Company.

Callahan, Fla., March 3, 1919.
"We are glad to report the sale of at least 200 chicks
as a direct result of a notice which you ran a month ago.
We value your bulletins very highly and we assure you
that the effort to get it out is well spent and much
appreciated."
IRVIN & SONS,
Pinebreeze Farm.

Live Oak, Fla., Feb. 3, 1919.
"I bought two cars of beans from Mr. Browning. I
thank you for giving me the information. I see the
results of the good work you are doing."
L. S. HARVARD,
Suwannee Model Dairy Farm.

Florahome, Fla., March 14, 1919.
"Please cut out my ads as I have sold all the stuff
advertised. I wish to thank you for the service you have
rendered me on several occasions in getting buyers for
my products."
G. C. HARDY,
Manager Magnolia Farm.

Florahome, Fla., Feb. 4, 1919.
"Enclosed please find claim for $67.00 against------
due me over a year for shipments of green beans. I
would appreciate it very much if you will try to collect
this debt for me as I have failed."
G. W. TYRE.

Florahome, Fla., March 8, 1919.
"Cashier's check for $66.50 received. Payment in full
for claim against ------------. Many thanks for your
kindness."
G. W. TYRE.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 27

Hilliard, Fla., March 17, 1919.
"Its a great work you are starting for the poultry
people, and I for one appreciate it."
E. B. SMITH,
Pine Lodge.

Vero, Fla., March 3, 1919.
"Shipped car cabbage to --------. I wish to thank
you for assistance in disposing of same."
S. E. RICE.

Ocala, Fla., March 28, 1919.
"Enclosed find bill of lading for syrup which you sold
to --------------for me. I am very much obliged to
you for your kindness and promptness in this matter."
T. M. PHILLIPS,
Route B, Box 75.

Palatka, Fla., June 6, 1918.
"I hardly know how much we are to expect you to do
for us farmers in the way of helping us sell our produce.
But I appreciate very much what you did before and wish
to tell you of my latest experience. It is this. I sent
you sixteen crates of tomatoes, and about the time you
got them I expressed two crates to Jacksonville, to an-
other house, a very reliable one, considered by many to be
none better. I received the check for both shipments the
same day. Yours sold per box for twice what his did. I
am satisfied that had I shipped them all to the other house,
as I would have done had I not taken the matter up with
you I would have only gotten half the amount from the
tomatoes."
W. G. TILGHMAN.

A letter on file from Hon Ernest Amos, State Comp-
troller, Tallahassee, acknowledges the receipt from
Chicago of a check for $418.46, and one from Louisville
for $425.64, for sweet potatoes, from the farm of the
Girls' Reform School at Ocala, the sale of which was
directed by this Bureau. Mr. Amos said among other
things: "I thank you for the interest manifested in this
matter, and the price obtained."

As an instance of what one farmer, R. P. McAdams, of
Larkin, Fla., has for sale, he sent a list, including crates,
hampers, trucks, mules, etc., a total of fifteen separate
things, having a value of $14,720.

28 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

Has, in the collection and adjustment of bad ac-
counts, saved our people thousands of dollars.
Has sent out thousands of letters explaining in
detail: Grading, packing, preparation for market and
shipping.
Has given personal instructions in many instances
as to preparation and shipping of farm products.
Has constantly kept before the producer and con-
sumer statistical and general information in regard to
production, amount available, supply and demand.
Has sent a large number of articles to the news-
papers of the State, on marketing and its many re-
lated subjects, and they proved universally acceptable
to our editors, burdened as papers were with calls for
space during the activities of the war. Requests have
been made by a number of editors for regular weekly
articles.
Has issued market papers and bulletins which have
been read by farmers in all parts of the country. Some
of our general bulletins have been reproduced in full
by the newspapers of the State.
Has kept the producers posted as to quantity of
products grown in the state and shipped out of the
state to other markets.
Has given information as to the supply and kind
of products in other states, the same as are grown in
Florida, so that our producers would know better
what crops to plant, or not to plant, and which mar-
kets were overstocked.
Has furnished information ,to Florida shippers as
to the financial rating and reliability of commission
merchants, brokers and jobbers.
Has, by answering letters of inquiry, publishing
facts about the state and through the wide acquaint-
ance of the Bureau officials in other agricultural
states, located a number of enterprising citizens in
our State.
Has saved many individual farmers hundreds of
dollars.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 29

