The record-union., 1899-05-24

not be in too much of a hurry TO get oone
at home will readily devote day or IVY
to matter involving 81 or 81, but Wnen II
comes to diverting a day or two 70 even
an important meeting he is prone 10 coi'-
slider it quite extravagant.
Inc object of this meeting is TO devise
way to raise his income from = 10 ,IpsI PEI
cent. per annum on his invested capitalff
to 10 to Il per cent?. and matter oI
two or three days time is trivial ana
should be SO regarded. Matters as as it1- tn-
portant as these to be considered mere TO
day should receive our best thougnt, our
careful, deliberate and painstaking con.
sideration. They will not be settled rignt
unless they do receive such consldera-
tion
1t is fact that growers are too prone
to consider themselves "laborers. as ,an1- as
tinguished from Capitalists" and. to look
at matters from his point OF view. ~ IL
makes no difference whether ne owns ms ,,iu ~
acres, 49, 100 or l. 200 acres, he is capl-
talist' just to that extent and must CON
slider business matters from the stand
point MT Of capitalist dga II Ne Re woud st
Der to-day that we represent one hundred
to one hundred and fifty thousand IN
vested capital. Now we. in the fruit bust
ness in California are face to face with
very much demoralized conditions in our
business and have met to CONSIDER then.
one-a very large oneIone Wmca- vii wiz
require a broad, comprehensive and very
carefully planned remedy.
nently before this convention (the mat
ter of a competing refrigerator line is
merely incidentaD. One of these plans IS
Southern California Fruit Exchange,
which embraces a large majority OF the
orange growers of Southern California,
and which markets their products in com
petition with the remainder of the Cali
fornia growers with comparatively salts
factory results, inasmuch as the pack is
standard and uniform and the organiza-
tion can afford to hire capable agents to
do the selling, and inasmuch as FOR sew
n-ff !, hos hcslr n
competition from Florida. AS | under
stand the situation the grower does not
name any price he merely turns his fruit
| 1t can for him in the matter of marketing.
So far as l can learn, the exchange has
no permanent binding force on its mem
bers does not involve their property in
any way and is merely marketing ma
chine, which the first storm may dis
solve.
As an alternative proposition have ad-
vanced the idea of forming a straight
Fruit Trust along the lines followed in
similar ar cases by many y,, industries 1 through
| hensive enough to meet all requirements:
1t merits careful consideration and I
over the ground carefully in order to
| show wherein I think that my plan has
the advantage of others submitted and to
explain why I think that they are in
capable of meeting the emergency
! | also wish to have plenty of time to
hear and consider what the advocates of
so I hove that no one will expect to be
| done and expect to go home in two or
| three hours.
In the first place we find that through
unrestricted competition among the per-
| sons handling our fruit and from other
minor causes, prices have fallen below bel w a
know that the prices of all commodities
of which we use any considerable amount
very perceptibly. We know that this ad-
vance has in every case been caused by
the formation of an organization of
trust. We find that even the carriers of
our fruit have combined, to their gain and
| our loss, and that the canneries. from
whom last year we received most re-
with the very apparent purpose of killing
connection among themselves and of
being in position to avoid paying US
more than they absolutely have to during
Now n this s is e pa Paia rd Gf the be
the he remedy. # It pays Jays them to com
bine; if they can force prices up by COM
bining, why will it not be to our ad-
they have. in most cases, adopted uni
form plan why will not that plan. do in
our case as well? If a certain plan of
tition why will it not serve US as we'll?
Some oppose the idea on so called moral
gr0unq id the MorS If X9u YOU'D ab tbe
CURRENT Go against the current and
perish; We have to pay trust prices for
".
for what We have to sell there can be
but one result. You have the choice of
following your moral convictions in the
matter-which can be demonstrated to be
! erroneous-or of protecting your business
interests by organizing as other indus
tries have found it necessary to do,
| here in full force crying visionary"
'impractieablep and other things easy to
say but difficult to demonstrates: but moth
ing short of your vote as a convention
that the plan is impractical will make it
so.
The ideal mercantile concern of to-day
is one which handles its products from
the raw material through all transforma-
tions. and shipments to the retail trade:
dictates prices. Now no mere. exchange
can dictate prices. The Southern Cali
fornia Fruit Exchange does not do so: it
merely tells its agents to do the best they
can with it. The prices realized are ex-
| actlv in proper ion to the amount of COM
petition. outside of the exchange. and
which the exchange is utterly incapable of
killing.
A trust would kill competition, could
dictate prices and could raise them to the
! limit of the consuming ability of the
market, as other industries do, to the con-
siderable advantage of stockholders there
No. No. ona alu bf uf the ine cessio OF
could own canning and drying plants and
| could be otherwise prepared so that in
| the event of slumps in the green fruit
market the surplus could be otherwise dis
posed of. an arrangement which is i'm
practical to a mere exchange or mere
marketing machine of any kind
In other words, a trust could get all
| there is in the business, which no other
organization, unless it be "Eari-Porter'
Gains to do. By means of a trust the
influence of the vast amount of invested
capital in this State could be exerted as
qnt Ho now nin 1t vos,r Is fatp elnp OF on sand
change that mortgage will still hang on
your land and may continue to hang there
@ part e Of trust the trn9t wi take
care. of your. mortgage and your wife and
children will not have to take in wash
time is your own; spend it how and where
you please. If you wish to increase your
income work for the corporation, your
skill and experience will bring good re-
turns. An ernploye of a concern in which
he is stockholder is on a different foot
ing from the employe who is not stock
holder. Your bright young son will then
have an avenue of employment open to
him. Now he can choose between stay
some concern in which he is not a stock
holder.
In almost every fruit shipping town in
the State there still remain one or more
small shippers so-called. A trust would
absorb these, with their assets and LA
bilities and adjust the matter with fair
ness to all concerned.
An exchange will merely become their
competitors, and most dangerous one.
and the result will probably be that they
| will be forced out of business at a loss
Now these houses have stood by you,
have bought your fruit outright and have
| at great expense often found a market
the commission houses. Are you pre-
pared to consign them to oblivion with
out offering them something in return
Further, how are you going to pay them
what they have advanced you on this
years r crop2 Ca Can an exchange" assume
your obligations or furnish money enough
This brings us to the matter of crop
mortgages held by Earl and Porter All