Market News Services, which had been established on a relatively small scale, were greatly enlarged until at the close of the fiscal year there were approximately 90 branch offices distributing market information to all sections of the country over practically 14,000 miles of leased wires. Many producers, distributors, and others have come to depend on these services and to make less use of commercial pricequoting agencies, which are not able to furnish data so reliable, accurate, prompt, and comprehensive.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

An organization was built up for the national interchange of market information on fruits and vegetables, and the news service on these products was made continuous throughout the year for the first time since it was instituted. Reports were issued in season covering approximately 32 commodities and indicating daily car-lot shipments, the jobbing prices in the principal markets throughout the country, and other shipping-point facts for these crops. In addition to the permanent market stations opened during the period of important crop movements temporary field stations were operated at 82 points in various producing sections, more than twice as many as in the preceding year.

LIVE STOCK AND MEATS.

The news service on live stock and meats was extended to include additional important live stock and meat marketing centers and producing districts. New features also were added to make the service more useful to producers and the trade. The daily reports on meat-trade conditions, which formerly gave information on the demand, supplies, and wholesale prices of western dressed fresh meats in four of the most important eastern markets, now cover also Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. As a supplement to the daily reports, a weekly review is published. The daily telegraphic report on live-stock shipments west of the Allegheny Mountains was expanded to include all live stock loaded on railroads. throughout the United States. Information regarding the "in" and "out" movement in certain feeding districts is being published. This work is valuable in indicating the potential meat supply of the country and will be developed as rapidly as available funds permit.

On June 1, 1918, the Department took over the furnishing of all telegraphic market reports distributed daily from the Chicago Union Stock Yards on live-stock receipts and prices, including not only those regularly sent over the leased wire of the Bureau of Markets but all reports used by commercial news agencies and press associations. The substitution of a Government report for the previous unofficial service has exerted a material influence in restoring confidence in the reports of market conditions, the lack of which has been a fundamental obstacle to the economic development of the live-stock industry.

DAIRY AND POULTRY PRODUCTS.

The news service on dairy and poultry products gives prices of butter, eggs, and cheese, trade conditions, market receipts, storage movement, and supplies in storage and in the hands of wholesalers and jobbers. Since the fall of 1917 it has covered Washington, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. Data were secured each month from approximately 14,000 dairy manufacturing plants in the United States, showing the quantities produced of such products as whey, process butter, oleomargarine, cheese of different kinds, condensed and evaporated milk, various classes of powdered milk, casein, and milk sugar.

GRAIN, HAY, AND FEED.

Biweekly statements on the stocks of grain, hay, and feed, the supply of and demand for these commodities, and the prices at which they were being bought and sold in carload lots, were issued from New York, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma, Denver, Spokane, and San Francisco.

Through the machinery of these services, emergency work of special value was conducted. At the request of the Director General of Railroads, a survey was made to determine the exact location of the soft corn in the United States and the number of freight cars needed to move it; and, at the request of the Food Administration, the feed requirements of New York, Pennsylvania, and New England were ascertained. Temporary offices were opened in the drouth-stricken regions at Fort Worth, Tex., Bismarck, N. Dak., and Bozeman, Mont., to assist farmers and cattle raisers in securing supplies of feed, and aid was thus given in saving thousands of cattle from starvation or premature slaughter.

SEEDS.

Although it has been apparent for several years that it would be extremely desirable to have available more dependable and complete information on seed-marketing conditions, the situation did not become acute until war was declared. To meet the conditions then encountered, field offices were opened in Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Atlanta, Spokane, San Francisco, and Denver. Information obtained through them and through voluntary reporters throughout the country is disseminated by means of a monthly publication entitled "The Seed Reporter." The workers connected with this service have cooperated fully with the seed-stocks committee of the Department in furthering effective seed distribution.

LOCAL MARKET REPORTING SERVICE.

What is known as the Local Market Reporting Service covers an entirely new field and is a logical and necessary supplement to the national telegraphic news services. The first experiment was made in Providence, R. I., shortly before the beginning of the last fiscal year and was so successful that, when emergency funds became available, the work was broadened and, in cooperation with local authorities, agents were placed in 15 additional cities. This service consists largely of reports on local market conditions and prices based on daily observations and is conducted primarily for the benefit of growers and consumers, though it is also very useful to dealers. Consumers' figures are made public through the local newspapers and are helpful guides for the housewife. The growers' reports contain brief discussions of market features, changes, and developments, and give tables showing prices received by producers for certain products and, as well, those of wholesale and commission dealers.

