The newspaper., 1910-02-11
CONTINUED from page onel

ing what has been already sold with our
estimates of the value under present
market conditions of the portion still
unsold; and the prices shown for apples,
therefore, must not be understood as
final We have made what we feel are
conservative estimates and hope to have
something of interest to report about
the first of June.
will leave the discussion of the past
seasons market history TO Mr.. Garvin,
who no doubt has some interesting facts
for your consideration.
The prices realized for early fruits, in
view of past experience with that class
of stock, were highly satisfactory, al
though lower than year ago. Com
ment is unnecessary: our growers are
all aware that early sorts are not grown
in sufficient volume to ship to advantage
and the bulk of our offerings comes
from what might be called the family"
section of the orchard-a few trees of
each kind set out for home consumption,
the surplus yield of which is turned over
to our care.
1t is well known that the apricots and
sweet cherries produced in this Valley
excel in quality and appearance, and
when the quantity permits of carlot
shipments we confidently expect to
make much better showing for the
growers of these fruits.
Concerning the quality of the fruit
handled by this Association | will state
that some improvement was shown over
the proceeding two or three years.
Yet there is still room for progress in
this direction, and trust the discussion
will bring out some profitable thoughts.
TRANSPORTATION: Although we
had every assurance that Equipment
and service would amply care for onr
business, the car situation became SER
ious before the peaches were all shipped
and continued most deplorably bad. 1t
will be remembered that in 1907 we had
unusual trouble securing enough cars to
handle the small business we had, and
this delay, causine some of our sales to
CduCtlltd VII dCCOdil VI thN
panic, cost US heavily.
Excepting for the larger quantity
shipped in 1909, conditions were quite
parallel; stock sold f. o. b. could not be
moved promptly and it was impossible
to make further sales intelligently since
we were unable to specify shipping
dates. On this account our Sales Man
ager worked under serious disadvan-
tage. l may add that no person con-
nected with the shipping business in
any part of the western slope had as
great part in effectively relieving the
situation as did Mr.. Garvin; and at his
suggestion when it became apparent
that no attempt was being made to
move the apples, meeting of all Delta
County shippers was held at the county
seat and uniform methods of dealing
with the carriers were adopted. This
resulted later in the incorporation of the
United Shippers Association of Delta
County, working through which we
hope not only to secure redress for the
losses sustained last year but to obtain
bettes service in the future. All claims
are being diligently followed up, but it
is too early to report any results.
LABOR:-The organization OF n
force such as we require during the
packing season demands a great
deal of attention and must be begun
some time in advance. We encouD-
tered many difficulties, being short
handed in other work ofpreparation
and unable to spead the time we
otherwise would have spent solicit
ing help; and owing to the very
small amount of early fruit handled
this season we were unable to In
terest a number of persons who had
arrived early and desired to work
part of the time until the season
opened. However, we were fortu-
nate in being able to acquire enough
hands at all stations, and no serious
consequence followed.
The efforts OF tide Commercial As
sociotion's Labor Bureau. under the
able management OF Mr.. Rule, must
not be overlooked. This attempt at
a systematic distribution Of the un-
employed merits the appreciation OF
all. The fact that a number OF un-
das,rahle cftizens found their way