The record-union., 1895-03-09
SHIPMENT OF FRUITS.
True Policy for Advertising Cali
fOrnia'S Advantages.
Detailed Statement Of Cost and Facili-
ties for Transportation.
Reply Of the Southern Pacific Company TO the
Fruit-GrOwers' Committee Denial
Of Responsibility for Losses
TO Shippers.

The Committee on Transportation ap-
pointed at the late Convention Of Fruit
Growers to.confer with the officials of the
Southern Pacific Company, held the con-
ference on the Goth of February, and as q
result letter was submitted containing
seven propositions or inquiries, or re-
quests
To these J. G. Stubbs, for the Southern
Pacific Company, has made reply in de-
tail, and this reply is printed herewith
and is as follows:
SAN Francisco, March 7, 1895.
MeSSTS. Frank II. Buck, VdcGUiGEe; d.
Z. FoaoLer, Fresno; II. p. tSt06Ler, Yu6G
WGHOm, Yuba city; George d. Kellogg.
Newcastle; II. WeiaStock, Sacramento,
Conlnltttee on Transportation, Fruit
GrO1CerS IN State Convention, at tSdcra-
nte7ItO, NoUeH16eT 20, S94-GENTLEMEN /:
The communication of date February 20,
1895, which was presented by you and
read to the officers OF this company, and
afterwards published in the morning
papers, has had most earnest considera-
ton.
We are constrained to think that the
publication OF your statements, which
We're prepared for and submitted at the
conference, was unwise and more likely
to retard than promote the prosperity Of
tie J3'alt-grOlCeT, the transportation inter
eStS and The State. You will no doubt re-
call that the discussion following the
reading OF your paper drew out informa-
ton, which, by the acknowledgment of
at least some members of your commit
tee, put different aspect upon some of
It's statements.
without commenting upon what might
be regarded as unusual and inconsiderate
IN the publication, pending its considera-
ton, OF an eX parte statement which was
addressed and submitted to one whose
interest in the general question treated
OF stands confessed by the document it.
self as quite as great as the interest of
those represented by the authors of the
document, unaccompanied by the modi-
he'd explanations made during its discus
sion, may we not suggest without offense
for there is no offense intended) that it is
scarcely calculated TO promote the future
2ceJdTe Of the fruit grOIOeTS, tie State and
the carrier TO scatter throughout the
length and breadth of this continent state
meuts unaccompanied by more evidence
Lnan your paper presents, to the effect
that what is fast becoming, if not already
Is, the paramount industry of California.
is IN depLOrG6Le condition. that crisis
has been reached, q crisis aCbich threatens
me JutatTe t0eLTdre Of the State, the fruit
gTOaCeTS and the carriers.
For aught 10 the contrary contained
therein, the paper of your committee
when read by the shivering farmer in the
Eastern States will picture the cast army
Of JTattt-grO1CeTS IN this State as on the
GeTge Of financial rain, and Will bring to
him the first glow OF content since he
mournfully viewed the returns for his
wheat, marketed at from 424 to so cents a
busheI, and found that the gross product
OF his years labor ranges from So to $40
per acre cultivated. Is 1t not certain that
he will at once dismiss all thoughts of re-
moYaI to California for the purpose of
betterlng his condition? Has the State
been benefited and the interests of the
frult-growers been promoted or injured
by the dissemination through the press
o. such statements? Is IL not time for
Calitornians TO cease belittling their State
and Its resources? II a little elouuence
was regarded necessary in presenting the
statements submitted by the committee
TO the railroad company as facts, was it
necessary or wise TO publish it so that il
might go TO the uninformed with its ex-
aggeratlng influence wholly unqualified
Upon what are these woful conditions
and dlscouraglng apprehensions founded?
Simply the experience of shippers of
1rult 10 the Eastern States during 1898 and
1874. The previous years of unexampIed
prosperity and, in many instances
extraordinary profits to the fruit-growers
OF California are utterly ignored, and the
future Is measured by the experience of
the last two years, which were years of
unprecedented financial and commercial
depression throughout the country, when
armies of men were without work and
scarcely knew where to look for bread.
and during which every employer was
under the utmost strain of economy the
pressure being so great that even men
commonly regarded as in good circum-
stances carried their economical meas
ures into their personal habits, doing for