The herald., 1893-12-10

express trains-if these suggestions were
realities, does any man OF sense doubt
that some things which the experts de-
clare impracticable, would be very sim
ply and easily done? For example,
would it not be possible under such con
ditions to load six-compartment car at
| Vacaville or Ontario with elk separate
lots OF fruits for the six cities of Tiffin,
Mansfield, Canton, GAINESVILLE. Colum-
bus and Springfield, all in the state OF
Ohio, and to make the deliveries in
satisfactory way? Does anybody doubt
that it would?
1t is our judgment that to reach new
markets some such combination of
equipment and train service is essen.
tial but it would be Utopian to expect
it to come of ite own motion. lie
natural and essential prerequisite is the
creation at this end of the route of a
shipping system which will require and
exact such service. The great express
companies, not the railroads, have made
the American expresssge system, with
its messengers on every train, its depot
at every railway station and its dlstrib-
uting servant in every village. As the
necessities of the service grew, the rail-
roads, under the pressure of specific de-
mand, provided them; but ii they had
been left to their own devices, the great
expressage system would never have
been brought into existence. And 60 it
will be with us. So long as we leave
our necessities without organization to
plead feebly for themselves, we shall
have Just this kind of service always
given to an unsystematic traffic. When
we have created shipping system ready
to operate as the express companies do,
then we shall secure facilities for trans
portstion proportionate to the magni-
tude and value of our fruit interest.
Opinions differ widely as to the right
way to create such an organization. We
are told by persons who are entirely sim
cere, that the producer is outside OF his
natural sphere when he undertakes to
be his own marketer; that, like o. GER
tain brand of sarsaparIile, fruit ceiling
is thing peculiar to itself and that it
must be left to experts; or, in other
words, since fruit production is one
thing and fruit marketing another, that
the producer should stick to his orchard
and leave the distribution of his product
to the commission merchant. Now we
agree that fruit marketing is special
trade; that it calls for business training
and acquaintance with markets, etc. !;
but we deny that these qualifications
are found with commission men more
than among the producers Themselves
AS matter of fact, after many years OF
trial, the commission system has failed
1t does now but what it did in the be-
ginning, namely, it sells our fruits at
auction in few general markets. 1t
has not, like the great oyster companies
like the great express companies, like
the Standard Oil company-not to mem
ton q dozen other equally notable in
stances established agencies away from
the centers and 80 wi6ened the field of
fruit consumption. The ineficiency Of
the commission- house system is demon
etrated by the fact that after many years
of exclusive control of our business, our
fruit products are still unknown or at
least not commonly sold in the larger
part OF the eastern market.
And the fact of ineticiency is not less
clear than the cause OF it. Generally
speaking the commission interest is
foreign to us. 1t has only commercial
/ relation to us-about the came sort as
people oil Sandwich islands. IL is not
possible under such conditions that our
work should be we'll done. And in our
judgment it will not be we'll done until
bhO epiIlb As III ~. LII lS our
profound conviction that the future vel
fare OF the fruit interest OF California, as
it 10 dependent upon the eastern market,
rests upon the co operative support Of a
state exchange operated in the direct in
terest of the fruit growers and having it's
agencies not only in the great cities but
throughout the whole vast region be-
yond the Rocky mountains. What
Adams & Co. can do, Wells, Fargo &
Co. can do, what the Standard Oil com
pany can do, what the firm of Yankee
shoemakers can do, surely the great hort
lcultural interest OF California can do,
We are told that suitable men cannot
be found to work for an association:
that expert commercial ability can onlv
be developed by the interest of personal
ownership. We don't believe ic. The
express companies and the railroad
companies seem to be served by paid
agents with ability and devotion and
there is no reason why we cannot find
men to do our work in the same spirit.
Ths career of the California Fruit union
proves that the cooperative principle
can in fact be successfully applied and
what, let us ask, would be easier that
the evolution OF such system as we
suggest from such a good foundation as
as this same fruit union affords?
For the suggestions herein embodied
we claim no credit for originality. If
nobody else had ever thought of them
before, we should distrust our own iudg-
ment. But we have only set down
things long familiar to every body. As
regards the plan of shipment direct to
minor points in broken loads in COM
psrtment cars, 80 competent q railroad
man as Mr.. W. H. Mills long ago sug-
gested and approved it; as to the sug-
gestion of general cooperation, that
happily seems in fair way TO be made
reality. The two things together.
your committee believes, are the best
hope of the California horticultural in
terests. ALFRED HOLMAN,
B. N. RowLEY,
JOHN isaac,
What Women Invent.
The liet of things Datanted raonrtl,, |