The herald., 1896-04-30
MARKETS OF THE WORLD
Local, Eastern and Foreign
Commercial Dealings
WALL STREET SPECULATION
The Marketing Of California Fruit Intel-
ligently Discussed
What New England AIons Would Consume If
ths Inrfs-- Were Opened-Dun's Re-
view O. Trade-Local Markets

Fruit production is easily the most i'm
portent iudu -try to the state OF Cal1for-
MA. The only unsolved problem in this
Connection is the marketing or the
crops The Bakersfield Echo recently
published Bn interview with W. r. Nut
ting, who lent all last winter in New
England tketing California products
and many nt the gentlemanS S views are
valuable The following items arc
glsstred frutn the interview
within radius from Boston less
than mat Of Red Bluff, Truckee and
Fresno from San Francisco, live nearly
1--WE million people who are greater con-
suimers of fresh fruits than any equal
I4pullticl or territory elsewhere in the
snited states, and who may be
~ ada also the largest consumers
0f our dried, canned, preserved
atrd glass fruits. nuts, olives
ah hnd raisius They are also among the
most friendly to California of any part
oft the country. having many invest
WRents ana other interests in this state
alhd no n interest.
3'lf true Us stated lately. that the av-
eIcage cQusumption of coffee is nine
pIounds pur capita, it cannot be disputed
tAhat these five million intelligent and
ecHonom.cal New England people can be
rnNAde 20 at at least nine pounds per
CaEnita OF our prunes, for instance,
EIRencver hey learn to realize the true
Ya%ue Of prunes for food, for health and
foJ% economy. The nine pounds of cof-
fe@L per oita costs at retail about SO;
rJ4lt nine Wounds of pruneS at present
eafT stern re tail prices cost only from So
cei~nts to S1.35 And nine pounds per
b Mao would have taken the whole prune
s&;pp 81 California last year, just for
1 b. ssW Fms lnd-leaving none for the rest
M sftsne country!
" 3eome thing must be done to increase
NJ Mfslnption and demand, to increase
S TO the middlemen. so they will
= Szz&aian interest in pushing the goods,
E RE- Sc retail prices where they are
apW instead of further decreasing
~. and by these means to increase
= slumrton and profits to the growers.
si3Ler california do what all manufac-
sSn. ers ~ grocery specialtieS do in these
3NHsl&s ys-push her goods among her GUS
s}tomers and I venture to say abundant
NN,g ,dence can be found to prove that the
l548h assumption can be increased, not 'dou-
lgfH#h, or five times or n-fold.' as var
rsT9sus speakers stated at San Jose, but
a hundred times.
Perhaps 1t is not generally known
here in California that there are in New
England 5000 retail grocers. This means
5000 Cor, at an average of two in each
store, 16,000l statesmen interested to talk
up our goods to housekeepers whenever
we can make it pay better for their time
TO push our goods instead of the thou
sand other specialties crowding their
shelves.
'The average grocer supplies about
100 families, and for any amount of bus
mess or profit now in sight it simply
does not pay him to SPEND time inter-
esting these 100 families to consume
more of our fruit. for at present the av-
erage sales per family per year are en-
tirely too small"
More recently at the annual meeting
of the state board of trade in San Fran
cisco Mr.. Nutting, who lives at Berke-
ley, said:
Eleven years ago advocated in the
press organized efforts by fruit growers
toward reducing the eXorbitant retail
prices Of our fruits in the east, and per-
haps should do SO STILL if writing on the
subject Of fresh fruits I have been
convinced, however that the retail
price of our dried fruits and raisins, at
least, are not now high enough to mater
tally hinder their consumption, and can
not be reduced until such a demand is
created that every separate grocer can
sell much larger quantity than at
present"
Now, if these remarks applied exclu-
sively to one city, be extended so as to
embrace all large centers of distribu-
tion in the country, what a vista of en-
terprise is opened UP!
r. G. DUNN AGENCY'S REPORT
Wholesale business continues quiet,
and there is general complaint Of the
slowness of collections.
Carnival season, while it brought
large influx of visitors, did not greatly
stimulate retail trade. Merchants.
however, feel that the advertisement of
the city incident to Fiesta pays even
though the immediate benefit to trade
was not SO great as anticipated.
Business in all lines shows shrink
age compared with corresponding time
last year.
Building operations are not so active
nd &c faI
demand for lumber and building SUD-
plies.
Banks report deposits keeping we'll
up and fair demand for money
Failures for the month. II; liabilities,
$7S,500; nominal assets, $4,000.