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Show I Horticulture M CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE H PRICE OF FRUIT IN igo8. H Address Delivered Before the Recent H j Meeting of the Utah Horticultur- HS ' i al Society, by John F. Moore of m ' Grand Junction, Colorado. H B 'This subject has possibly been the B most general topic of conversation, B discussion and publication for the B past 4 or 5 months among the fruit m glowers, shippers, jobbers and rctail- H ers- pi any one subject pertaining to H this great industry, and 190S will go H down in trade annals as the year of H extremes, a year of poverty and plcn- H ty, a year that tried the dealers' souls B as well as the growrcs, a year that B proved the wisdom of organization over and over again. There seems to be one cause that all arc ageed upon, that 'being the "financial stringency" strin-gency" and there is no question but what this was the chief among the disturbing dis-turbing elements. We must look to the laboring man for the consumption of the greater part of the fruits raised in this country. With the tightening of the money market, industries were affected to such an extent that the laboring man's one source of revenue was'in-instantly was'in-instantly cut off, thousands were out of work and therefore it became necessary to economize to the fullest full-est extent, and to confine themselves to bare necessities and those of the cheaper and poorer quality. When the season first opened on staple fruits, jobbers load'ed up at fairly good prices but on account of little demand retailers bought sparingly spar-ingly with the result that jobbers were compelled to unload their first receipts at a loss and refused to make further purchases unless prices were reduced. Gradually these necessary t eductions were continued until returns re-turns were hardly paying transportation transporta-tion charges and still the demand was insufficient to consume the supply. sup-ply. This resulted in congestion in the majority of the principal markets and many cars were condemned by the health inspectors and dumped. I am glad to state, however, that all cars shipped by the Association ot which I am the Manager, were sold at prices not only sufficient to pay transportation charges, but at prices which would net the grower enough to cover all expenses and leave a margin for profit. Never before in my 12 years' experience ex-perience in the fruit shipping business have I been so impressed with the necessity of proper marketing and distributing methods for the protection protec-tion of the man who grows the fruit. This protection would also include the jobber. We arc in an age of revolution rev-olution and the unorganized and un-systcmized un-systcmized mode of doing business of the past must give way to more methods. I am fully convinced that the numerous nu-merous partially organized and unsystematized un-systematized institutions which arc attempting to assist the grower by agreeing to load their fruit and ship it somewhere arc a great detriment to the business and the growers. Last season in my efforts to secure reasonable prices, I was confronted on every hand by the statement from jobbers, with whom I was attempting attempt-ing to deal, that they were being well shipped with fruit on a consignment basis, and as long as consignments ' could be secured. they would not buy. Wc sold on cither a F. O. B. or dc- J hvered basis, eliminating entirely f consignments. Now with a proper distribution of the fruits, there is no '; reason why each and every car cannot 'be sold at the market price or put on the auction where it will receive 1 a square deal and the grower paid all that his fruit is worth. Could the distribution be properly controlled controll-ed and consignments eliminated, glutted markets would be rare. There arc always, in nearly every market, dealers who will "encourage consign- 1 ments to Jiis makct when if he had to put up the money for the fruit he would be very careful that an over supply did not obtain. Tuis condition condi-tion can be controlled by the growers grow-ers and if every fruit growing local- ity w.ould create and properly conduct con-duct an Association on a square and ' modern basis, I fully believe that returns re-turns could be very materially increased. in-creased. This would require an outlay of t some expense to the growers nut gt ' the same time would really be an in vestment. If you knew that by pur- 1 chasing a certain kind of machine for I $25.00 which would, if properly hand- led, decrease your orchard expense ; $100.00 a year, would you hesitate to 1 make the purchase? Well, an association associa-tion is a machine, each grower a part of" that machine and1 if kept in good running condition and handled by a , man who knows how, will produce results; therefore, I claim that improper im-proper marketing was one of the 1 greatest factors affecting the .price of fruit in 1908. During the past year the larger fruit producing sections were confronted con-fronted with the proposition of marketing mar-keting the largest crop ever produced. produc-ed. Georgia, that immense producer of peaches, was compelled to handle, with her crude and unsystematized methods, the largest crop in her his- , tory. with the result that out of the 5,000 carloads about 2,000 were shipped ship-ped to one market and the results to the growers on account of poor distribution, were disastrous. California Cali-fornia produced nearly twice as many cars of fruit as was shipped in 1907 and many other fruit districts were ill prepared to properly handle the quantity produced. j The deciduous fruit season which has just closed will go down in his- j tory as the heaviest ever known, yet 1" it is my opinion that the quantity was not the prime cause ot low prices, as I believe under normal conditions con-ditions and proper distribution with careful attention to high quality, an equal production could be placed in the hands of the consumers at reasonably rea-sonably good' prices and profit to the growers. With increased production, more care must be given to quality and packing; every car of inferior fruit carelessly packed and placed on the market will tend to decrease the value va-lue of fancy stock and to such an extent that growers who arc anxious to get something out of the inferior fruit will be the loser considerable niorc than the profit realized from such sale. 1 While the past year has 'been very unsatisfactory in many respects, the experience gained Icannot help but be beneficial to those who have been observing, and should tend to create an endeavor on our part to eliminate j as far as possible those conditions f which arc liable tfo result in a repe tition of these past experiences, and use our best efforts and increased knowledge to place the growing and marketing of our excellent fruits on ; a basis of absolute protection and profit to the great army of people who arc building up an industry of immense importance to this, western country, where "The Almighty" has so bountifully provided the necessary c.l.c.mcnts lac-the- production of the finest fruits known, and I wish to ! congratulate these enterprising hus bandmen, who arc putting forth every ev-ery possible effort to improve the rcults of their worthy vocation, and now my friends although prices have been low the past season, and rc-) rc-) suits not as profitable as you expect ed, you have no reason to become I discouraged1, just look tback and re member for several previous years, prices have been profitable and no 1 man, whether he be a merchant V manufacturer, farmer, stock grower, 'j or what not, expects every year to be a profitable one. Also if not fin- i ahcially, you have gained otherwise, J tlat is you have become better or- ganized, also you have tried a diffcr- ent method of marketing your fruit, 1 and whether the experience of the I past season has been satisfactory or H not you have at least had the experi- II encc. The man who invented the gas meter me-ter died in Detroit last week. "The evil that men do lives after them." 1 The Commoner. Question- for the Lancaster Literary Liter-ary society: Docs a man find as great comfort in swearing as a woman finds in blubbering? Atchison Globe. When you lie down to sltcp at night, do you know where you will wake up? If you want people to know where you are, make a noise loud enough to be heard. The Almighty has no use for people peo-ple who cannot be found when, wanted want-ed If you have a place be in it. If you haven't a place get one quick. Never judge by outward appear- H ances. A' good-looking, woman may H not be as good as she looks. Chicago jH News. 1 Professor (severely). Gentkmcn, H I must insist on silence in this ropm . H while I am -speaking. The Harvard H Lampoon. M |