The Dollar Hen Part 21

Numerous efforts have recently been made in western states to prevent the sale of bad eggs by law. Minnesota began this work by arresting several farmers and dealers. The parties invariably pleaded guilty. A number of other States followed the example of Minnesota in challenging the sale of rotten eggs, but few prosecutions were made.

Such laws mean well enough, but the only efficient means of enforcing them would be to have food inspectors who are trained as practical candlers.

The present usefulness of the laws is in calling the attention of the farmer to the mistake that he may be carelessly committing, and in placing over him a fear of possible disgrace in case of arrest and prosecution.

The weakness of the law is the difficulty of its enforcement because of the number of violations, and the difficulty of drawing distinct lines in regard to which eggs are to be considered unlawful.

Education of the farmer as to the situation is, of course, the surest means of preventing the loss, but the education of ten millions of farmers is easier to suggest than to execute. The most effective plan of education would be the introduction of a method of buying eggs similar to the one in vogue in Denmark, in which every producer is paid strictly in accordance with the quality of his eggs.

With our complicated system involving five to six dealers between the producer and the consumer, such a system is well nigh impossible. With the introduction of co-operative buying or the community system of production, paying for quality becomes entirely possible.

For enterprising farming communities, the following plans offer a cure for the evil of general store buying that take good and bad alike and causes the worthy farmer to suffer for the carelessness and dishonesty of his neighbor.

First: The encouragement of the cash buying of produce, and, if possible, the candling of all eggs with proper deduction for loss.

Second: The buying of eggs by co-operative creameries. The greatest difficulty in this has been the opposition of the merchants, who through numerous ways available in a small town, may retaliate and injure the creamery patronage to an extent greater than the newly installed egg business will repay.

Third: The agreement of the merchants to turn all egg buying over to a single produce buyer. This has been successfully done in a few instances, but there are not many towns in which those interested will stick to such an agreement. The worst fault with this plan is that the moment the egg buyer is given a monopoly he is tempted to lower the farmer's prices for the purpose of increasing his own profits.

Fourth: A modification of the above scheme is the case in which the produce buyer is on a salary and in the employment of the merchants.

This scheme has been successfully carried into effect in some Nebraska towns. It may be the ultimate solution of the egg buying in the West. It eliminates the temptation of the buyer to use his privilege of monopoly to fatten his own pocket-book. The weakness of the plan is that a salaried man's efficiency in the close bargaining necessary to sell the goods is inferior to that of the man trading for himself. Other difficulties are: Getting a group of merchants who will live up to such an agreement; the farmers object to driving to two places; the compet.i.tion of other towns; the merchants'

realization that, the farmer with cash in his pocket or a check good at all stores, is not as certain a trader as one standing, egg basket on arm, before the counter; and last, and most convincing, the merchant's further realization that any fine Sat.u.r.day morning, with eggs selling at fifteen cents at the produce house, he may stick out a card "Sixteen Cents Paid for Eggs" and make more money in one day than his compet.i.tors did all week.

Fifth: Co-operative egg buying by the farmers themselves. This has been discussed in a previous chapter. It is all right in localities where the business is big enough to warrant it and the farmers are intelligent and enthusiastic to back it up and stick to it.

The High Grade Egg Business.

There are many excellent opportunities for men of moderate capital and ability in the high grade egg trade. The produce business on its present line, either at the country end or at the city end, is as open as any well-known form of business enterprise can be. The chances of success for a man new to the trade will be better, however, if he can find a niche in the business where he may crowd in and establish himself before the old firms realize what is up.

The proposition of buying high grade eggs from producers and selling direct to consumers is a proposition of this kind.

The little game of existence is chiefly one of apeing our betters and strutting before the lesser members of the flock. The large cities are full of people in search of some way to display their superior wealth, taste and exclusiveness. If an ingenious dealer takes a dozen eggs from common candled stock, places them in a blue lined box and labels them "Exquisite Ovarian Deposital," he can sell quite a few of them at a long price, but the game has its limits.

Now, let this man secure a truly high grade article from reliable producers, teach his customers the points that actually distinguish his eggs from common stock, and he can get not only the sucker trade above referred to but a more satisfactory and permanent trade from that cla.s.s of people who are willing to pay for genuine superiority but whose ears have not quite grown through their hats.

An express messenger running out of St. Louis became interested in the egg trade. He arranged with a few country friends to ship him their eggs. These he candled in his house cellar and began selling them to a limited trade in the wealthy section of the city. At first he delivered the eggs himself. This was in the World's Fair year of 1904. In 1908 he did a $100,000 worth of business and his type of business shows a much better percentage of profit than that of the ordinary type of dealer.

In Chicago, one of the large dairy companies established an egg department and placed a young man in charge of it. The eggs in this case are not bought of farmers but are secured from country produce buyers whom the Chicago company have encouraged to educate their farmers to bring in a high grade of goods. These people buy their eggs in Tennessee in the winter and in Minnesota in the summer, thus getting the best eggs the year round. They sell by wagon on regular routes. The business is growing nicely and pays good profits.

Other similar concerns are operating in Chicago and other large cities. They are not numerous, however, and there is room for more.

The reason the business has not been overdone is chiefly because of the difficulty of getting sufficiently really high grade eggs in the season of scarcity. Southern winter eggs are destined to relieve this situation more and more.