Has been instrumental in inducing several of the
largest firms in Northern market centers to send re-
presentatives to Florida to buy f. o. b.
Has sold many products that were hard to sell, that
in many cases the farmer could not sell himself.
Many hard bargains have been turned over to the
Bureau, I believe that the Bureau has saved many
thousands of dollars on sweet potatoes alone, by
finding profitable Northern markets and moving them
before they rotted.
Has sold about 100 different products for Florida
farmers and bought all kinds of supplies for Florida
producers.
Has sold thousands of cans of canned goods for
club girls and others, which greatly encouraged this
worthy work in the State.
Has sold eggs for the Girls' Egg Circles and in-
dividuals, which otherwise would have been a loss,
amounting in total to a considerable sum.
Has had requests for Florida products from other
State Marketing Bureaus and individual buyers in
other states.
A LARGE PROPOSITION.
Marketing is one of the most vital parts of our
economic system. Practically all leading authorities
on marketing. claim that it is a part of production.
Approximately $50,000,000 is spent annually in the
United States to stimulate and increase production.
We certainly should spend some to assist in
marketing.
It is estimated by government experts that Florida
expends more than $80,000,000 per annum for food
and feed grown outside of the State and sells more
than $70,000,000 worth of products grown in the
State,-an annual business transaction that amounts
to more than $150,000,000. With all this buying and
selling the State Marketing Bureau can certainly be
of great service.

30 FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

By far the greatest activities of mankind are
exerted in the production, distribution and consump-
tion of the material things of life. It is a part of the
task of civilization to so conduct these activities as
to insure the greatest degree of efficiency. One of
the first duties of society is to eliminate waste in
production and distribution. This cannot be done
unless we market profitably. Few of us realize what
part marketing plays in human life. We come in con-
tact with it every day of our lives. When we are born
we are wrapped in swaddling clothes bought in the
market; during our babyhood we are rocked in a
cradle bought in the market; all along life's journey
we must eat and wear products bought in the mar-
ket; when we embark for eternity we are buried in
a casket bought in the market, and the marble slab
that marks our last resting place is bought in the
market.
No place on earth has a greater marketing problem
than Florida. We produce a greater variety of pro-
ducts perhaps than any other state and they are sold
in almost every market in this country and in foreign
lands. This gives the State Marketing Bureau an
opportunity to render valuable service at a very small
cost. The appropriation is $15,000 per annum, which
is 21 cents per farm, for the 70,000 farnfs in the State
or less than five cents per capital for our farm popula-
tion. The cost is paid from a fund derived from the
sale of fertilizer stamps, which the farmers pay. They
should have some of the benefits from this taxation.

STATE MARKETING BUREAU 31

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
Expenditures State Marketing Bureau.

July 1, 1917 to June 30, 1918.

Salaries ------------------- $7,020.67
Traveling expenses:
Commissioner --..-- $843.81
Board of Directors 118.75
Market Agents -- 728.59 1,691.15
Office expense -------------- 624.50
Equipment and Supplies ----- 2,382.10
Stamps and Stationery ---350.25
Printing 814.50
Telephone and Telegraph. 203.33
Multigraph --------590.00
Office rent ----------------- 528.00
Miscellaneous ------------- 48.56

$14,253.06

July 1, 1918 to February 28, 1919.
Salaries ----------$6,607.42
Traveling expenses:
Commissioner --$415.59
Board of Directors 10.72 426.31
Office expense -------------- 564.48
Equipment and Supplies ----- 432.87
Stamps and Stationery ---- 472.49
Printing -- ---------- 244.00
Telephone and Telegraph... 184.19
Multigraph equipment ------ 111.45
Office rent ------------- 384.00

$9,427.21

This is a summary of expenditures. Approved
itemized bills and salary requisitions filed with
Comptroller.

FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT

There are fifteen Commissions and State Institu-
tions that cost more than the Marketing Bureau,-
some of them more than ten times as much. Doubt-
less every one of them are worth more than they cost,
but it is possible for the State Marketing Bureau,
properly supported and developed, to save enough
money to pay the entire running expenses of the
State.
The growth of the Bureau has been very gratifying.
Comparing the first month with the last, the business
of the Bureau has increased more than 1,000 per cent.
Comparing February, 1918, with February, 1919,
there has been an increase of nearly 500 per cent.
The Bureau has shirked no duty. Not a single
task has been neglected and no request made that
has not been met if possible. We have done every-
thing we could with the means available to aid in
marketing Florida's products and to help the citizens
of the State have two dollars to ring where only one
rung before.
I am very grateful to the Board of Directors, for
their wise counsel, keen interest, unselfish service and
hearty cooperation. I appreciate deeply and keenly
the splendid support of the newspapers of the State in
helping to get the public acquainted with our work.
I also want to express my gratitude to farmers, farm
organizations, the Agricultural Department of the
State, the Agricultural College and Experiment
Station and business men of the State, who have aided
us materially in making the Bureau a success.

Respectfully submitted,

L. M. RHODES.

Commissioner.