St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-02
A VENDUE OF WANDS.
Some Facts Concerning the
Fruit Auctions Held in
st. Paul.
Tons and Carloads Of the
Finest Fruits That Grow
Are Sold Daily.
A System of Distribution Per-
feeted by Years Of Ex-
perience.
st. Paul Jobbers Supplying a
Vast Region With Deli
cious Eating.

There is one kind of an auction sale
held in st. Paul that is attended by
comparatively few people. Butevery
person who attends this auction is there
for business, and the bidding is often
very spirited. 1t s. never publicly adj
Yertised, yet no one who should be
there ever fails to receive timely notice.
The value of system is amply eXem-
plifed in this case, and the complete
ness of the arrangements is commend
able. The goods to be sold are perish
able. and hence must be quickly dis
posed of. They are also quite costly, and
the price attained must be such as to
allow fair margin of profit. This will
be better understood when it is stated
that they pass through two hands after
being sold at the auction.
p. J. KavaEagh, of Kavanaugh &
johnson, is the auctiOneer, and the prod
uct he calls for bids on is mostly
grown in California, Oregon and the
Southern states, consisting Of all kinds
of fancy fruits, from the toothsome
banana to the fragrant orange and
lemon. Apples, pears, peaches, plums,
cherries, apricots, pineapples, MELONS,
grapes and every fruit that can be
the hammer.
The Presley Fruit company, agent for
the California and Southern fruit
unions, controls and manages these
sales through J. S. Robertson.
Only wholesale dealers are allowed to
bid, but the retailers may be present
and keep posted On points that natural
ly interest them. Large consignments
of California and foreign and domestic
green fruits are thus disposed of in st.
Paul almost daily during the season.
When consignment. is expected MIR.
Robertson sends OUT notices to the
wholesalers of the Twin Cities, stating
the place and hour of sale-geneIally
the Omaha freight house. at II d. m.
but occasionally the sales are held at
the Great Northern freight house.
Selling Sweetness.
When the fruit is unloaded from the
cars, it is stacked in ''Iots," according
to kind. quality and condition. each lot
being numbered. a sample of each lot
is used as a basis for bidding. 1t the
case of boxed fruit or fruit in bask cts
one package is opened at random. The
wholesale dealers gather before the
hour set for the auction and examine
the different piles, making notes of what
they need or fancy. When the sale
opens all the bidders are seated in
circle about the auctioneer, and each
man has before him his memorandum
of the lots which he desires to bid on.
Competition begins as soon as the auc-
tiOneer puts Up a pile for sale. As
rule, IL may be said, the bidders do not
cross each other to any great extent;
but occasionally strong streak of op-
position is developed and several will
tacitly combine to balk one.
An extra fine lot of fruit will, of
course, stimulate the bidding, and very
often bidder will have a commission
to secure such lot at all hazards. As
before stated, only wholesalers can bid.
| but retailers may look on. Seeing
| something he especially desires, a re-
taller goes to jobber with whom he
| does business and instructs him to Sc
cure the coveted fruit. If he succeeds
| in bidding it in, the jobber is paid a
commission of 10 per cent. The groeers
| often do the same thing.
Retailers Strategy.
"But we must be careful in doing
| this,n said one retailer. "You see we
must maintain amicible relations with
the wholesalers. To do this it is often
necessary to resort to strategy. For
instance, if | see particularly fine lot
of fruit that l want l will go to a
| wholesaler and ask him to bid it in. If
he succeeds 1 pay him the price, adding
thereto the 10 per cent commission
when he delivers the goods. If my man
fails to get the lot, why i must keep
track of the man who did get it, and
buy from him. l imagine wholesalers
are not very well pleased when they