INSPECTION OF FOOD PRODUCTS.

Since the fall of 1917 the Department, through the Food Products Inspection Service, has made it possible for shippers to receive certificates from disinterested Federal representatives as to the condition of their fruit and vegetable shipments upon arrival at large central markets. There are now inspectors in 36 of the most important markets of the country. As a result of their activities, perishable foodstuffs entered more quickly into the channels of con

sumption, cars were released more promptly, and many rejections and reversions prevented. The service was used extensively by the Food Administration and by the Army and Navy in connection with their purchases of food supplies. Inspections are now made not only at the request of shippers but also of receivers and other interested parties. Owing to the ever-increasing distance between important producing sections and large consuming centers, the question of the conservation of food, both in transportation and storage, has become a vital one. During the past year the results obtained in previous investigational work along these lines were made the basis of extensive demonstrations. Producers were given practical advice regarding the proper methods of picking, grading, packing, handling, storing, and shipping the more perishable products, such as fruits and vegetables. The proper construction not only of storage houses but also of refrigerator and heater cars was carefully studied, and the recommendations of the Bureau of Markets on car construction were accepted by the Railroad Administration and other agencies.

UNITED STATES GRAIN STANDARDS ACT.

The activities necessary to enforce the United States grain standards act were greatly increased during the year. The minimum guaranteed price fixed by the President was based upon the official standards established and promulgated by the Department, effective for winter wheat on July 1 and for spring wheat on August 1, 1918. Until 1917 fixed prices and restricted trading were features unknown in the history of grain marketing, and the wheat crop of that year was the first to be marketed under Federal standards and in compliance with the requirements of the act. Under these extraordinary conditions it was found necessary to revise the Federal wheat standards. This was done after hearings had been held throughout the country, to which producers, country shippers, grain dealers, and all other grain interests were invited. The revised standards harmonize as closely as possible with the desires of producers and consumers, and at the same time preserve fundamental grading principles. A minor revision of the official standards for shelled corn also was made, effective July 15, 1918.

Prior to July 1, 1917, appeals from grades assigned to grain by licensed inspectors could be entertained by the Department only in reference to shelled corn. After that date appeals from the

grades assigned to wheat by such inspectors were considered, thus greatly broadening the scope of the Department's grain-grading activities. Under Government control the price of wheat depends entirely upon its grade, and this fact stimulated appeals for the determination of the true grade. During the period covered by this report approximately 1,250 appeals were taken. This is an increase of more than 100 per cent over the number in the preceding year. Under cooperative arrangements with the Food Administration the services of the grain supervisors of the Department were made available to the United States Grain Corporation in matters pertaining to the grading of grain under its jurisdiction. Grade determinations made in this way extended into the thousands. Wheat moving to large terminal markets was inspected and graded by inspectors licensed by the Department under the grain standards act, and the responsibility of the Department, therefore, with respect to the efficiency of the work of licensed inspectors was greatly enhanced. The records of the Department show that considerable progress was made in this direction, and the methods of supervising the work of licensed inspectors recently adopted should secure further improvement. The demand for the official inspection of grain is steadily increasing. There are now 330 licensed inspectors and 120 inspection points, and within the fiscal year 438,703 cars of corn and 337,344 cars of wheat were graded under the act.

DISTRIBUTION OF LOW-GRADE COTTON.

It has been very difficult to obtain correct commercial differences for cotton during the past season owing to the great demand for the high grades and the falling off of that for the low grades. To add to the difficulty, the latter become concentrated at a limited. number of designated spot markets. These markets endeavored to submit correct quotations for them, while other markets were at a loss as to how to arrive at correct differences. This caused some markets to quote the very low grades at a much wider discount than others. The apparent result was that the average differences for these grades were comparatively so narrow as to make their delivery on future contracts very profitable. A further result was that the parity between spot cotton and future cotton was greatly disturbed, future contracts depreciating in value on account of the comparatively high prices at which the low-grade product was delivered on them.