GIFT OF A Terminal Market System New York's Most Urgent Need Some Observations, Comments and Comparisons of European Markets By Mrs. ELMER BLACK Member of the Advisory Board of the New York Terminal Market Commission i Copyright, 1912, by Mrs. Elmer Black A Terminal Market System New York's Most Urgent Need Some Observations, Comments and Comparisons of European Markets By Mrs. ELMER ^LACK Member of the Advisory Board of the New York Terminal Market Commission Contents Page Foreword 3 The Markets of the United States 5 The Markets of the British Isles 5 The Markets of the German Empire 13 The Markets of France 23 The Markets of Austria-Hungary 29 The Markets of Holland 30 The Markets of Belgium 30 Comments 31 Illustrations Covent Garden Market 6 Smithfield in the Olden Days 8 Delivering Meat at Smithfield Today 8 Inside Smithfield Market 10 Billingsgate Fish Market, London 12 Berlin's Terminal Market 14 Interior of the>Bfeflin CeVnfUl: Market 16 Ground Plan of tne Munich "IVlfafket* 18 Munich's 2JTodi;Tir r fi5'Hifnat ^lark^fe . . ; 20 The Paris Halles, exterior view . . 24 The Paris Halles; Keen Morning Buyers 26 A Drastic Inspection 28 Foreword IN the belief that the establishment of a first-class Terminal Market system, worthy of twentieth century requirements, is a matter of vital import- ance to every family in New York, I have spent considerable time during the past few months investi- gating markets on both sides of the Atlantic. As a result I am more than ever conscious of the need for an enlightened public opinion to support the efforts of the Terminal Market Commission to secure this benefit for our community. I am convinced that our fellow-citizens will approve the requisite expendi- ture once they are roused to a realization of the inadequacy of our food-distributing centers. In the hope that my investigations may aid in the accomplishment of this reform, I have prepared these observations, comments and comparisons. It is true that the problem of the high cost of living is afflicting the old lands of Europe, the newer countries like New Zealand, as well as our own wide territories of the United States. The causes vary, ac- cording to local conditions; but everyv^here it is agreed that a potent force for the amelioration of the condition of the consumers is found in the establishment of effi- cient Terminal Markets under municipal control for all progressive cities. With wise administration, stringent 3 259528 inspection and sound safeguards, these municipal mar- kets benefit both producers and consumers. They eliminate considerable intermediate expense, delay and confusion. Last but not least they return a profit to the city treasury. It is because our New York markets achieve none of these beneficent results that I issue this plea for the establishment of an adequate Terminal Market system. I appeal to all who have the welfare of their city at heart to add the force of their opinion to the accom- plishment of this civic improvement. United States EW YORK, with over 5,000,000 inhabitants, has no effective market system. The buildings are out of repair, there is little or no organization, and the superintendent has testified before the New York Food Investigation Commission (March 12, 1912) that on their administration last year there was a loss to the city treasury of $80,000. To that must be added due con- sideration of the inconvenience to the consumers, producers and dealers, and the extra cost of handling entailed by the lack of modern market methods. The city has almost quadrupled its population in a generation, but the markets remain about as they were. Many other cities in the United States not only testify to the value of municipal markets as a means for lower- ing prices to the consumer, but so guard their interests as to provide a very different balance sheet. Boston has a profit on its markets of $60,000, Baltimore $50,000, New Orleans $79,000, Buffalo $44,000, Cleveland (Ohio) $27,507, Washington (D. C.) $7,000, Nashville (Tenn.) $8,200, Indianapolis $17,220, Rochester (N. Y.) $4,721, and St. Paul (Minn.) $4,085. If the following facts concerning municipal markets are studied, also, it will be seen that no city in any way comparable to New York fails to make the municipal markets yield advan- tages both to the community and the city treasury. The British Isles CONDON naturally serves as a starting point for a tour of European investigation. The British capital has, indeed, features that render it comparable in a peculiar degree with New York. The population of both, including their outer ring of suburbs, is over five millions. In each case there is access to the open sea by means of a noble waterway over which passes the com- merce of the seven seas. Railroads supplement the water-borne cargoes with home-grown produce, fresh from the farms for the use of urban kitchens. London's markets do not afford the unbroken example of municipal control that they would if a ne\C* system were to be created at the present day. Precedent looms large in British administration and even now there are only two ways of estab- lishing a market by Parliamentary authority and Royal Char- ter. King Henry III covenanted by charter with the City of London not to grant permission to anyone else to set up a mar- ket within a radius of seven miles of the Guildhall, and this < O o ^ - u o privilege was subsequently confirmed by a charter granted by Edward III in 1326. But of late years the City Corporation has waived its rights and allowed markets to be established in various districts wherever a real necessity has been shown to