Germany
Perhaps more than any other country in the world Germany places reliance on municipal markets, because of the peculiar pressure of the problem of the high cost of living in the cities of the Fatherland. On several occasions, during the last twelve months, the butchers' stalls have been raided by women in protest against the ten per cent increase in one year on the price of meat. And when, to meet the clamor, the government reduced the hitherto prohibitive import duties on meat by one-half and the inland railroad charges by one-third, it was on condition that the meat brought in should be for delivery to municipal markets or co-operative societies only. The result has been an immediate fall in retail prices ranging up to fifty per cent.
BERLIN'S TERMINAL MARKET
An Outside View of One Section of the $7,250,000 Central Market that Caters for the Needs of Consumers in the German Capital.
Berlin's two million people since 1886 have had a splendid terminal market on the Alexanderplatz, consisting of two great adjoining halls, with direct access to the city railroad. One of these halls is entirely wholesale, while the other is partly wholesale and partly retail. Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables are dealt with under the same roof by upwards of 2,000 producers and dealers.
The whole market cost $7,250,000, of which $1,920,711 was for the main market and $4,852,862 was for the slaughterhouses, which are most elaborately equipped to ensure sanitation and cleanliness. Great as the market is, the pressure of business has grown so much that a project is on foot to construct more accommodation at a cost of $15,000,000. The market is maintained by stand rentals and administrative charges and by a fund established for the improvement and extension of the system. On the entire enterprise, when all charges have been met and interest paid, there is a profit of over $135,000 a year.
A committee of eleven, partly city councillors and partly selected representatives of the public, administer the markets with ninety-three officials to ensure the carrying out of their orders. The regulations are most elaborate, especially as regards the inspection of foods, which is conducted by a department having a staff of six hundred.
A healthy competition is created by the system of sales, which may be conducted by the producer himself, or through an approved wholesale dealer, or through one of the six municipal sales commissioners. These municipal sales commissioners have to give bonds on appointment and are not allowed to have any interest in the trade of the market beyond a small percentage on sales. Producers living at a distance can have their business carried through by them under conditions so well understood and respected as to ensure confidence. Though the municipal sales commissioners handle less than a quarter of the sales, they nevertheless act as a check on the private dealers, especially as they issue a regular report on the average wholesale prices. Moreover the purchasers benefit by these market arrangements, for if they buy from a regularly authorized dealer they can file a claim with the administration if the supplies delivered are faulty and if their case is proved the account will be rectified.