The daily gazette., 1877-06-16
Letter from Samuel Townsend.
Fer the Gazette.

fCr Lne 0aZ6bte.
Mr.. EpIToR:-I see an article in last
nights GAZETTE, signed L. 1t Think
should have been signed railroad official
of very low grade. II is no odds to me
who he is. / do not make 1t rule to
reply to anonymous writers, but In some
instances it is necessary. ! am ready 10
meet any peach grower or railroad official
from Isaac Hinckley down, in fair discus
sion on peach shipping and the action OF
the p, w. & b. X. r. Co., the lesees of
the Delaware railroad. This writer says
he has heard me praise the railroad
sometimes. That ought to convince him
or any sensible man, that l am not
blind bigot or fool. Ofcourse have the
honesty to speak well of any man orr COM
pany when they do what think is right,
and Of course when think they do wrong
| have the independence to say so. God
never made me for lick spittle. l said
baskets would advance at once If it was
settled that they were to be given away
with the peaches, for no sensible peach
grower would engage baskets until the
crop was sure, the last of June. was told
yesterday that up to this time very few
baskets had been engagedfrom the manu-
facturers by the peach growers, that so
far the engagements had been made by
spectators. That writer says that am
willing to sell or give away the peach
boxes, but not the baskets, and If l am in
favor of giving the box why not the basket.
/ will answer this question, but first |
will inform him that | am opposed TO
buying boxes and shipping in them. /
have stated publicly in the meetings that
bought in 1875 from II to IA hundred
dollars worth of peach boxes and gave
them away with the peaches, and that
proposed never to do such a thing again.
But to show this gudgeon why boxes |
cannot be returned as baskets, car will
hold no more empty boxes than full ones,
but baskets are different, when empty
they can be slowed in one another, and
therefore car that holds but 52S baskets
filled with peaches, will hold from three
thousand to thirty-five hundred empty
baskets.
Now with regard to small shippers as
this writer calls them, he is laboriDgunde |
4 great mistake. So far as loading cars |
it will be just the same If car is assign |
ed to person or persons, they will be |
charged so much per car load, just the |
same as chartered car. There is a |
foolish impression got out somehow, that |
if the chartered car system is broken up, |
every small grower can load in a car. That I
is great mistake. The company do not |
propose to run way trains, nor will |
they do it, You must combine and order |
a car or cars and be charged full car hire.
L am one of the committee whose duty it |
is to make the best terms we can with |
the railroad company for The peach grow
ers, great or small, know no difference. !
do not claim to ever making pretentions |
to being an aristocrat, or favoring aristo- |
cracy Of any kind. The last offer we had |
from the head officers of the p. W. 4 b. |
h. X. Co., and p. G. r. r., Company |
day before yesterday, was reduction |
OF dollars per car hire and empty |
b Iskets to be brought back by fast freight |
at one cent per piece This proposition the |
committee will lay before the meeting of
the % inst. at Middletown. Now with re-
gard to growingpeaches suppose two men |
have each farm of 5Oacres, one farmer |
puts one hundred acres in peaches, and |
the other one puts five acres in; suppose
there is blight the man who has the !
hundred acres in peaches tills his Or
cbard and gets nothing, the man who has !
five acres tills his five acres and has no
peaches, he looses acres and his neigh |
Dor 20 times az much; one hundred acres |
the next year they both have a crop; the |
one with the 100 acre can afford to hire |
cars by the full load. Is it reasonable or
sensible that this ) acre man should abuse |
his neighbor, if he will not let him ship
his peaches in with him? All the acre |
man has to do is to combine with enough
small growers or light pickers to hire a
car and make up a full load All have TO
say in this whole matter is that these
young tiedglings would do well to listen TO
oldeXperienced peach growers and ship
pers.
SAMUEL TOWNSEND.
Townsend, Del, June Is.