The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1907-07-26
FAMINE PRICES
IN SEATTLE.
Seattle Commission Charged With
Maintaining Combination to
Rob Growers.

1.-The farmers of Orcas, Vashon,
San Juan and other islands in the
Sound have no hesitation in declar-
ing there is combine among the
commission men on Western avenue
in Seattle to keep up high prices,
and furthermore they have been adj
vised by certain firms there is no use
in shipping fruit to this market on
account of Overstocking, when the
fruit they are advised to keep and
lose sales on is selling for famine
prices in the city of Seattle today"
This is the statement of j. c. AL
len, a well-known attorney, who re-
Gently returned from trip through
the islands of the Sound, where he
talked with the farmers regarding
present prices in the local market.
Allen said:
ITO give specific instances and
reliable farmers will give weight to
what | have said: George Wright of
Orcas Island, complaining bitterly of
losing most of his crop of cherries
most of his crop of cherries, told
me he read letter sent to a neigh
Dor from a commission house on
Western avenue saying that it would
be useless for him to ship more
of his cherries to Seattle, as the mar
ket was overstocked. This in face of
the fact that only the day before
left Seattle cherries were selling for
25 to So cents pound in First ave
nue. stores for the best grades. and
even cooking cherries could not be
bought for less than ID to 20 cents.
Rotting on Trees
James Tullock, well-known
farmer, who has one of the largest
farms on Orcas Island. has thousands
of boxes of Royal Anne cherries rot
ting on the trees because he cannot
Western avenue more than cents a
pound He told me he had been COM
PEELED to stop shipping fruit because
he could not obtain decent price
from the, commission men in Seattle,
and the other nearest market was in
Bellingham where the demand was
so small that he could not make
anything off his crop. He didn't
hesitate to state he thought the COM
mission men in Seattle We're keeping
Tie market down in orHef to keep
the prices up, and called my attention
to the great difference between the
price he was offered for his cherries
and the one the consumer is compell-
ed to pay in Seattle as proof of a
combined attempt to maintain ab1or-
NAL prices to the consumer.
During my trips through other
islands the farmers all talked in the
same way and complained they could
not obtain living prices for fruits
that were selling at the highest
prices for years in Seattle. l will
guarantee, although prices on cher
ries today are between 20 and 80
cents a pound for the best varieties,
| can take boat to Orcas Isla<d ,and
have here loaded full of the best
grades of Royal Annes and other
grades at cents pound, picked.
Grated and ready for market. This
is only few hours from Seattle,
and the difference in freight is so
small there is nothing to explain the
startling difference in price at the
Island and the tariff prevailing in
Seattle.
Il notice at last Mondays meeting
of the Merchants Protective assOcia-
ton, J. B. POwles, Western avenue
commission man, characterized as a
falsehood all statements made regard
ing the alleged i'll treatment of FARM
city, and offered to pay heIexpense
of commissioner to VashOn or We
natchee or any other place where
product is raised if such commits
sioner could find evidence the farm
ers had been receiving such treat
ment and did not bring back re-
port favorable to the commission
men.
I'm this connection l want to say
if the chamber of commerce of any
other commercial body will send such
a commissioner to Orcas Island and
other places and investigate condi-
lions l will gladly pay the expenses
of such a commissioner if he does
not come back loaded with evidence
that the farmers are being treated