Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-23

first. OF consigning their products to few,
| then to great many, but always with I'M
| satisfactory results, and finally, they
adopted the plan first introduced by the
| Mediterranean growers. 1t now remains
for the growers and shippers of California
to follow i'll their footsteps. l cannot think
of any better way of illustrating and ex-
planning this most successful method of
marketing foreign fruits in the East than
to take extracts from letter of New
York correspondent to a Florida paper,
who, it seems, was performing work sim
liar to that in which your correspondent is
now engaged:
NEW YORK FRUIT AUCTION.
NEW YORK, February IS, 1875.
Arcr1oNEERs AND Commission MERCHANTS,
| Store, - Street,
THIS DAY,
At u o'clock, within the salesroom Fresh Mes
| sina, Palermo and Naples
ORANGES AND LEMONS.
15,1S2 boxes Oranges.
| 1871 do Lemons.
| Cargo {. 5. BurslccH, Landing. and may be eX-
| amined at Pier Al, \. r.
| ALSO
| FRESH ALNERIA GRAPES.
1900 barrels halves and qrs. Ex S s Celtic
This is an advertisement which met my eyes
| upon looking over the Journal Of Commerce the
other morning. The quantity of fruit to be sold
was large, and it seemed to me that this sale
afforded Il good opportunity for finding out
\ something of branch of trade which is becom
| ing more and more important. 1t occurred to
me that might learn most by figuring in the
/ character of u buyer at Pier II, North river. A
| smart walk through the crowded thoroughflres
| soon brought me to the pier, where the great
| Mediterranean fruit steamers were discharging
| ~
| steam, and working at both hatchways As /
| entered the wide doors l could look down the
length OF the deck through II long vista OF
| oranges ana lemons IN boxes, piled regularly in
| piles OF eight ana ten, with the brands exposed
| there were long avenues lengthwise of the deck
| so that buyers could examine the fruit. Cata-
lOgue in hand, the clerks and porterS of the I'M
porters We're chalking the lot number on the
fruit belonging to each, and opening the boxes
| to show the quality. Colored boys furnished
each buyer as he arrived with catalogue. The
| catalogue gave the lot number the brand and
| the quantity OF each. This would give about
| twenty lots on each page, making $50 lots of
| various brands, no two alike, of oranges and
lemons TO be sold. The quantity in each lot
] varied and ranged from 100 boxes down to one
\ box with an average of about 80 boxes
| The avenues between these huge piles OF fruit
| were thronged with busy men OF all ages, each
! with catalogue and pencil in hand, scrutinizing
| lots and marking their critical comments upon
| their soundness and value There was no time
| for conversation or lettering. The fruit had
DeCu lAlc steamer all the nlgnL
| previous, and before sale there were only four
| hours in which to examine the boxes covering
| a dock 50 feet wide by 600 feet long 1t was Il
| busy scene. Men climbed over boxes and about
| them hardly word was spoken. At II o clock
| the dock was so full that the steamer stopped
diScharging. Buyer after buyer rolled up his
catalogue and TOOK the elevated railway for the
downtown place of sale The salesroom is near
| the Battery, the lowerpoint of New York where
| are the Exchanges for produce. OIL cotton,
stocks, and where all the elevated railways con
verge. The SalesrOom is at the corner of the
| busiest business street in New York. About
ii ty persons 1lting for the sale to begin.
| Five minutes before the hour three clerks
brought in the books and took their seats upon
the platform. a bell summoned the buyers,
still below. When they had assembled there
! were seen 800 men of all ages and conditions
present. Just before noon the auctioneer mounts
the platform the hum of conversation ceases :;
every buyer settles himself for the closest work
of purchasing what he noted for his own wants.
In a clear. strong, quick voice the auctioneer
says I" We win offer You the cargo of the Burs-
we'll Opening the catalogue he calls out the
lot numbers of such fruit on these pages as were
in the docks, as only such as was discharged was
sold. He offers the choice of fruit on these two
pages to the highest bidder, and with great rap
idity the auctiOneer knocks off the lots to such
bidder. Not word is spoken by the company.
The auctioneer knows his bidders and they him
so well that nod, a wink, an attitude of the
body, is sufficiently understood. Soon as the
lots on two pages are sold the next two are
taxed up. In one hour 800 lots of oranges were
disposed of. Two bookkeepers took down the
prices and the names of the purchasers and not
an error was made as to either. The auctioneer
stepped from the platform, and his partner, TAX
ing his place, sold the lemons in the same way.
