The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25
FRUIT EXCHANGE.
The Commission Merchant Is the
Friend of the Grower,
and Looks to His Interest
In Orchard and Market.
Written for THE CALL
BY Il. f. STONE.

Owing to Der geographical position
California of necessity has marketed her
products generally through the commission
houses, and taking into consideration the
great distance of the consuming markets
of the Eastern States, this without doubt
has been and will be necessary as Eastern
buyers, generally speaking, cannot or will
not take the time to come to California
and make purchases of various dried fruits
raisins or beans; therefore the middleman
is necessity.
The formation OF various exchanges at
different times particularly the mbined
exchanges in the Santa Clara Valley, has
of necessity compelled their recognition
as important factors in the handling of the
dried products of the State, and as such
| they cannot be ignored by commission mer-
chants or buyers.
The average farmer without doubt pos
sesses ability to the same degree in his
line as the average commission merchant
in his line, but the fact that the greater
! portion of the time is occupied in either
| preparing, pruning and gathering the
fruit for market or preparing the same for
drying, places him at a disadvantage when
the time arrives for marketing his product,
and therefore the trained and experienced
commission merchant, who devotes the
entire year not only to the situation in
California, but receives daily from all
principal markets, either by wire or mail,
advices as to the supply and demand for
all California products, is certainly in
far better position to market the products
OF the State than the grower who, of neces-
sity, during the season is compelled to
remain at home, and therefore we believe
the interests Of the grower and the State
at large are better served through an hon.
orable commission house, and commits
sions paid for such services are wisely
expended on the part of the grower and
the grower will obtain larger return for
his products than if be endeavors to
market them himself.
The idea without doubt in incorporating
the exchanges in the State was to ignore
the local commission merchants, and sell
the products delivered by the exchanges
either directly to the buyers or through
! Eastern commission merchants, but we
| believe that the experience generally has
been that the interests of the grower
would have been better served had they
com mission merchants.
| The legitimate commission merchant
or dealer who acts honestly and conscien-
| tiously on information received from all
markets, both Eastern and foreign. and
works in the interests of his constituents
in California, occupies position as secure
as that of the wholesale dealer.
Up to within the past two years the
| commission merchant or dealer in Califor-
mia was also to great extent speculator,
that is, he would buy from the grower and
endeavor to place East, and as a conse-
quence at the close of a season, say the
1st of December, he usually found himself
with heavy load of either dried fruits,
raisins or prunes, on which ne usually lost
money, and this condition of affairs re-
suited in general consignments to all East
ern markets without regard to the wants
of such markets, consequently the market
! that demanded one or two carloads of as
sorted fruit would receive from five to ten
carloads. This we think had been very
clearly shown in the manner of handling
the raisin business of this State. 1t has
| been to a certain extent natural conse-
quence, owing to the fact that up to within
four years the greater portion of the fruits,
raisins, etc., were marketed from Septem-
Der until December 1. The output, how
ever, is now so large that fair prices can
be obtained by distributing shipments
| throughout at least nine months of the
| year, or in other words, the growers must
of necessity hold at least so per cent of
their products until after the first of jan
| uary.
| The commission merchant has usually
received all the blame for improper dry
ing, improper grading and generally
loose manner of growing, picking and
boxing the fruits of the State whereas it
| is the grower on whom rests the blame for
large proportion of the reflections that
occur each season, and without doubt the
various exchanges have aided the growers
greatly by circulars and instructions as
| to how to prepare their fruits and to ship
more uniform grades both as to size,
color and general appearance, than in pre-
ceding years.
So far as honesty of purpose and general
desire to handle the products of the grow
ers of this State in an honorable and salts
| factory manner to all concerned, we
believe that the commission houses of
California will rank with those of other
sections of the United States. We also
believe that the experience of all commits
sion merchants, so far as inspections OF
fruits in this country are concerned, is
simply this. that it is generally speaking
unsafe to buy on growers samples, as
careful inspection many times leads to re-
| jections, and consequently the commission
merchant is blamed. If growers would
cease consigning under any circumstances
to Eastern markets, buyers there would
have increased confde nee, and the COM
| mission merchants certainly would be
cautious as to consignments, having be-
fore them past experiences, which usually
have been disastrous.
A SiIen> Cab Call.