The record-union., 1897-11-24
ORCHARDTSTS AND ORGANIZA-
TION.

The Fruit Growers in their recent con-
ization upon lines intended to further
horticultural interests. This testifies to
the conviction that present conditions
are unsatisfactory, and that the need
for closer and more harmonious rela-
tions among the growers is pressing.
On the one hand there is evident
desire to cut loose from the dealing
with great fruit shipping agencies and
substitute cooperative effort; on the
other is demand for greater conces-
sions from these agencies and stricter
accountability for the handling of or
chard products and Improvement in the
methods of distribution. 1t is held that
no matter what the results of fruit
growing, the handlers of the fruits get
their profit, and when it cannot be
made out of the consumer it is taken
out of the producer. This is natural,
however, and probably no reform in
that direction viii be attained that will
make the shippers share the risks
equally with producers, though some
beneficial notifications of the present
system. both of distribution and of
sales, ray be secured.
In the convention there was manifest
in some degree, happily not large, a
feeling of hopelessness and a DISPOSE
ton to give over trying, but the spirit
favoring better organization prevailed.
and it is looked forward to as indicat-
ing eventual success. Because in some
small sections cooperative methods
had been fairly successful, it is argued
that upon a larger scale it can be made
far more beneficial for the orchardists.
Among several reasons advanced by
the San Jose Mercury in support of
its contention that the Grand Jury sys-
tenn should be abolished, and some of
which are strong and forcible, it is set
out that for one thing the Grand Jury
is .'the home of the moral coward" and
therefore that is a good reason for it's
abolition. That is too sweeping. There
are two sides to the question and they
should be examined with a great deal
of deliberation. 1t will effect moth
ing to indulge in mere denunciation in
considering such a radical change as
the abolition of the Grand Jury sys-
tenn. However, the purpose of our
present expression is to say that by no
means is the Grand Jury necessarily
the home of the moral coward. Any
place and anything may be the home
of the moral coward He may and
does take refuge in some of the most
benefcent Institutions of civilization:
he skulks behind the skirts of some of
the noblest movements of mankind. He
may and unquestionably does use the
Grand Jury as a means to his mean
ends; but that is not because the Grand
jury system is error, nor Is it reason
for the abolition Of the Grand Jury.
We might just as we'll cry out for the
abandonment of the courts, the sys-
tenn of evidence, the means for ascer-
talnment of truth, since moral cow
ardfce avails of all of these No; the
reasons to be advanced for abolition Of
the Grand Jury are advanced by their
friends and advocates upon a higher
plane. They must be economic rea-
sons for one thing: in promotion OF JUS
tice for another; for the swifter pun
ishment of crime for another because
officials may be made more diligent in
duty doing for another, and so on. We
are not now passing upon the ques-
ton itself, only indicating how, if at
all, it should be argued. We are not
as yet settled in mind whether the sys-
tenn should give way for some other
If wisdom directs that there shall be
substitution for the jury, it must be
reached after calm study and cool de-
liberation of the subject, and the very
least of reasons that should move the
citizen examining into the question, is
that moral towards may or do use the
Grand Jury.
We congratulate our contemporary