Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-14

Could anything be fairer?
Mer.-You may be correct But what
necessity is there for so much ado about
nothing" 1t appears to me that it would
be simple thing for
THE GROWERS TO COMBINE
In county, or at least a section, and make
up sufficient fruit so as TO fill the carload
lots, and then you will have " clear sail
ing and | wonder now that this was not
done right along. You would be doing
Just what the speculative capitalist has
been doing right Straight along.
Gro.-The reason why this has not been
done p" right straight along is because it
can't be done. Although nothing looks
more simple in theory, nothing is more i'm
practicable. To concentrate shipments
means 70 make arrangements: 10 make
arrangements takes time, and that, too,
when the grower has not moment to
spare, for ii he wishes to have his work
done he must be constantly at it, from sun
rise until sunset, and much later in picking
TIME. If he is to hunt around to find par
ties, or attend meetings to adjust with other
parties who are willing to help him fill a
car, he may have to do so late at night, and
that is the time he must sleep, for at 4:30 A.
NJ. or the latest at 4:40, he must be up and
doing: This plan of hunting up people to
help I'LL carloads is only practicable among
farmers who have large tracts of land. and
who have efficient foremen but for the
small grower, the very one that helps swell
the dense, permanent desirable element
of population it is entirely impracticable.
The time in hunting for co-fillers is least
however, for after finding one party he is
Obliged to see others. Then suppose the
carload party are all hunted up the diff
Guilty Is by no means settled. Complicated
adjustments OF space packing and charges
are to be made. This would only tend to
heap up petty annoyances on a business full
already, even to oyerfowing. with its pecu-
liar briars and bramblesr How WOuId
you, my friend, like it, it, after you sold a
bill of shirts, to go and hunt up other shirt
dealers so rs TO fill a carload of shirts You
smile, do You? Well, we should all smile.
Mer.-Io are right: l only saw the alb
surdity OF the thing when you applied your
illustration to my case. If this holds good
what fine thing it would be if the rail-
road directors could only be persuaded to
settle down, each one of them, on 30-acre
fruit ranch for couple of wears? I'll
warrant you there would be d radical
change at short notice, and that, too, right
from headquarters.
Gro.-But so far we have only been talk
ing over the
DIFFICULTIES or FILLING CAR.
Now. granting this difficulty is overcome
and the car is filled, what is he to do with
it? Is he to consign it? To whom? If
at random, is he likely even to receive as
much as from the speculative capitalist? Is
he not likely to lose not alone the fruit,
boxes, and time, but even the freight? Are
there not sharpers and sharks in the East,
as well as here? And if he fell into their
hands, would they not make haste to
clean him out" Where would your per-
manent, desirable dense population be
then? Now, then, cannot the growers form
a corporation and put reliable men at the
head, and thus secure the grower against
sharpers, and at the same time render him
a just return
Mer.-I confess that this plan looks feast
bic, and in its theoretic inception looks
like solution of what appears to be puz-
zling problem but upon rigorous anal
ysis it will not stand the test of reason or
logic, for, in the first place, corporation
! needs an executive. Now, can yor ,,,,-,.
me out reaoy. made executive that il
capable of managing a business enterprise
of such vast proportions as would be re-
quired to manage the fruit crop of Califor-
mia? Of course, you will find many men
OF great general talent; but in this case, it
Will require man possessing special
talent, and this special talent can only be
gained by special experience However
shrewd, however wise, however courageous
he may be, he is likely to be handicapped
by the intrepid speculator, who would not
at all be dismayed by the formidable mag
nitude of the corporation director In fact,
he would rather relish to bear" and beard
the lion in his den. Nothing would prevent
him lacking on his two or three cars on the
corporation fruit train, and having a good
time all to himself bearing" the corpora
ton. Now, suppose all This is overcome,
and right man is found is the foundation
OF what promises to be the chief industry of
California to be balanced in the skilled
hands OF one man? Suppose that he re-
signs his office after short service, or if he
should die, or if he fails of election So
much for the managing director. Now for
the
DISPOSAL or THE FRUIT.
This branch of the work will have to be
done by many hired assistants, and not by
the chief director, for the chief director
cannot be present in fifty cities at one time,
and all the fruit in California cannot be
sent to one city. Now l do not hesitate to
say, and l think my statement will be
corroborated by the Directors of the Rail.
road Company. the Directors of the Bank
of California, the Directors of Wells. Fargo
q Co., IN fact by the directors of any cor
poration, and for that matter the principals
of any extensive commercial house, that
any system where an average lot of hired
men mo matter how good their references)
are given carte blanche" to manipulate
sales, upon rising and falling market,
they are liable to imperil and seriously
jeopardi2e any business enterprise The
danger is removed when the price is fixed
for the seller, from which he may not
deviate, or when ordinary staple merchan-
disc is sold to regularly established houses.
But when 1t is taken into account that the
article now under consideration is perish
able, and that much of il is sold to peddlers
and petty dealers, the risk becomes hazard
Gus. Another consideration that deserves at
tention, is the fact that while there is ap-
parent harmony in pooling issues, conflict
ing interests arise that are source of
SERIOUS DRAWBACK
To continuation of harmony. None
know that better than the Directors of the
railroad company. They undoubtedly
know this from experience. Where the
large grower may be anxious to close out
vast amount of produce to net him $40
an acre the thirty or fifty-acre man would
starve to death on that. What L
have said brings to my mind a law,
which, when not carefully guarded against,
will be an efhectual bar to the theory of
" the concentration or density of the per-
manent desirable population The usual
laws of trade give certain grants and
privileges to the larger operators; as, for
instance, lower price for large purchases,
lower freight rates, rebates, discounts, etc.
Now if the density of " the permanent de-
sirable population" is to be seriously con-
sidered, the usual laws of trade will have
to be reversed for if not, the usual advan-
tages given, together with the more eeono-
mic methods employed by the large grower,
will enable him to undersell the small
grower and thus put stop to the augmen-
tation of permanent desirable popula-
ton" Now can we expect the railroad
company to do this?
Grove can at least expect it to put
both large and small growers on an exactly
equal footing. Still the question is, viii