The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-07-15
Commission Men Agents of Grower.
Continued from Page Two.)

ahead of us in our. seasons.
Would state that there is no line
of business that would be more bene-
flied by the public market than the
commission merchants. Upon this
question, we would be pleased to go
into the details with you at any time.
We have already explained to the
commercial club committee that they
can depend upon our hearty support
in the proposed establishment of the
market. Respectfully yours,
J. B. POWLES.
To a representative of The Ranch,
Mr.. Powles also made the following
very positive statement:
81 will acknowledge this much, that
as commission men we are the rep
resentatives of the grower and not
of the consumer. The newspapers
seem to overlook this. We are first
of all commissioned by the grower to
sell his produce. We are not commits
stoned by the consumer to buy pro-
duce for him. Therefore we must
take care, first of all, of our clients.
That is only the ethics of business.
What the newspapers have charged,
that the consumer has to pay higher
price this year for his fruit and berries
than he did in previous years, is true.
But that is not a condition which we
are responsible for. We have nothing
to do with it. In previous seasons
the residue of the days business, the
softer fruits that would not last over,
were sold to the peddler at a very
reasonable price. That was because
the peddler was then the only buyer,
and we had to protect the grower so
that he would get something for what
remained of his fruit unsold during
the regular course of the days bust
ness. The peddler, consequently, was
able to peddle this fruit and sell it at
very reasonable prices, and the con-
sumner received fruit at cheaper pri-
ceS.
Nov, however, the peddler is not
the only market we have for this
residue produce. The fruit and vege-
table canneries have become factors
in the business, and take all of this
sort of produce from us that they
can get, at price higher than the
peddler is able to pay For instance,
if the Pacific Coast Syrup Co. should
come to us this morning and make us
an offer of $175 per box for all the
cherries we have left over this eve
ming, we cannot, in justice to our
clients, the growers, sell any cherries
during the day any cheaper than that.
If we can't get any more than SITS
per box from the retailer or the ped
der, we are forced to hold that fruit
for the Pacific Coast Syrup Co., in
justice to our clients. We must sell
to the highest bidder, and the fact
that someone can bid such a price for
the fruit is to blame for the high
price the consumer has to pay, and
not any arbitrary action of ours That
is the situation in regard to fruits.
"Then there are other situations
which must be taken into considera-
ton in judging the cause of high pri-
ces. Take potatoes, for instance. The
potato situation during the last few
months has been an extremely ag-
gravating one. AS most people know,
the potato crop in the Yakima valley
last year was virtually failure Hun
dreds of acres of potatoes planted
last spring were never even dug from
the ground last fall. AS a result, we
were forced to draw heavily upon our
White river stock to supply the i'm
mediate demand of the consumers,
and thus exhausted the supply that
is usually held over for the winter
and spring market. When the winter
and spring came on, we had to rely
on the Minnesota and Wisconsin po-
tato grower for supply. A few
spectators back in those states, fore
seeing this condition, bought up all
the potatoes they could get their
hands on, and we were compelled to
pay them their price or have no po-
tatoes for the markets, as the Cali