The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1908-12-16

hundred miles away tell us they
rarely get good peaches and never
at low price. Why? One reason
was the indefensible increase of
thirty per cent in express rates. but
the main reason was our helter-skel-
ter system of consigning The fancy
grocer in Spokane dared not pay me
fifty cents for box OF fancy Elbertas
because he was afraid the Snake riv-
er peach growers and the Wenatchee
peach growers might consign several
cars to Spokane and the commission
men sell the peaches for thirty cents.
For the same reason. the dealer in
Missoula is afraid to buy. and the
dealers everywhere are afraid to buy
and they won't buy and cant afford
to buy except on very wide margins.
The result is the home buyers, to
take the big chances, must have a
big margin. And the retailers have
to have big margins There is no
confidence and no certainty any
where. simply because of indiscrim-
mate and unregular consignments.
Meantime the consumer waits--the
retail grocer hesitates-the fruit
buyer sweats blood-and the peaches
ripen and rot-and the grower gets
1t In the Red
Now. you can't remedy this by
condeming the commission men or
passing the laws to make him good
1t won't get YOU good roads. You
must plan ahead. Stop consigning;
arrange to distribute your perishable
fruits month ahead. Let the As
ISOLATION work together jointly, hir-
ing brokers in large markets. arrang-
ing joint accounts in smaller mar
kets and travelling men in distant
markets. Let the shippers work to-
gether and do the same thing. In
any event, make preparations ahead.
1t is too late to distribute peaches
after they get ripe. I believe a COM
mittee should be appointed to try
to get the different valleys of the
state to work together, and evolve
wise system of distribution.
The OrcharIists on Local Option.
Physicians tell us that fruits of
perfect flavor and ripeness are the
greatest preventatives of disease.
Scientists and economists are telling
us that the plentiful use of fruit
tends to prevent and cure the drink
habit.
Grapes the Future of Columbia River
Lands.
The increased use of unfermented
grape juice, now imported into our
state by many carloads annually,
together with the probable prohibit
ton of liquor drinking in many To-
calities, suggests a great future for
the warm lands along the Columbia
and our lower valleys where grapes
grow to rival the vineyards of
France.
But whether or not the plentiful
use of fruit tends to solve the drink
problem. certain il is that the or
chardists of Washington should take
no uncertain stand on the Invest
question in Washington today, THE
Drink Problem Our state through
Turn the Drink Money to Better
Roads.
Before another annual meeting
your votes in several localities will
have decided whether your commun-
ity will stop the waste of manhood
and money now sapping our society
Who are more interested than We
who pay heavy taxes, in cutting
down expenses of courts and juries
and iails whose chief business is
mending the breaks caused by strong
drink. Stop the drink waste for two
years and turn the money saved
thereby to building better roads and
electric roads, and country people in
every orchard community will be in
touch with the elevating tendencies
of the city. while enjoying the great
er advantages of country life.
In closing. let me correct the false
impression among our eastern
friends and false idea among some
of our orchardists. The idea pre-
walls that we orchardists out here in
Washington are select crowd, grow
ing few hand-painted apples for
We don't count for much as workers
for the common good | want this
convention and this National Apple
Show to tell the world in convincing
tones that We grow the best apples
that we grow more apples to the acre
and that We are going TO grow the
best apples and plenty of them for
the millions as we'll as for the mil
lionaires. Ere another decade rolls
around ten thousand carloads of
fancy Washington apples will an
nually roll through Spokane, the
gateway to the greatest home mar
kets of the world. Washington ap-
Piles are not to be a luxury for the
rich. We can grow them more cheap
~ than any other state
Washington Apples and Peaches in
Every American Home.
l hope to see the day when every
acre suitable for orcharding on the
thousand hills in our irrigated belt
will produce carload of fancy fruit
each year, and that the railroads
will transDort this fruit ranidly and