exist. In fact the markets of London have grown with the city, keeping pace with its requirements. There remains, however, the fact that certain Corporation markets and Covent Garden market serve as great wholesale terminals, connected more or less unofficially with the numerous local markets in the outlying districts. Chief among the Corporation markets is Smithfield, cover- ing about eight acres, and costing altogether $1,940,000. There are to be found wholesale meat, poultry and provision markets, with sections for the sale, wholesale and retail, of vegetables and fish. In the last twenty years the development of cold storage processes has lowered the quantity of home-killed meat and remarkably increased the importation of refrigerated sup- plies. Last year the wholesale market disposed of 433,723 tons of meat, of which 77.2 per cent came from overseas. ' Ten years ago the United States supplied 41 per cent of the Smithfield meat, but now these supplies have fallen off en- ormously and the last report of the Markets Committee says: "The United States, in particular for domestic needs, is within measurable distance of becoming a competitor with England for the output of South America." South America and Australasia are, indeed, the chief producers to-day for the British market. This has developed a great cold storage business in Lon- don. All told London can accommodate 3,032,000 carcases of mutton, reckoning each carcase at 36 pounds. Over 41 per cent of England's imported meat passes through Smithfield, and railroad access is arranged to the heart of the market. The Great Northern Railway Company has a lease from the cor- poration on 100,000 feet of basement works under the meat mar- ket, with hydraulic lifts to the level of the market hall, and inclined roadways for vehicular traffic. Most of the tenants at Smithfield are commission salesmen, who pay weekly rents for their shops and stalls at space rates, all the fittings being supplied. Last year these^ rents brought in $427,920. There is a toll of a farthing on every 21 pounds of meat sold, which together with cold storage, weighing and other charges amounted in the same period to $241,635. The meat sales are entirely wholesale, except on Saturday afternoons, when there is a retail "People's Market," where thousands of the very poor buy cheap joints. SMITHFIELD IN THE OLDEN DAYS From an Old Print Dated 1810. DELIVERING MEAT AT SMITHFIELD TODAY There is an inclined road by the tree in the center of the picture, leading to the special railroad freight depot. Cars are also run directly under the market and their cargoes are delivered by hydraulic lifts to the stands above. The inspection is very strict, every precaution is taken to ensure cleanliness, and breaches of the regulations are punished by fines or imprisonment. All condemned carcases are sent to a patent Podewill destructor to be reduced by steam pressure and rolling to a powder, which is disposed of as an agricultural fertilizer. On these central meat markets there is a profit of abouff $100,000. The Corporation also controls a great live cattle market at Islington, covering seventy-five acres. Over $2,500,000 have been spent on this market and the modern slaughterhouses at- tached thereto. These slaughterhouses are not regarded as a remunerative concern, but are provided because they afford hy- gienic methods, and private slaughterhouses in London are de- creasing rapidly. Last year 37,670 cattle, 101,646 sheep, 11,722 calves and 34,981 swine were slaughtered there, the charges being 36 cents a head for cattle, 4 cents for sheep, 8 cents for calves, and 12 cents for hogs. Mainly on account of the ex- tensions and improvements, this market is not being run at a profit at present, but its public utility is held to justify the outlay. Xnr Hnesjjne Deptford Cattle market, of thirty acres, maintained on the banks of the Thames to deal~wlfrT live cattle imported from abroad, pay its way. But there has been a serious decline in imported stock in late years, especially from America. At this market extreme precautions are taken to prevent the entry of cattle disease that might spread infection to British flocks and herds. All animals landed there must be slaughtered within ten days and submitted to rigid inspection. All hides and offal are immediately disinfected. Five hundred cattle can be unloaded from vessels at Deptford in twenty minutes. Last year 104.351 animals were killed, the meat being sent for sale to Smithfiekl and Whitechapel. Billingsgate, the famous fish market of London, is also ad- ministered by the Corporation. Its records cover over six hun- dred years. It is hampered by narrow street approaches, but a very expeditious system of direct delivery of fish from the Thames side of the market building enables the licensed auc- tioneers to dispose of supplies very quickly. Steam carriers col- lect the fish from the fleets around the coast>and deliver them packed in ice at Billingsgate every night. Billingsgate market has cost the city $1,600,000. Stand prices are high, but there is keen competition whenever a vacancy occurs. Last year the receipts amounted to $182,455. The auctioneers dealt with 194,- 477 tons of fish, of which 120.905 were water-borne and 73,572 si W <> r H S H O I 3 10 land-borne. The City profited to the extent of over $40,000 on this fish trade. On the wholesale and retail meat, fruit, vegetable and fish market at Leadenhall there is also a profit of over $5,000. On the entire municipal market enterprises of the city there is a profit of $156,000. The markets are regarded with especial