Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-11-11
THE FRUIT QUESTION.
THE GROWERS CONVENTION AT
SAN FRANCISCO.
Report of the Transportation Com
mittee in FulI-Discussion
upon the Report.

| from the RECORD UNIONS Special Reporter. |
The State Convention of Fruit-Growers
met yesterday in San Francisco at l P. NJ.
Professor E. W. Hilgard presided. The
business was to resume consideration ofthe
fruit transportation question discussed at
the session of September oath and 18th.
The Chair called for the report of the
Committee on Transportation and Market
ing of California fruit.
Mr. Aiken, as Chairman of the commit
tee, submitted the report, which was read
by Secretary Livermore. The report was
as follows
To the Contention OF Fruit Growers Of California
Appointed by your Convention which met in
San Francisco on the 9th of September, 1885, a
committee q" to perfect the details of organiZa-
ton of corporation for the protection of their
mutual interests and the disposal of their pro-
duce," we proceeded Immediately to organize
and work
of the duties imposed upon us, and of the CON-
plcated nature of the problems we were set to
solve.
We took for our sailing directions two con-
trolling facts, viz that in order to achieve sue
cess we must, first, materially cheaper the rates
of freight California fruits to all Eastern con-
sumption markets, and systematic the trans
! time developing those markets 10 the utmost, in
order TO insure profitable sale for the constantly
| Increasing produce OF California fruits; Second
that in order to successfully accomplish the first
we needed II get together the body of the fruit
growers of California in one organization of
| "united cooperation" based upon their own
mutual interests and mutual protection.
| In order that we might act Understandings
| and effectively we needed to know first. the
| field we had to cover to know with at least aD-
proXimate reliability how many fruit-producers
| we had to deal with, where located and what
| was their product: also, how much fruit, of va
| Tious kinds,was sent TO Eastern markets, whence
| shipped and to what markets of consumption
! consigned.
/ For our information, in the first particular,
| we applied to the Board OF Horticulture" and
were courteously furnished by the Secretary the
list used in his Office of the parties interested
| in fruit culture throughout California. 1t COM
prised an alphabetically arranged list of names
| and locations, upward of 1900 in number, but
! entirely without any information as to number,
variety and age of trees amount Of product,
| extent and direction of shipments and such
| kindred information as is absolutely necessary
| to be somewhere accessible to the iTuit-groWer
in order that he may handle his business under
| standingly.
| this list we mailed to each party thereon our
| circulars of October l, 1885, two in number,
! hereto attached as exhibits Nos. and .. Sub
| sequent studies of the list by the respective
| members of our committee, with reference to
| their respective counties, impress them with
the fact that the list was very FAR short of COM
DIete, as to the irullBrONSE5 VI tNelr lOCdllleS
J known to themselves. Particularly was this
pointed ont to be the fact with reference to the
| counties of Santa Clara and Los Angeles, and,
on communicating with the Assessors OF those
| counties your committee were Informed that
| 400 persons in Santa Clara. and over LOO in
| Los Angeles were assessed as owners of orch
| ards, while less than one-half that number
appeared on the list of the Board of Horticult-
ure,' on which we had based our work, and
| which has always been the accepted list of the
! fruit-growers OF California" The Assessors
II n | n ANGELES pOnntV
too late to be used for the purposes of this con-
vention while the list of Santa Clara county
has not yet reached us, Involving many days of
clerical work of an expert to prepare. I'm
doubtedly the same fact is true of all the other
counties of the State, so rapid everywhere has
| been the growth of the interest, and it may be
safely stated that our circulars have not been
addressed to one half OF the people of the State
who are directly interested in fruit culture
though they have been addressed to upwards OF
5000 different names III the State We submit
that this condition of things affords in itself an
| unanswerablc argument in favor OF some organ
lied Union of the fruit-growers whereby their
rapidly growing interests may be foStered and
protected. In the present condition of things
| they cannot be even ascertained, and the whole
army of fruit-growers may be put to rout and
! Stampeded into Insolvency before we rightly
| know who compose it, or on what line it is open
| to attack.