Another great difficulty with a plan that attempts to buy eggs directly from the producer is that premium offered on the goods tempts the farmer to go out and buy up eggs from his neighbors. This brings disastrous results in the quality of the goods and the farmer must be dropped from the list. In order to make a success, a system of buying directly from producers must be based upon a grading scheme that will pay for the actual quality of the eggs. No fear then need be exercised as to whether the farmer sells his own eggs or those of his neighbor.

The following extract from Farmer's Bulletin 128 of the U.S.

Department of Agriculture has been used as advertising "dope" in the sale of high grade eggs:

"Under certain conditions eggs may be the cause of illness by communicating some bacterial disease or some parasite. It is possible for an egg to become infected with micro-organisms, either before it is laid or after. The sh.e.l.l is porous, and offers no greater resistance to micro-organisms which cause disease than it does to those which cause the egg to spoil or rot. When the infected egg is eaten raw the microorganisms, if present, are communicated to man and may cause disease. If an egg remains in a dirty nest, defiled with the micro-organisms which cause typhoid fever, carried there on the hen's feet or feathers, it is not strange if some of these bacteria occasionally penetrate the sh.e.l.l and the egg thus becomes a possible source of infection. Perhaps one of the most common troubles due to bacterial infection of eggs is the more or less serious illness sometimes caused by eating those which are 'stale.' This often resembles ptomaine poisoning, which is caused, not by micro-organisms themselves, but by the poisonous products which they elaborate from materials on which they grow.

"In view of this possibility, it is best to keep eggs as clean as possible and thus endeavor to prevent infection. Clean poultry-houses, poultry-runs and nests are important, and eggs should always be stored and marketed under sanitary conditions. The subject of handling food in a cleanly manner is given entirely too little attention."

The reprint upon the succeeding pages will give some idea of the advertising literature used in selling high grade eggs. This is a copy of a hand-bill inserted in the egg boxes of a prominent Chicago dealer:

MOORE'S BREAKFAST EGGS

are guaranteed to be perfect in quality when you receive them and to remain so until all eaten up. If for any reason they are not satisfactory return the Eggs to your dealer and get your money back.

(Signature.)

WE URGE YOU

to a.s.sist us in our endeavor to furnish you at all times with the finest Eggs by being careful to

KEEP THEM DRY

A damp "filler" will in 24 hours make the finest fresh Eggs taste like old Cold Storage Eggs.

The flavor of an Egg cannot be detected even by the powerful electric lights used to inspect every Egg in this package, so it might be possible for a "strong" Egg to get by our inspectors, but in the past the cause of nearly every complaint has been traced to the consumer's ice box or pantry window sill.

REMEMBER

Eggs are 25c-40c per doz. retail only when fine Eggs are scarce. Ordinarily we can get a sufficient supply from the farmers bringing milk daily to the creameries where we make Delicia Pure Cream b.u.t.ter, but in times of scarcity we often have to go as far as Oklahoma, Arkansas or Tennessee to find the best Eggs. These are not equal to our creamery Eggs but are the freshest and best to be had and are vastly superior to the old Cold Storage Eggs that flood the market at such times.

Be Sure This Seal is Unbroken When You Get the Eggs

W. S. MOORE & CO.,

Chicago Office--131 South Water Street.

Buying Eggs By Weight.

Whenever an improved method of buying is installed, eggs should be bought of the producer by weight. As far as selling to the consumer is concerned, the present scheme is more feasible; this scheme is to grade according to the size and other qualities, and sell by the dozen, the price per dozen varying according to the grade.

Buying by weight simplifies the problem of grading. It will, in addition, only be necessary to have a fine of so much for eggs that are wrong in quality. For rotten or heated eggs should be deducted an amount considerably in excess of their value, for their presence is a source of danger to the reputation of the brand. Shrunken eggs are hard to cla.s.sify. In order that this may be done fairly and uniformly the specific gravity or brine test should be used. All eggs that float in a given salt brine of, say, 1.05 specific gravity should be fined. Two or more grades can be made in this fashion if desired.

The Retailing of Eggs by the Producer.

In poultry papers the poultryman has been commonly advised to get near a large city and retail his own eggs at a fancy price. This sounds all right on paper but in practice it works out differently.

A man cannot be in two places or do two things at the same time. The poultryman's time is valuable on his plant, and the question is whether he can handle city sales as well as a man who made it his business. If the poultryman tries to retail his own goods he will be working on too small a scale to advertise his goods or to make deliveries economically. The man making a specialty of the city end can sell ten to a hundred times as much produce as one poultryman can produce.

With a group of poultry farmers working co-operatively, or a large corporation having contracts with producers, the producing and selling end can be brought under the same management advantageously.

The isolated poultryman, unless he find a market at his very door, will do better to permit at least one middleman to slip in between himself and the consumer. But there is no reason why he should not know this middleman personally and insist upon a method of buying that will pay him upon the merits of his goods.

Consigning eggs or any other produce to commission men, without a definite understanding, will always be, as it always has been, a source of dissatisfaction and loss. There is a great opportunity here for the man who can organize a system that shall do away with commission houses, other intermediate steps, and form the single step from producer to consumer. Some people say that farmers cannot be dealt with in this manner. Such people would probably have said as much about general merchandising before the days of the mail order houses.