interest "By the Corporation and the Committee which regu- lates them is considered one of the most important in the whole administration of the city. In order to keep abreast of the times most of the profit is expended on improvements and extensions. Covent Garden, London's great fruit, flower and vegetable market, is owned by the Duke of Bedford, whose family have held it for hundreds of years. In the past century they have spent $730,000 on extensions and improvements. Of the present modern buildings, the fruit hall cost $170,000 and the flower building $243,000. Formerly the producers were chiefly con- cerned in the market, holding their stands at a yearly rental. But with the expansion of London the growers have gradually given place to dealers and commission men, who pay twenty-five cents a day per square foot of space, and on the produce, at a regular scale, according to its nature. On flowers there is no toll, but each stand holder pays a fixed rental. Though this mar- ket has direct access neither to river nor railroad, it still retains its premier position among the wholesale markets of England. As the approaches are extremely narrow, most of the produce has to be carried on the heads of hundreds of porters from the wagons outside into the market buildings. As it is under private owner- ship, no figures are issued, but there is known to be a huge profit on the market. For outer London there are fruit and vegetable markets at Stratford, in the east, Kew in the west, the Borough in the south and two railroad markets in the north. .BIRMINGHAM, England's chief midland city, has owned its markets since 1824, administering them through a markets and fairs committee. Since 1908 the profits have been some- what reduced, owing to outlay on improvements and extensions ; but although the city has expended $2,156,362 on the markets, the profits have paid off more than half of that indebtedness, be- sides relieving taxation in other directions. Not far away is the small city of KIDDERMINSTER, that may be mentioned as affording a demonstration of provincial municipal enterprise, under more restricted conditions. On its vegetable market it makes a profit of $1,000, and on its butter market a profit of $1,500. The population of the city is only ii Q t/3 a; be O -5 ^ H o'55 of big stores, with local branches, that deliver the goods at the door, thus relieving the purchaser of the necessity of taking home market supplies; (2) the number of perambulating produce salesmen, who sell from carts in the street at low rates, having neither store rent nor market tolls to pay, and (3) the growth of co-operative societies. A complicated and severe code of regulations governs the markets. Commission salesmen at the Halles Centralcs must be French citizens of unblemished record and must give a bond of not less than $1,000 in proof of solvency. Producers may have their supplies sold either at auction or by private treaty, as they prefer, and as none of the agents are allowed to do business for themselves the distant growers have confidence in the market methods. In the retail markets each dealer in fresh meat pays just under $6.00 a week in all, while dealers in salted meats, fish, game and vegetables pay a much lower rate. All, however, in the covered markets pay three taxes one for the right to occupy a stand, one for the cleaning and arranging of the markets, and one for the maintenance of guardians and officials. In the open markets the stands are rented by the day, week, or year, the rate for the day ranging from ten to thirty cents, according to space. / Several of these local markets have charters dating back to pre- ' revolution days, that cannot now be annulled. It would be difficult to devise a more thorough system of inspection. An average year's seizures include half a million pounds of meat, 17,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables and half a million pounds of salt water fish. Thus the Paris market arrangements provide an admirable central clearing house, where supplies are inspected and sold under such conditions as to prevent the artificial raising of prices. It also acts as a feeder to the marches de quartier, to the great convenience of local consumers. Moreover the producer is safe- guarded, for on his supplies a small fixed percentage only can be charged by the salesman, and the current market prices are made public by agents especially detailed for that purpose. 11 AVRE, the well-known French seaport, with a population of 130,000, has a profit of over six per cent on the Halles Centrales and ten per cent on the fish market. All told there is a profit of $27,000 on the twelve municipal markets. The Halles Centrales occupy an entire square in the center of the city and cost $75,000, exclusive of the site. Gardeners" 25 5 - ; S o t- 1 and farmers are not permitted to sell their produce on the way to the market and are only allowed to deliver to storekeepers after the wholesale markets are closed. Here, as elsewhere where the markets are successful, every precaution is taken to avoid the prosperity of the market being dissipated by sales in the sur- rounding neighborhood. The annual rents for butchers are very moderate, ranging from $57.90 to $154.40, vegetable dealers $42.85 to $92.64; dairy produce dealers $52.11 to $85.11, fish- mongers $23.16 to $86.85. In the wholesale markets there is an annual trade turnover worth well above $1,000,000, of which fish represents $280,000. So far from the fishermen finding the fish market detrimental to their interests, they welcome it and cheerfully observe the rule