The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-02-16
REVOLUTION IN HANDLING
PRODUCE ON EASTERN SHORE
Produce Association Does Big Business After
One Years Work.
poRTEND FUTURE SUCCESS.
EXPERIMENTS
The Opposition Which Seemed in League Against
II Broken Down-NoW Able to Keep in Touch
With The Markets and Keep Up Prices.

The Times has recently published scr-
e... articles on The subject of The Eastern
shore Produce Association. which BIDS
fair 10 -1vo1utionszc the handing and
unarSss.ts.r OF The enormous amount Oh
trucks, and fruit raised IN uiat sec
ton.
M-. a J. McMoth. the secretary ana
treasurer of the ASSOCIATION. III d ic..'t
in response 10 inquiries maze ps ~.
Times correspondent at Cape Char'>s.
1,,rnSsbes, the following Interesting facts:
A STEP IN THE DARK.
3,y,en we first started this movement
we had not had any experience aioiis
his line. and il was somewhat OF q
s,er, In the dark. eW are glad. however
-hat the plan sfidl We formulated mas
$40 nearly met The Tcduissineii1s Va ...S
business. but we now find. after an eH-
,,,rIenre Of one year. that there are some
5,p,,o,.tant changes which are necessary
10 make in our original plans uial VIC Iiias
fuily meet the large requirements Oh an
organization doin: such 4 large volume "
business. ,,o;;,
During the past year we have hana'eu
.to1,, e.eoo packages of goods dong a
business amounting TO a hall-m'iaon u'i-
lars.
when we first started This Increment
.3lat we no, only had strong opposition
ri home among the local buyers along
TIC r.,ilroad line and at the faHaotS
wharfs, but this opposition also eNte'ineu
90 the commission merchants III ttae va
go,,s cttias who had heretofore handled
these. goods. and II seems mat Tue pus eis
~ ron-l,o,It the country were somewhat
II, fnljaagut. with these various local 1ne'f,
AZ under the old system the Whole iaea
seemed to have been 10 get the prices On
potatocs down TO the lowest pcasiDiS
figure ,o.,,
N was 10 the interest of these local
10y, 20 get the prices dawn. f:cm the
49, -,,a+ III. most of them @ere wcrl:iaS
az, a limited capital and following the1I
,,I.ns of irving 10 make 10 Cs,.fS j'er par
a., on goods that they handed, II Iiie
7,rfces were low they could hahdie
rezit many more goods than If the prices
= ere high, therefore make ffluch '''0'o
money. ,oc
,JTI.TJNfI EACH OTHERS THROAS-
The chief complaint that We had against
treIu was uraI they had no ORGANIZE
sinn, and they were not only hghEnS tue
interest of our farmers. but they were
.ryaug to fight each other ana by con-
tttrtiy cutting the prices. one under
another to draw The trade away IRON
lh.!r competitors ut the otics points.
tr,lder an organization sich as me
p-odiIca Exchange ard with = centf2i
bead and telephone communication Win
.aSa, point we not only are u. posi-
ton 10 hold the prices iut we kho"
each dav just what goods are offered lol
.hipnent. and If wc see any one inarhet
- eoi,r IN get more goods than they
can, properly handle, we are n 4 fos'tioii
ia emf ont the ship1neT;s from the mai
ket and turn thegn 10 oteieH, markets ihat
ar. open, and in this way reheVlhE the
-,,.,rfsets from becoming DverStockeo we
can hold the prices.
baltimore, New York and BOSTON are
{ehe, great distributing points icr our
,,o,,5s- ,rown on the Eastern Shore OF Viz
giI!a, and wl-n these markets ma
more goods placed upon item than the"
can judiciouSly handle. the prices 80
down and of course, the western hnEers
lower their offers in sympathy with these
ma rketS.
ORGANIZATION GROWS
The most Of the la"ge sfipnc..i anu
can say the best element u cur 1arfEcrs
IN tbs. two countries. have become mem
her and patrons CT this organization.
We were operating last year az apout
1lirty-fuur points. We lave recently OF
Eaniged strong points at Maci,'iI"liSo ana
Eastyile Virginia. and N 4 lew Gays We
hepe o arrange 10 iiaNe meetlasS d hei
tton and Cape Chacies. :;nt hen we nave
finished with those two points we have
covered the whole territory fran ne"
Church to Cape Charles 'nctndinE Inc
various wharts on The baSside
With our experience, gained from 1he
mas. wear we feel that we are in a posi-
ton This year to do our farmers much
more good than we could possibly 90
nvhea We first started out we started
out in 1890 without a purchaser upon our
books We have NOW about l2a CUSTOMERS
and will be in a position this year 10 pay
more attention to soliciting new CUSTOM
ers. and we hope that we Will gei SUM SUM
cie,n trade this year to take all OF our
;,o1atoes as they are offered from time
ITO time without having io-place any on
the markets on consignment
COULD PAY A DIVIDEND.
am glad to say that afteIS paying all
EXPENSES for organizing and necessary
furniture and equipments, consisting Oh
Telephones and other things. that II our
business was closed to-day we coulu
pay the stockholders a dividend Oh ABOUT
30 pea. cent. on their investment on are
no doubt familiar with the fact that po-
tattoo during the past season. from some
cause did not carry well, and we had
many losses from rotten potatoes TO pay,
which NC do not anticipate will trouble
us very often in the future
Our Board of Directors have decided this
year to handle All classes of farm pro
ducts, and when we so into the berry bus
mess we shall expect Your company to
give us refrigerator service This has
not been done in the past, and my expert
ence leads me TO say that We have suffer-
ed along this line.
W., have in the past suffered from the
fac. that we had but a small capital
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