Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-27
Plaimt Against ePrune

/ neTs
Students of an academy in her aristo-
cratic Morgan Park have "stalked out"
not at the request Of some grating
walking delegate. because non-union
coal was delivered there; not because
the books they study do not bear the
union label; not for shorter hours,
longer recess dislike Of teachers or
restrictions Of their amusements. NO.
for none Of these, TO Chicago, legitimate
causes.
But simply because the wise and
good administrators Of this select aca-
denny have seen fit to place upon the
menu at several and sundry meals
that choice product Of the fertile soil,
grand climate and golden sunshine Of
California, the humble, much-maligned,
often abused but nutritious, delicate
and inexpensive prune.
The story sent out hot over the tele-
graph wires, to set a state a throbbing,
Is that these benighted sons and daugh-
ters of darkest Chicago have struck,
quit study, forsaken books and black
boards and rule of three because, for
sooth, "of the large part prunes have
played in the bill of fare"
OF the strike in Chicago, per Sc, Cali
fornia cares little. so frequent, so con-
tinuous, are these eruptions of that
small proportion Of labor yclept "or-
ganized." that the world at large
~
nounced in truth that a state of in
dustrial peace and quietude existed for
even one day In the lake metropolis.
In fact, so usual and commonplace are
the strike and the lockout there that
no one pays much attention to either,
save the walking delegate who orders
1t, the men who blindly throw up good
Jobs at his behest and the innocent
bystanders" who are hit by the brick
bats or bullets of the smuggling
squads" No one pretends to say why
the strikes come, what they are for,
or when they will end; they are ac-
cepted as a legitimate, expected por-
ton of life in that windy town, and
the place would lose a large part of its
prominence in the public prints were
the labor wars to fade away.
But when the prune is involved-ah.
that's another matter. That brings
even a Chicago strike home to us, as
throbbing problem Of our everyday
life. That makes Of a Chicago up
heaval a California concern. That bids
us awake to the threatened evil about
to attack our own fair state and its
most widely known product. And at
once it behooveth us to "sit up and
take notice" lest, in the boldness OF
this act, success be achieved by de-
fault, and in a general revolt of vic
Tins of boarding houses and boarding
schools against the prune as the stapla
ornament of their menus, our industry
be damaged, our exports be restricted
and a fruit we have so long boosted
| and doomed, in season and out, by fair
rammed down the throats of the great
army of the boarding, willy-nilly-be
discredited and decried.
But why this strike against the
prune? Is it not luscious fruit-juicy
with juice like unto honeyed molas-
ses, thick and amber and purple? Is
it not a filling fruit, capable of bulgins
out the empty hollows of ones 'in-
nards," in time Of need? Is 1t not Il
reliable article Of commerce, to be de-
pended upon at all times, neither spoil
ing nor shriveling with age? Is 1t not,
above all, economical, in that pint,
duly and properly treated with hot
water, will if only allowed to swell
long enough soon fill hogshead? And
is it not cheap, wthal, in that few
at small cost, go a long ways?
Truly, all these things are true. No
one may gainsay them.
Then why knock the prune, and go
on strike against It? Why sneer when
1t is mentioned, and elevate the tip of
ones nose, and sniff contemptuousy?
Aye, why? All California sits with
bated breath and ponders on the query.
For, be it known, California furnishes
the pruTeS IOT lHe WOTld' ue CliolCSot
prunes that France (supposedly) ex-
ports, are grown right here sin our
midst" Every boarding house land
lady in the country pays tribute to
California every day of her career, as
she buys her pint of prunes for the
dinners desert. Every academy and
prison and summer resort hotel
breathes thanks to California diurnally
for this great blessing. And every soul
in this broad land who of evenings as
sures himself that he is full of prunes"
rises up and calls California blessed.
California made the prune, and made
It known to the country. BY the finest
line of advertising work ever at
tempted, magazines, newspapers, bill
boards, every known means of pub
licity freely and without cost pro-
claimed the delights of prunes, the
methods of preparing them, their ex-
cellence as a diet, their healthfulness
and their nutritious qualities. Even 40