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Show iMivestock: .JSitu atioii-J (ffg-MQHj . : c stock growers, who pool their cattle, hogs and sheep in carload lots for sale under competitive bidding at the central cen-tral markets. The day of the "cutback" "cut-back" cattle on the ranch should p.iss out along with the "cut-back" fruit. The orange growers have found that there is a market for all grades of oranges, either as whole fruit or bi 1 other forms. In the same way there ia a market for all graxles and clappr.t of live stock. Animals which do not yield good enough cuts and steaks for direct consumption, have a value, although al-though of course, smaller, in the form of tinned meats, bologna ar.d other such products. The net return to the citrus grower grow-er is tho Eastern market value, le-r.s expense of transportation and marketing. market-ing. The net return to the eartJo grower is the central market price, less the expense of transportation a-nd marketing. Both propositions represe-at a definite and fixed method of finding find-ing value based upon supply and demand, de-mand, expressed by the greatest con-petitive con-petitive purchasing power in one locality. lo-cality. Centralization enables oompa.1'-ison oompa.1'-ison so that each producer may knoa-what knoa-what his neighbor gets and why h gets it. In all of the discussion government aid to bring about "farm relief," it is notable that citrus growers are doing but little complaining, because they themselves have worked out their own salvation, through modern and efficient effi-cient productive and marketing methods. me-thods. In view of the strong position posi-tion of the citrus growers, it is worthy wor-thy of note that their present prosperity pros-perity is due to the fact that they market their product at public sale through great central markets, where the mass of consuming population lives. In the early days of the citrus business busi-ness in California, just as was the case in the cattle business before central cen-tral markets were established, the grower depended entirely upon the country buyer to come to the ranch at the propitious moment. If the country coun-try buyer didn't show up, the crop was practically a total loss, because there were no central markets which the grower could utilize as a means time, any definite method by which to measure values and the grower was entirey at the mercy of the better posted buyer. The uncertainty of the country buyer arriving at the right itime, the uncertainty as to price and lack of knowledge as to available supplies, all tended to make citrus growing an erratic and an unsatisfactory unsatis-factory business. With the development of the present pre-sent system, by which all citrus fruits are properly picked, selected and packed, cooled and shipped to great cenitral markets in the consuming centers, cen-ters, production has increased, quality improved and prices have been stabilized. stabil-ized. The successful orange growers are marketing their crops in the same manner as the successful live stock people through central markets at public sale. They bring their oranges to the big consuming centers for sale, just as the stockmen are bringing their live stock to the various stock yards for sale. of disposing his crop. The country buyer picked the fruit and took what he wanted, or what he could use to best advantage. Tho balance, in cattle parlance, were "cutbacks." j The country buyer of citrus pro-j pro-j ducts was in the business solely for selfish profit. He bought the fruit as cheaply as he could. He had no constructive con-structive suggestions as ito how to improve im-prove the quality of the fruit. He merely picked what he wanted to buy, packed it under his own brand and marketed the product the best he could, competing with numerous other packers and buyers. It was good business, busi-ness, of course, to cut prices to take care of extra volume if competition warranted. There was not at that The orange growers have built up their demand to keep pace with supplies sup-plies through constructive advertising, a lesson which the live sitock producers produc-ers might well consider. Instead of cutting prices when supplies appear burdensome, they spend a little more money for advertising, an important step in stabilizing values. After all, the value of a product is determined entirely by the demand for it. It is well for the cattleman to remember that the citrus business was not gen-enrally gen-enrally profitable, until the tmdepend-able tmdepend-able system of country buying was discarded for the more efficient central cen-tral marketing method. Real co-operative marketing is now being carried out by many smaller live |