Soon receiving numerous letters of inquiry as
| to details, from parties who had received our
first issue of circulars Wiz exhibits Nos. and
| p, we drew up and sent out to all on the afore
| said State Horticultural Board list OF Fruit
| growers, we having no other two additional
| circulars, exhibit 3, setting forth the plan and
| details of similar organization, which the
| Florida frllit-yrOWers have been compelled to
| adopt to protect themselves from evils similar
| TO, though far less serious than those that
| now threaten the California frlt-grower also
| exhibit 4, which was calculated to answer
many inquiries and objections called out by our
first circulars. All of these circulars are sub
mitted as part of this report, as indicating the
| line of this committees work, and as furnishing
vol al M n 81
mittee or organization that may succeed to the
| work of this committee, for We are convinced
that the subject, being now opened. will never
| be allowed again to rest or pause until " Pro
tective Union of the fruit-growers of California
| is established in some form. Nothing short of
| the blindest, most inconcevable folly, or, what
| is worse sectional differences, overriding the
| general good, can much longer prevent the re-
| alization of this, SO much needed, Union"
| In our before-described correspondence with
! the individual fruit-growers we have limited
| ourselves to the general presentment OF the idea
| of organization and union, deemtng the details
| matters more properly to be discussed by the
| subscribers to any organization that may be
| formed as the result of your convention action.
| We have not felt warranted i'll presenting arti-
Giles of incorporation or bylaws of the corpor-
| alton contemplated by the resolutions of the
| convention of September 81, 1885.
| We have opened no lists of subscription for
| stock in such corporation, although we have
received large number of letters rendering the
| same.
We are aware that under the resolutions of
| the previous convention we might have been
justified in so doing, but Il mature consideration
of the subject concluded us in the opinion that
| il was wiser to wait for renewed and more
| definite expression of opinion from second
convention, more numerously attended by
fruit growers who have been carefully consid-
| ering the whole subject since the last cOnven-
| ton, and who have given due thought to our
circulars addressed to them. We felt confident
| that such convention would Teaifirm, in the
| most positive way, the recommendation OF the
| first convention in favor of corporation to Sc
| cure an organized union of fruit-groweTs but
we also felt and do hope, that i'll so doing we
| shall be relieved of some of the responsibility
| of deciding upon all the numerous difficult
points of details, and that we may find in the
| later convention light and suggestive aid,
which naturally the whole convention could
| not afford, the whole subject being so new and
| little considered.
Having thus addressed ourselves to our fell
| low fruit-growers, and placed the subject mat
ter as fully before them our limited facilities
| and time enabled US to do, we turned our atten-
| ton to the even more important duty of en-
| deavoring to solve the freight problem, assum-
| ing as before stated that without very material
| reduction of freight charges on all California
fruit, to all Eastern markets, the fruit interests
| of the State had already reached point whence
| they must seriously decline in value for the
lack of ability to find profitable markets for
| their produce.
judging it to be good policy to so direct to
| headquarters on the subject, we sent written
| invitation to President Leiaud Stanford, of the
| Southern Pacific Company. to meet us at our
committee rooms and discuss the question.
This he accepted, and in the presence OF all
your committee, the most ample consideration
was given to the matter of railroad freightS
| and facilities to Eastern markets as relating to
the future of the California fruit interests.
| We are able, therefore, to say, on the personal
| assurance of President Stanford, that he fully
! recognizes the great importance of the fruit
interests to the State and in its ability to afford
| freight to the transportation companies repre-
sented by him. He stated his conviction that,
properly managed and fostered, it would, in
future, become the most important interest OF
the State. and that, for that reason, it was
sound business policy for the railroads to en-
courage it, if for no other reason because OF the
transportation business it would afford them.
He, however. explained that under the pres
ent system of transportation, on the overland
express passenger trains, no increased facilities
could be afforded, for the average of four cars
daily, now required on such trains during the
fruit season were the extreme limit of their ca
pacity to handle, and were, in fact, frequently
a serious drag to them.
He stated that, as alternative measure of
relief, his companies were willing to put on
special fruit trains of fifteen cars, three times
| aweek, or as much oftener as needed, at the
rate of $3.50 per car of ten TONS to Chicago, pro-
Vlded the uit-growers would SO organize their
shipments as to contract specifically TO fill such
trains, so that they might be regularly dis
| patched on schedule time He explained, in
detail, why 1t was necessary that there should
be regularly and reliably provided loads for
, such trains before they could be put on. point
ing out that without some organized direction
I ~ F Ntr