This occupied another hour and the business
was over. The buyers folded their catalogues
aud walked down stairs in groups to buy
grapes.
There is a prevalent impression that the auc-
ton in green fruit means last resort of those
who have not been able to dispose of it at pri-
yate sale-in fact that bidders buy for mere
nothing in the Cheap john way, and sellers
are sacrificed. No mistake could be greater.
Whatever may be the character of the auction
sales of furniture, dry goods etc, fruit sales
something very different: But for these trade
sales fruit arriving in New York could not be
disposed of. Prices at private sales would not,
by 20 per cent, net rs much rs they do at auc
ton Tor the reason that it would stop the com
petition Of the large and small buyers aid of
the who. esalc ami retail buyers the out-ot-town
shippers aid pedd efs.
This competition is the very life and soul of
the business. Fruit held TOR private sale would
rot on the dock before finding a purchaser.
There are months in which 10000 boxes are
brought to the city of New York alone. There
have been weeks in which 10000 boxes were
lauGed-i6c0J boxes per DAY. The very pre-
iusene-s OF the crop of oranges would tend to
bold buyeTS back and fri9hten sellers into sac
rifciug tic fruit to save carriage and storage.
When, in 1859, the full crop amounted TO about
,0G0 boxes for the year it was then found i'm
possible To dispose of 1t at private sale. Now,
whea the annual crop amounts to 2.50)t0O
boxes any man attempting to sell il at private
| sale wOuid be laughed at The word AUG
tom in the green fruit sales really means regu-
lar trade sales, and something very different
| from auction of furniture and pictures. In the
| dry goods or furniture auction houses the goods
are sold down in regular order, beginning with
| lot !, then lot .. and so on. In fruit sales the
| cargo is open for the choice OF any lot TO the
| highest bidder. This fact III itself stimulates
competition, for 900 bidders may mark 200 diff
| ferent lots of fruit rs the best, according to
| Judgment and not knowing but somebody else
| is intending u buy the lot he wants, each one
| bids against the other-no bidder, as l have
| said being sure what the choice will be. This
makes the entire sale a competition bstweeu all
| the buyers who with their different needs and
| views, keep the price up ana benefits the seller
| The fruit in the hands OF the auctioneer DOES
not pass out of the control of the seller. At any
| time he can withdraw 1t ii the price does not
| please him. II Florida fruit is to be handled
/ adyantageouSly to the shipper, the true course
| would seem TO be to consign il to some good par
| ties. put it on the dock and then sell it by auc-
| ton, Just as the Mediterranean fruit Is sold IL
| will then bring more money, aud the competl-
ton at the sale via more than reimburse the
| charges. Sales and returns Will De qulck ana
the fruit 70 into consumption instead OF sinking
| into somebody's cellar 70 rot away at the eX-
peuse of the I'm fortunate man who shipped 1t.
| As matters now stand, the Florida fruit being
received and stored by commission men, fresh
| eOnsignments being recsived by every steamer,
| while the old ones are decaying, the receiver Is
naturally anxious to sell st any price AMI espe-
business while by buying ut auction, the Job-
bers and commission men supply their own
| want at the sale and thus stimulate competl-
ton Again good fruit always sells for ell or
more than it is worth, and this helps the sale of
fruit of inferior quality. There is a class OF
| BUYERS for decaying fruit for which there is no
| market at private sale For this the peddlerS
and wagon boys compete in the auction-room: l
was told by the auctioueers that sometimes the
bidding has been so spirited that the price has
steadily advanced as the sale progressed, so that
the fruit at the end of the catalogue brought
s6ore than at the beginning. Moreover there Is
in the fruit trade an element of speculation
among the larger buyers, and desire 10 control
all the best Fruit is sold, when lot consists
of . o boxes of one brand, in lots of 20 boxes or
the multiple of 10. Thus buyer can take 20 or
10 or GO. or So or 100 boxes, or he can take the
whole line. Receivers who have made big COM
missions are the only men who now oppose the
auction system for Florida fruit. They Will soon
find out that trade must in the regular chan
nels marked ont by custom. NO man and no set
OF men can oppose the inevitable.
Since the above letter from which these
extracts were taken) was written, the Flor
ida Fruit Exchange have adopted the
method of selling their oranges by auction.
Last year they tried it in Boston with great
success. This year they have made arrange
ments TO have oranges that will be sent to
New York also sold by auction, with every
prospect of getting more satisfactory re-
turns thar in the past.
CAN CALIFORNIA DO THE SAME?