Monopoly on the Produce Market
Tacoma hucksters claim that a select group of large garden concerns is colluding to fix prices on all greenstuffs, squeezing out small sellers and local buyers.
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Hucksters in this city say a genuine corner has been organized on garden truck by two of the leading garden concerns in the valley and that the combine is manipulating the market to suit its convenience and pocketbook. The Colonial Garden and one or two others, it is asserted in market circles, are in practical control of the situation now on all greenstuffs, and they are making prices to everybody. And no price cutting is allowed. This is the story told by the little fellows who attend the city market and they say there is little chance for relief from high prices until new truck begins to come in. Even then the big fellows, it is expected, will have a pretty tight grip on the situation.
“The big fellows, it is expected, will have a pretty tight grip on the situation.”
Concerns regarding corporate control over food supply and the squeezing of small-scale vendors remain a recurring theme in urban economics. Just as early 20th-century farmers fought market combines, modern Tacoma residents continue to navigate the tension between rising costs and the concentration of control in food distribution systems.
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