The morning call., 1894-07-06

merchants that the strike could not last
much longer.
In the fruit market the glut continued
vegetables. too, far exceeded the demand.
Peaches, apricots and other pomologcal
excrescences, save the very choicest. sold
Tor hgures far below any that ever pre-
vailed in the city heretofore. Many
baskets and boxes that would make an
fasteners mouth dribbIe with envy
lay rotting in the stores. The stag
nation was due, as already explained in
l BE CALL, to the eagerness OF small pro-
ducerS along the rivers who rushed their
crops In with the belief that the city was
IN danger of a famine. 1t was also due to
the fact that middemen here are unable
to ship fruit for which they had already
contracted.
Advices from the interior to the Fruit
Exchange indicate that the reported loss
which orchardsts will sustain is largely
exaggerated, except in the case of the petty
producers. The large firms have all taken
to drying fruit, and the only respect in
which they will be out of pocket will be
really D he fruit stalled in transit. The
Eastern demand for California dried fruit
is constantly increasing. There Is scarcely
any possibility that it will be overreached,
no matter how much be prepared this
year
Small farms will suffer seriously because
they are not prepared, generally. for dry
ing. This involves the possession of
racks and sulphur watts and sweathouses.
which are too expensive for the petty
producers to keep on hand.
However" said Mr.. Dalton. president
of the Fruit Exchange. IF the strike does
not continue we have good grounds for
anticipating brisk trade in the fall, which
ought to compensate In q measure for the
depression now. Above all things mer-
chants should keep their spirits high, and
thereby hold their business as we'll above
water as possible"
Dealers in general produce have been
endeaVoring to follow Mr.. Dalton's advice
at their own suggestion. AS matter of
sentiment rather than purely for profit
they have been seeking trade outside OF
California in order to keep the total OF
business as high as possible. Yesterday
morning they shipped off by boat, for in
stance some 5000 or 5000 sacks of potatoes
to Oregon and Washington at normal
nature were also made.
Eggs have been steadily climbing up
pard in price, and the prospects, is that they
will continue TO advance. Unlike butter.
they usually come into the market by rail
and are therefore scarce. On the other
hand, the fact that there is no outward
movement sends butter, which habituAlly
comes in or can come in by water, down
several pitches.
Perishable Eastern imports begin to run
up trifle. One prominent Davis-street t
merchant had run on cured pork yester-
day and said that unless the strike was
broken very soon q famine would be
brought on in that line. A California
street merchant, who deals chiefly in do
mestic packed meats. begged to differ from
bis competitor. and said he was ready TO
supply any demand at the usual prices.
but. of course" he added, that cannot
be for any length Of time. Live pork has
already advanced cent a pound. Other
meats must follow within several days
At present we are willing to sell at normal
figures because there is no business doing
whatever. There are no orders coming in.
Our stock, as that of most firms. is SO large
that local demand could not cause per-
cepuble change in prices for many days
yet"
The wholesale butchers were not quite
so sanguine as the California street pack
ers. They expressed themselves as be-
leving the general public would not suf-
fer any from the condition of affairs for
some time yet, If at all. But the tact that
live pork had already advanced l cent a
pound convinced them that beyond ques-
ton all small stock would follow in the
same chase.
sit is impossible" said one of the
largest wholesale butcher firms in the
State, ''to drive small stock. such as sheep,
calves and hogs, into the city as cattle are
driven, and so We may expect more or less
of a famine in them. But IL is a curious
fact. worthy of remem brance, that no one
kind of meat can advance much in price
above the other kinds, for as soon as one
goes up people transfer their appetites to
the cheaper kind. So, we should say. that
as the supply of beef holds good prices IN
general will not acquire very much Of a
spring.
"Yet we will say that the continuance of
the strike for a week longer may cause an
advance of 90 per cent. Three days longer
will exhaust the supply of some butchers.
Usually a week S: stock ahead is alllthas
butchers can keep, as it does not pay to
cattle are being driven in from the San
Joaquin, via Gilroy, by the old stations,
but this is being done almost entirely by