The herald., 1894-01-27

MIR. Patton on Orange Profits.
EDITORS HsRALD: In an Associated
Prees dispatch in the HERALD of the
22nd inst. appears the following: ut
looks as II the orange growers of Cali
fornia will soon have to confront new
problem, says prominent railway
official. 1t may mean that they must
De satisfied with a profit of 500 pei
acre instead Of $500 per acre, or go out
of the business"
1t seems to me that this statement
should not pass unchallenged. Literally
and by implication it is fslse and I'm.
just. The problem which now con-
fronts the orange grower is not a new
one, but the old, old problem which has
SUCCESSFULLY confronted every agricul-
tural industry OF this state, viz: The
problem OF successfully placing such in
dustry upon a plane OF reasonable and
permanent prosperity when subjected to
the memorable operation of the cor
porate rule OF charging all that the
traffic will bear"
Instead of beirg a question OF $500
per acre or 500 per acre, the question
now is one OF any profit at all.
During the past 10 years the area in
oranges both in California and Florida
has 60 expanded that, as everyone an
ticipated, the time has now come when
the business OF orange growing must be
conducted az any other Legitimate
business, upon business principles, and
only reasonable profit expected. Out
az 10 81 If n dfto
try is one which will always be attrac-
tive to large number OF people who
are very desirable as citizens. Indeed II
is not saying too much to assert that
this attractive feature of the business
has been more potential in securing for
the state of California and for the rail-
way corporation which owns it, the
commanding position they now occupy,
than any other agency whatever.
The orange growing industry may
still, and for all future time, be made
fairly prosperous one, or it may be de-
stroyed, just as the railway company
may now determine. The question id
one of reasonable freight tariff, moth.
ing more nor less. / disclaim any au-
thority to speak for the general commu-
nifty of orange growers, but l am pre-
pared to prove from the orange returns
of the owners of the best groves. in one
of the best orange districts in the state,
that last year the railway companies
received from 5000 to $3.50 per acre for
every acre OF bearing oranges in the dis
trict, as freight, and that the growers
received no profit at all. This was on
sales at fair prices, which will be re-
duced. ii anything, in the future. The
rate charged to Chicago, $262.50 per car,
or S71a cents per box, in view OF the
present and prospective price of oranges
III the east, ia simply robbery.
There will be shipped this year from
Southern California from 5000 to 5000
cars of oranges, and in five years the
number will be doubled. A rate of 500
per car, or 3311s cents per box, will pay
beyond the dreams of reasonably
avarice," and will be simply carrying
out the implied contract between the
growers and the railway companies dur
ing tina period when the latter were
crowding their westbound trains with
immigrants seeking to invest their all
in orange groves, by holding out to
them the promise that as the produc.
ton increased sufficiently to warrant
duced to an extent sufficient to compen-
safe for the decrease in prices.
| am aware that there is no law COM
polling q man to grow oranges or to pay
freight" which is the humorous way in
which an appeal for a reasonable freight
rate ia met at railway headquarters; and
if may Judge the future by the past, l
may feel sure that the time honored
maxim of charging all that the traffic
will bear" will not be departed from in
this case, and the orange grower is at
liberty to act upon the hint of the
Prominent Railway Official and ''go out
of the business'-not because he cannot
make $500 an acre, but because he can't
make anything at all.
Befors entirely abandoning his trees,
however, would beg to suggest that he
test the quality of oranges for the pur-
pose OF fattening hogs Il mean, of
course, the Berkshire, and not the rail-
way variety of the animal), and await
the coming of that day, whose advent ia
m ach nearer than Prominent Railway
Officials imagine, when the present
system of private monopoly of highways
of commerce may be overthrown, and
in its place. q reasonable and just system
of public transportation, conducted by
the people and for the people, inaugu-
rated in the United States.
Respectfully, GEORGE S. PATTON.
San Gabriel, Jan. %, 1894.
----------------