The morning call., 1894-10-23
GHIS AFASH SHICNIISOs
1T WILL BE A TUG-OF-WAR
San Francisco to Be Made
Dumping Place.
MERCHANTS FAIR PROPOSAL.
Ii Was Rejected, and Now They
Will Stand Together for Veal
or Woe to the End.


concern has been reorganiZed with some
of the members who composed the firm
last year and some that are new in it. The
new company consists of ID. ID. Allison &
Co., Eveleth q Nash and Dalton Bros. w
w. Jones will be the auciioneer and gen
eral manager. as he was last season.
But there was trouble in the re- es ia blish-
tug OF the concern and much more trouble
lies in wait for the auction. The principal
commission merchants. who look upon il
as an attempt to cinch the market and pro-
nounce 1t pernicious trust. are deter
mined TO not meekly submit to these con-
ditiOns, but promise TO do a little cinching
in their turn when the proper time arrives.
The fruit exchanges of the southern
part of the State had an executive meeting
in Los Angeles October II and Is, which
was attended by w. W. Jones Of this city,
be who has been the prime mover and or
ganizer of tile scheme aud is now the man.
ager. He carried his point and has re.
turned to San Francisco happy man.
But Mr.. Jones was not alone from this
section. Two opponents OF the scheme
were hot on the trail of it. and they car
ried with them written aud well-signed
proposition which threatened to lay low
the auction at its second birth. These
gentlemen were Captain w. II. Wood of
Wood, Gray u Co. and l.. Scatena. The
proposition referred 10 read as fellows:
To the President ana Executive Committee
of the Southern California Fruit Exchanges
Los angeles. CGI.-GENTLEMEN: We, the un-
dersigned commission mercha nts and produce
dealers OF the City aud County OF san Fran
CISCO State OF California. believe from the ie-
suit of the efforts made by the Auction Com.
pauy of San francisco during the rast season
20 dispose of the orange crop OF our State by the
auction system that it was not then, and will not
be in Ihe future, II continued. the most advan.
tageous TO tie shipper, OF TO the merchants
here; and we further believe the market can
be better regulated, the supply controlled and
higher prices maintained by direct dealing
between the legitimate dealers of this city and
the exchanges OF the South; and furthermore
that we would be in better position 10 avert
any serious gluls that might occur, aud we are
firmly of the opinion that The auction system Is
a great injury ana all injustice 10 the mer.
chants of san Francisco. from tile fact that
when they make direct purchases of oranges
from the as sOcatlons in the south the same
goods are put In the auction in competition
against them; hence, To say The least, IL Is very
discOuraglng for the dealers TO purchase direct
under these circumstances, but il "A free-on-
QOard system be adopted we. the undersigned
are willing 10 supply all our wants by direct
purchases from the different exchanges of the
south, provided. of course. we are assured pro-
tectiOn
Furthermore the above methods would be
much preferable TO the undersigned, as we can
never depend upon regular supply OF the va
rietes ana qualities desired through the auc-
tIun system. and We herewith present to asso-
Citations this expression of our opinion, and
respectfully request that you consider the same
and we believe the adoption of the suggestions
contained herein would result 10 our mutual
advantage. Respectfully yours, l.. Scafena &
Co., Wood, Gray & Co, Garcia s. Maggini, Me-
DonOgh & Runyon. 7. Stelnhagen s. Co., A
Levy Co.. C. Lippi g. Co. S. Levy S Co.. W.
F. Mitchell, A. CALI Fruit Company, Leoaggi
s. Barberi, Wetmore Bros J. Fl. Cain & Co..
Morgan & Chick. Chnda & Flack, Gould &
Jaudin. AntinovIch & Frill, A. j. B. Immel &
Co., l. Biagi & Co., Trobock & Bergen. Minaker
& Welbanks, Conher g. Link, L. q. Sresovich
& Co., Stewart s. Co. j. Ivancovich & Co., Cam
podoncO & Malcolniero, Kuhlmeyer & Dol
bequy, j. Desnashiro & Co., ID. q. Camarinos &
Co., George W. TIndal.
Such was tie proposition. But the eloquent
arguments Of Mr.. Jones were more powerful
than all this array of commercial interests and
business sagacity. The fruit auction was re-
established against all the protests and reasons
brought TO bear by Captain Wood and Mr. Sea-
tena, and all the southern exchanges have
joined IN il.
And this was done in the very face of the
fact that many of the leading fruit-growers
were opposed 10 IL on principle, said Captain
Wood yesterday. They know that the alc-
tiOn system is bad, perncious, demoraliZlug TO
business, but they explained their action by
stating outright that they want TO dispose of
their cUllings IN thai way which really Is The
only way for that purpose. In short they pro-
pose to make San Francisco their dumplnp
ground for all of their off fruit, and they don't
care who gets the worst of 1t. But the auction
will fnd that It will not have everything its
own way. The merchants whose names an.
pear on that proposition stand solid against
the auction, and will have nothing TO DO with il
in any way. We shall see who gets the best of
the fight In the long run. Anyhow we don'r
propose TO be slaves 10 The combines OF any sci
of men. We Can do a little combining on our
OWN hook.
A. j. B. Iminel. who has opposed the
auction system all along, said that the
cinching system will work both ways. Ip-
asmuch as the men composing the auction
firm have decided to turn all commission
merchants into pedders or run them out
of business, the merchants In their turn
will simply refuse to paddle. In his
opinion the auction cannot stand against
a solid com mbinatiOn of the dealers, who
will refuse to buy from the concern at
any price. Anyway, the fight is now on
and will be watched with interest. A
general decentralization of the fruit busi-
ness is propheised, but who will be bene-
fted the most OF who will be the greatest
sufferer is still matter of speculation.
But the commission merchants thoroughly
understand each other.
In the meantime Mr.. Jonee, the general
manager of the auction. is elat,d He
stated yesterday that the auction will open
for business on or about December Is, so
as t, handle the holiday trade. A large
and commodious store building. centrally
located to the trade, has been secured and
will soon be ready for the reception OF
consignments.
''Some of the commission merchants have
kicked against the auction" said Mr.
Jones, ''but that doesn't amount 10 any,
thing. They'll just laugh 1t off as joke
and go on about their business"
At the same time the commission mer-
chants are preparing TO laugh away an
OF her joke. and they have decided that
next time the joke shall be on Mr.. Jones
aud his auction.