y family in New York, I have spent considerable time
during the past few months investigating 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
expenditure 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,
according to local conditions; but everywhere it is agreed that a
potent force for the amelioration of the condition of the consumers is
found in the establishment of efficient Terminal Markets under
municipal control for all progressive cities. With wise administration,
stringent inspection and sound safeguards, these municipal markets
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 accomplishment
of this civic improvement.

[Illustration: Madeleine Black (signature)
(MRS. ELMER BLACK)]

United States

NEW 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 consideration 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