The record-union., 1892-08-17

Small Returns by Selling to the Cam
neries-Drawbacl1s in Dealing With
Commission Houses.
IS. f. Post. August 1eth.l

-. L. Post, August 16th.
There Were many chuckles and smiles
in fruit commission circles yesterday
morning when the news was spread
abroad that Mr.. Steinhagen's system of
disposing of fruits by auction had fallen
through. The collapse Of the early morn
ing public sales meant a return to the old
method, which once more placed the
grower and shipper under the thumb of
the city merchants.
oRCHARDIsTs DISCOUNTED.
1t is doubtful, however, if the news was
received with any manifestations of glad
ness in the orchard districts of California.
Mr.. Steinhagen's circular in which he
had announced that. owing to a chain of
adverse circumstances, he had been forced
TO discontinue the sales, must have caused
many pang of disappointment to fruit
growers who had hoped to see their pro-
ducts disposed of in open market at
prices known to other parties than the
seller and purchaser.
~ well-known fruIt-grower, whose an
nual output is very large, this morning
gave his opinion Of the auction system as
conJrasted with the old method of ship
ping and selling farm and dairy produce
and fruits.
a FRUIT-GROwER TALKS.
81 know" he said, ''that the commits
sion merchants of San Francisco have
been sneering at the auctions from the
day that they were introduced, and al
though they will deny that there was any
concerted movement among them to rem
der the scheme imperative, l am fully
convinced that there was such an organ
lied movement.
''Of course the commission men have
cried down the auction sales. 1t was
striking right at the very root of their
business. 1t was a fight to determine
whether the consignments should be sold
in public place, where the terms were
known to all, or whether the practice of
private sales and private prices should
prevail.
LET the dealers say what they will, the
Steinhagen system, had it been success
full, would have been one of the greatest
blessings TO the producers that could be
devised for their welfare and prosperity,
do not think that there is single fruit
raiser in the State who is at heart opposed
to the SteInhagen plan, although there
are number OF them who are not free to
express their opinion in the matter on ac-
count of their financial entanglements
with commission houses.
Let me tell you" continued the
speaker, ''of some of the disadvantages
under which the average grower is
placed. L am speaking now of the poorer
and middle classes, which, as a rule, are
so situated that they wish to realize upon
their crop the moment it is in condition
for mark citing. There are but two ave-
nues open to the producer-the cannery
or the commission house. l will take up
the cannery first. The grower, when his
fruit is near ripe, takes a sample 10 the
Gamer and submits it for inspection 4
price of say $50 per ton is agreed upon,
and the orchardist returns home satisfied
that he is going to realize fair profit on
his crop. In a few days he picks his
fruit and ships or hauls it to the cannery.
Here his trouble begins. The Superin-
tendent says that some very heavy ship
mentS OF the same kind of fruit came in
the day before, and that the establishment
is overstocked. He tells the seller to
bring his goods next week. That, of
course, Is out of the question, as the fruit
would spoil in the meantime. AS a re-
suit the unfortunate visitor is finally
offered $40 per ton for his crop, and he
has no other course but to let it go at that
price.
Again, the Gamer finds fault with the
quality OF the fruit, or it is either over
ripe or not ripe enough. The same re-
suit is reached in this case. The grower
has his fruit picked, has paid for carriage,
and if it is slightly under-ripe "a condi-
ton required by the canners) he cannot
send it TO market. He must take what
ever price is offered to him.
TONS OF FRUIT RoTTING.
81 know that there are tons of fruit rot
ting in the orchards this year. The own
ers would rather lose it all than submit to
the grinding, crushing tactics pursued by
the Gamers. The men who can afford.
however, TO allow their crops to spoil be-
long to the wealthier classes. Heaven
holm the man whose nvistanoa do
upon the product of his orchard
The commission house end is often
just as bad as the cannerieS. The main
trouble lies in the fact that the shipper is
forced to depend upon the honesty of the
merchant. There is saying somewhere
in the Bible that even the just man fails
seven times day, so you see the shipper
takes risk in sending his goods to be
sold on commission. l do not wish TO be
understood as making a sweeping charge
OF dishonesty against the commission
men OF San Francisco, there are so many,
old established houses which have an
honorable name in the community
What | wish to say is that the majority OF
the men in that business always get the
largest and best end of their bargains.
NEGLECTING FIRST CoNSIGNMENTs,
Another disadvantage to be encoun-
tered in sending goods to the commission
men is their proneness to neglect first
consignments for the ones received subse-
quently. The later goods are sold off and
no effort is made to dispose of the earlier
receipts. In this case the growers will
probably receive return something like
this:
1--we sold 10 boxes at 81 each, 20 b oxes
at 80 cents each, aud the rest we were
obliged to send to the Dump
The shipper in all cases must take the
merchants word for the price received
for consignments. If the dealer is honest
the fruit man is liable to be Justly
treated. II the merchant is unscrupu-
lous the grower has no redress if false re-
turns are sent, as he has no means OF YER
flying his suspicious. How does he know
that half of his goods rotted in the stores
and was sent the dump?
SMALLER PROFITS NECESSARY
If the merchants would be satisfied