The San Francisco call., 1904-09-21
STATE LOSES
OPPORTUNITY
Fruit-GrOWers Overlook the
Chance to Advertise Cali
fornia Product at the Fair
MEAGER DISTRIBUTION
Yield of Native Orchards Is
MEAGER DISTRIBUTION
Yield of Native Orchards Is
Represented by Purchases
Made in st. Louis Markets
BY PAUL EDWARDS.

CALL BUREAU, PRESS BUILD
ING, WORLDS FAIR, Sept. 2O.-For
$4,000 or less California could have
made distribution Of fruit at the ST.
Louis exposition that would have been
not only the talk of the fair, but of
the globe and would have done the
fruit industry in California thousands
of dollars worth of good in an adver-
tising way In place OF this there was,
as already reported In The Call,
rather meager distribution of fruits
that didn't create much Of a ripple of
excitement on the fair grounds, nor
cause the Eastern and foreign visitors
to feel convinced that California or
chards were cornucopias pouring out
luscious wealth in unlimited quanti-
ties
To sum the whole situation up,
the fruit showing made on Admission
day Will hardly sell any orchard land
in California or advance the consump-
ton or prices Of dried orchard pro-
ducts.
Lloyd Childs, who purchased the
$40 worth of fruit that the State
commission invested in to piece OUT
says the task he was chosen to car
ry out was one Of the strangest of his
career. The idea of buying fruit in a
distant State for the use of Califor-
MIA at an exposition outside that State,
was such a strange experience to him
that he almost overlooked some bar
gains when he went down to the big
market on Third street, near the river.
The buying of this fruit is perhaps one
of the strangest things that has hap
pened in the exposition history of the
Golden State Childs declares that he
bought only California goods, but some
of his fellow commissioners in the
counties displays are suspicious that
there were some Missouri peaches and
Kansas pears in the lot, and if this is
found to be true he will be tried by
the county organization for treason.
The fact that California bought fruit
for her State day in the st. Louis mar
ket was kindly overlooked by the press
of the exposition city. 1t was good
thing that the fact that the greatest
fruit raising State in the Union had not
not made prominent, FOR 1t would have
created an impression that California's
fruit was mostly in the jars at the fair.
Somebody is to blame for the oppor-
tunity California has lost to again i'm
press upon the world the marvellous
scope of her fruit industry. The COM
mission says it could not afford to
spend the money needed to make a
proper fruit showing. 1t seems as If
there should be some way by which
the Golfers of the great commonwealth
of California could be made to yield up
$4,000 for such an important cause. The
for not contributing fruit. 1t seems as
if the necessary quantity could have
been obtained If proper efforts had
been made to get it. If the growers
were reluctant to contribute fruit there
is some reason for it other than lack
of liberality. With all the fruit pro-
duced in California it doesn't look rea-
sonable that enough couldn't have been
obtained to give the State creditable
representation at the exposition. Maybe
some of the growers could explain why
there is such an apathy in the matter
of donating fruit for exhibit purposes.
The actual supply of California de-
ciduous fruit, aside from apples, In the
day consisted of few plates of pears,
plums and peaches and six plates of
grapes, the latter from Los Angeles
County. Some of this fruit was not
above the average.