forbidding sales on the quays or transit sheds except under special permits. JL/VONS, with a population of half a million, may be taken as the best example of a flourishing- French provincial city at a considerable distance from the sea. The principal market, La Halle, is known all over France for its public auctions. Accom- modation is provided for 276 stalls, rented at 14 cents a day per square meter for fruit, vegetables and cheese, while other stalls for meat and fish are rented at 33 cents per square meter. At the morning auctions, held at the rear of the hall, are sold immense quantities of fish, oysters, lobsters, game, poultry, butter, cheese, eggs, fruit and vegetables. There is a rule that all supplies must come from outside Lyons, so that local store men cannot there dispose of surplus stocks, but dealers in other French cities often thus relieve themselves when overloaded. These auctions not only enable local dealers to distribute supplies at cheap rates to the small stores all over the city, but wide awake housewives can frequently tell just what the stores gave whole- sale for the produce offered to them retail later in the day, so a check can be kept on overcharges. The auctioneers are given a monopoly of selling for ten years, on binding themselves to pay to the city a sum equal to two per cent on the total annual sales. The minimum is fixed at $1,930 for one stand or $5,650 for four stands, to be paid to the municipal treasury. Two per cent is added to v the purchase price of every payment made by buyers at auction, and if this does not amount to $1,930 per stand for the year, the auctioneer has to make up the difference. The poorer classes benefit largely by these sales, banding together to buy wholesale and then dividing their purchases. There are also seventeen markets for general retail trade 27 J * 21 CO o I 28 in Lyons. The Terminal Market of La Halle cost the city $886,- 980. The company which built it was given a concession for fiftv years, on a division of profits arrangement, but within sixteen months the utility of the market as an advantageous enterprise for the city was so clearly demonstrated that the muni- cipality bought the company out. Austria-Hungary V IENNA, with 1,700,000 people to supply, has a magnificently | managed system of forty-five markets, seven of which are lo-/ cated in large, well-ventilated halls, all kept spotlessly clean. Market commissioners appointed by the municipality con- duct the business of the markets according to strict regulations, enforcing a rigid inspection of all products as well as weights and measures. Violations of these rules are punishable by fines of about $2.00, imprisonment for 24 hours or exclusion from the markets. Such penalties are enforced when buyers are de- frauded, dealers oppose the market authority, or exceed the charges that are posted in the market. Not merely land and water produce, but general farm and household requisites, are sold at these markets. Outside buying is strictly controlled, owners of boats on the Danube or wagons on the public streets paying toll to the municipality on any sales. Over $60,000 profit is the average annual yield of the mar- kets to the city treasury, and it is generally agreed that the market system tends to keep down the price of foodstuffs to normal levels. rSUDA-PESTH has 715,000 people and a very complete market system, under which, though only nominal rentals are charged, there is a profit of over $100,000. There is one large wholesale terminal market, while six local markets cater for the retail requirements of all quarters of the city. All salesmen are carefully selected ; criminals and diseased persons being rigidly excluded. Though a wide variety of articles are sold in the smaller markets besides farm produce, storekeepers are not allowed to rent stalls, so the market men and farmers alone have the use of the buildings. The regu- lations under which they trade were drawn up by a market commission and confirmed by ministerial decrees. These regu- lations are regarded in Europe as a model of comprehensiveness and their observance ensures close attention to hygiene. Among the rules is one insisting on the placing of all waste paper in the 29 public refuse receptacles, while another compels the use of new, clean paper only in wrapping up food products. Stalls are rented from four to ten cents a day, according to the accommodation. Supplies come by boat, rail and wagon, and when there is pressure on the interior market space sales are allowed from the boats and wagons at a toll of ten cents a day. Otherwise only merchandise is allowed to be sold outside the market halls. Not only must no fish, game, meat or poultry be sold without first being passed by the veterinary inspectors, but none of these articles of diet must be brought to market packed in straw, cloth or paper. Unripe fruit must not be sold to children. Every day a bulletin issued by the market commission sets out the wholesale prices, while a weekly list gives the retail prices, but in the latter case the note is added that the market commission will not be responsible for any controversy that may arise. All the stocks held by the market traders are insured by the municipality, though not to their full value. Not only have these markets proved beneficial to the con- sumers generally, but the market men are unanimous as to their advantage, for they afford a ready and inexpensive means of doing a large business. Holland AMSTERDAM, with a population of 510,000, has all the local markets under the control of the municipality. They are divided