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Show . Auction Narkefs Will Celebrate 110th Anniversary System Yields Fruit Growers Grow-ers $150,000,000 Income. CHICAGO. A milestone in the history of American agriculture will be observed this year with the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the founding of the fruit and vegetable vege-table auction marketing system in the United States which today provides pro-vides a $150,000,000 cash outlet for products from hundreds of thousands thou-sands of orchards, groves and farms, according to a bulletin is- J sued here by the American Fruit I and Produce Auction Association. "Musty historical records reveal j that the auction method of selling fruit and produce was undertaken ; in New York City as early as 1827," says the Dulletin. "One of the ear- liest auction selling catalogs used in the Boston market in 1842 is preserved pre-served to this day. On it were listed shipments of imported fruits offered for sale to jobbers, dealers and retailers. Growth of Fruit Production "In those pioneer timei most fresh fruits and vegetables were still being grown on small farms near the consuming centers. But as settlement moved south and west from the seaboard states and fruit and vegetable growing experienced at unprecedented development, the system of auction markets was expanded ex-panded to provide a ready anc profitable profit-able outlet for domestic products. "From crude, makeshift markets handling only a few commodities, the auction system has developed into a far-flung marketing enter- ! prise with auctions in ten principal ' cities, with modern receiving, han- j dling and warehousing facilities rep- ' resenting an investment cf millions of dollars. Big Volume Handled "More than 100,000 carloads of citrus and deciduous fruits and different dif-ferent varieties of vegetables are sold annually through these auction auc-tion markets, yielding a cash revenue reve-nue in excess of S150.000.000 tn growers and shippers in the principal princi-pal producing states. "Among products marketed are I citrus fruits from Florida. Texas and California: apples. pears. grapes, plums, peaches, cherries! melons and other deciduous fruits from Washington, oregon. Arizona. Utah, Idaho and Colorado; and vegetables, including asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, peas.' and tomatoes from these areas. Tc day auction markets are operated in New York. Boston. Baltimore, ! Philadelphia. Pittsburgh. Cleveland! Detroit, Chicago. Cincinnati and St! ' Louis, serving growers in producing produc-ing areas thousands of miles distant. dis-tant. "The steady growth of auction marketing is due to the fact that this system of selling fills a funda- mental need of the individual grow- j er. Economists point out that not : only do auctions provide the most ; effective channel of distribution ; for the best quality of fruits and vegetables, but that the svstem is i the most cllicient and economical for the grower's purposes. Because of the immense amount of fruit and produce handled, the cost to the individual in-dividual grower and shipper is t'rcatly reduced, the uiual charge for the service averaging onlv about j 2 per cent of the gross sales." |