Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-06-01
SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1889.
Italy Versus Southern California

Itaiv Versus Southern California.
1t costs 81 cents psr box by the car
load to transport oranges from Florida
to New York or Boston. The cost OF
transportation of box of oranges from
Italy to New York or Boston is 25 cents,
and the import duty is also 25 cents, so
that the Italian orange-grower enjoys an
advantage over the orange-grower OF
Florida of seven cents in placing his
oranges in the New York or Boston mar
ket. This is certainly a pretty bad
showing against the Florida orange
grower; but let US see how the Southern
California orchardist is affected. 1t costs
$1.25 for the transportation of box Of
oranges from this section to New York
or Boston. 30 that whilst the italian is
favored seven cents as against the
Floridian, he has the enormous advant-
age of rs cents per box as against the
Southern Californian. But when we go
further and compare the cost of produc-
tion between the two countries, We find
that, rating the bearing Of an acre OF
orange trees at 200 boxes, the Italian
producer enjoys an advantage in the
markets of the East over the Southern
California producer of $40 per acre.
This is certainly a startling showing,
and if it were merely question of rails
ing oranges for market, the American
orange. grower would find it to bis interest
to transfer his scene of operations from
the United States to Italy. The princi-
pie Of protection, ss applied to other
growths and other industries, is efectual
in it's results. Protection protects. But
in regard to the orange grower, it utterly
fails to exercise the ofice for which it was
instituted. The tariff On foreign oranges
is s2s Per cent. The tariff on potatoes,
oats, corn, wheat, hops, hay, etc., aver
ages 1924 per cent. Thus it may beseen
that upon what may be termed northern
staples there is tariff three times greater
than is placed upon an industry peculiar
to our femi-tropical localities. The fol-
lowing preamble and resolution, which
were adopted by the late fruit-growers'
convention of this State, meet the case
exactly, and ought to he favorably con-
sidered in the revisal OF the tariff:
WHEREAS, We consider that our brother
cultivators of the soil, and all our fellow
citizens in all the States, do not desire
the fruit and vegetable growers of these
United States to be less protected than
the ether avocations now therefore be it
Iok ,1 ba 4f Al ,-
Convention that Florida and California
should be placed on an equality with
Italy ard other citrus growing countries
as near as can be, and that from the 18th
day Of November Of each year to the 10Th
day of June of each year, the import
duty on oranges and lemons be one dol
lar per box, and for other months OF the
year it be fifty cents per box.
A writer in the Rural Californian gives
the statistics of the import of oranges
from the Mediterranean for the months
of January, February and March this
year. The total number of cases i'm
ported was 7O, O,450 boxes, 504,21s. AS
a case is equal to two boxes, the total
receipts were 735, ,11S boxes. He then
goes on to say that box of Mediter-
ranean oranges weighs more than box
of California oranges, SO that the gross
weight of the above is about 10000, 900
pounds, or the equivalent of 5000 car
loads, which is fully so per cent. more
than the entire California crop, during
the present season. Up to the 1st OF
April, there were shipped from Cali
fornia about 1900 carloads; possibly,
800 carloads of this went to points east OF
the Rocky Mountains, and were sold at
very low prices, on account of the heavy
importations of Messina oranges, as
we are compelled to compete
with this foreign fruit as far
west as Denver. at which point,
Messina oranges can be delivered
at about as low a rate of freight from
Sicily, as they can be delivered by rail
from California in other words, the cost
of transportation on a box of oranges
from Sicily to western points in the
United States, is DO more, and, at many
points, much less than the freight on Cal
ifornia oranges. This fact, together
with cheap labor in the Mediterranean
orange growing districts, makes it very
difficult indeed for California oranges to
compete successfully. Now the question
that forces itself upon us is why the true
principle of protection should not be ap-
piled to the orange industry 1t is q
young industry, and just such one as
Henry Clay always had in his mind
when he made his great speeches upon
American protection. If it is good to pre-
serve the American market for all kinds
of manufacturers, it is equally advisable
TO preserve it for the producer of citrus
fruits. Equal rights, equal privileges and
equal immunities is good sound Demo
cratic motto, and applies as well to the
tariff as TO all other matters,