into five districts, each managed by a director or market master, responsible to the city council. Two of the markets are covered, but the remainder are open and are situated by the side of the canals, along which the prod- uce is brought in boats from the farms around. On the adminis- tration of the markets in an average year there is a profit vf $36,000, but there is a law against making a profit on municipal enterprises, so the surplus is spent on local improvements. ROTTERDAM, another great Dutch seaport, operates its markets under similar conditions and makes a profit of $34,000. of which $23,000 comes from the cattle and meat markets. Belgium BRUSSELS, possessing a population of half a million, reaps considerable advantage from its picturesque municipal markets, four of which are covered, while several are in the open air. 30 The renting of space to standholtt'efs aft" tfe : central market is according to the highest bidder, provided the price is not below $11.58 per month for meat, $9.65 for poultry and game, $5.79 for fruit, vegetables, butter and cheese. Both producers and dealers sell at these markets, all their supplies being subjected to drastic inspection regulations. All meats are tested by the municipal veterinary surgeon and his staff, while a communal chemist regulates the milk, butter and general dairy produce. The cleansing of the markets is done by the department of public cleanliness. Some of the public markets are managed by a contractor, who receives $250.90 a year for setting up the stalls and keeping them in good order. He de- posits a security on undertaking his contract and in default of a satisfactory performance of his work the commune does it and charges him with it. Comments IT has been testified that Xew York's annual food supply costs, at the railroad and steamer terminals, $350,000,000. But the \ consumers pay $500,000,000 for it. The balance of $150,000,000 does not necessarily indicate that any particular section of middle- men have been exacting excessive profits. It merely demonstrates that too many people handle the produce between the farm and the fireside. The provision of an adequate Terminal Market system for Xew York would apply the remedy. Xew York stands alone, for a city of its importance, in having to face an annual deficit on its markets. The results else- where prove that the deficit could be turned into a profit by the creation of a Terminal Market system, equipped and adminis- tered on twentieth century lines. America is exporting less foodstuffs than formerly. The annual value has fallen $126,000,000 in eleven years. The growth of the manufacturing population and the relative decrease of the agricultural population, together with the gradual im- poverishment of much of our farm land, will soon make con- ditions worse unless we organize our food distribution. The first step for Xew York is the establishment of a Ter- minal Market system. It is estimated that ~e\v York's popula- tion will continue to grow at the rate of fully 100,000 a year, so this problem admits of no further procrastination. In natural resources America is the richest country in the world. Other nations have to import vast quantities of produce because of the restricted area of their territory, the comparative 31 unfruitfumV}$- c o r * their soil, br' their adverse climatic conditions. We have a wide land of boundless fertility, never wholly in the grip of winter's cold. Yet we no more escape the high cost of living than these less favored peoples overseas. They have par- tially compensated for their disadvantages by organizing their markets, while we have neglected that important branch of civic enterprise. Everywhere in Europe, the provision of adequate terminal markets under municipal control is pointed to as a powerful aid in keeping food prices down. There is a lesson in that for New York and other American cities. There is a lesson also for growers in up-state districts, for experience shows that with adequate markets, supplying produce at lower rates, there comes a demand for more farm and garden stuff and a greater variety of it. This directly aids in developing rural prosperity and enhances the value of agricultural land. I believe a marked improvement will be shown if a bureau is maintained to inform farmers as to the demands of the mar- ket and the best method of packing, preparing and despatching their produce so as to reach the market in prime condition. Not only will that aid the market, but it will have a powerful influence in arresting "the drift from the land" to the cities. The municipality should select central positions for its mar- kets, with rail and river access. It should have effective control not only over the markets but the adjacent streets, wharves, and railroad sidings, so as to obviate evasion of the market tolls. The rentals should not be high, and no sub-letting should be allowed under any circumstances. Under such conditions, with wise administration, New York's Terminal Market system could be made a model that would be studied by other cities in an age when economic ques- tions absorb the attention of all our public-spirited men and women. In the interests of the people's health and happiness, no less than in consideration of the municipal finances, all should rally to the support of those who are seeking to secure the consumma- tion of this urgent reform at the earliest possible moment con- sistent with a full consideration of all its aspects. The Willett Press, New York UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW 27 T918 MAY 11 1918 IPR 84 1922 OCT 30m-6,'14