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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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