The morning call., 1892-07-27

AUCTION FRUIT SALES.
he Experiments so Far successful-PTo-
ducer and Customer Benefited.

The Experiments 10 Far Successful-PTo-
ducer and Customer Benefited
For the past two mornings P. Steinhagen
has been conducting fruit auction AZ Jack
son-street wharf. Il Is an experiment and
so far has proved q success,
Sol Runyon, a large producer on the Sac
ramento River, was in the city yesterday
and was asked by a reporter Of The CALL
if be was favorable to the auction scheme
"Yes," replied Mr. Runy0n, am IN
favor Of #. 1t is only an experiment, OF
course, but see no reason why II shouldn't
prove & success. Anything would be better
tEad tus mixed up way sales have been
conducted by commission men. / believe
the new experiment viii be beneficial both
10 tie protucer and the consumer. Formerly
we had no encouragement TO send the better
class Of fruit 10 this market. Take peaches,
Tor instance. l could get as good price,
at least within few cents, for culls as for
the nneSt peaches. On Saturday the first
class brought 81 at the Whsff but at auc-
tion yesterday the same class OF peaches
brought 81 p. There you see some en-
coUTagemeBt for US 20 send the better class
b this market instead of being forced 10
ship them East or South or 10 the Gamers
as we have bad TO do. Now the consumer
VIII get the best quality Of fruit At about
The same figure as he paid tcr Co..
have 10 Jeeilng~f5eIi IL eantagraIsm III to CON- |
11lissioh ns~Diit as a producer Il Is my |
-eft.y 20 look out for the DeSt means of GET |
ting ne best returns for my products. We /
have been sending our fruit 10 the commits !
sion men and have bad TO be satisfied with |
whatever returns they made US. We w~re !
ignorant of the prices the fruit sold at. but
now we know exactly what 1t fetches al
auction. l am not insinuatlng that commits
siou men sold at one price and sent in their
returns at another price, but II could be
done. All this sort Of thing was against the
Interests Of the producer and consumer. the
p7Ufts going into the pockets of the middle
men. But now tile producer and consumer
will reap the advantages.
There are too many men In the fruit
business, and the result has led to one
underselling the other, so that there has
been little or no profit left for the producer.
What is wanted 10 make the fruit business
a paying one is more Capitalization. Do
away with the middlemen and ALI will
benefit by it.
''Some years ago, when [ was a director
of tie State Board Of Fruit Culture Mr..
Porter Of Chicago, who is probably the
largest fTuit-dealeT in the United States,
came here and discussed with Us the ad-
visibility Of selling the fruit by auction. At
that NE he was bitterly opposed to it, but !
now lie is one Of It's strongest advocates"
Further inquiry among those favorable |
to the auction scheme elicited the fact that |
strong efforts are being made 10 kin IT, 1t |
is limited that some OF It's opponents are to
combine TO send returns to producers at a |
higher figure than that fetched at auction,
even though they should lose by it, so as TO
create feeling of dissatisfaction. a pro-
ducer. for instance, sends a quantity OF
peaches TO a commission man. The latter
hands over half D be sold at auction and
the rest he ST. himself. If they brought
81 az auction, the other half would be re-
turned as bringing 81 10. This may be
only a street rum0T. bur there is a feeling
that some action will be taken TO bring the
fruit business back TO its previous unsatis-
factory condition, both tor producer and
consumer.