The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-10-01
CO. OPERATION: THE
SMALL MANS PROFIT
Continued from Page Two,

continued from Page Two)
force of clerks begin making up a
daily bulletin, and this continues
until midnight. The bulletin then
goes to press, and the same trains
that carry the early morning edi-
tions of the newspapers out of Los
Angeles also carry copy of the
bulletin to each local association.
Every association" says Mr..
Woodford, lean have under its eye
at any time complete view of the
orange and lemon market. You can
see what protection to the grower
that would be. A buyer cannot well
take advantage of a seller who has
full and accurate market knowledge.
This gathering and distributing of
information is one of the most VAL
liable things the exchange does
I've no doubt it helps very much to
bind the members together"
Subsidiary Company.
The big exchange, the district ex-
changes and the local associations
are practically without capital
stock; but, to incorporate in legal
form, one share of stock is issued
for each director. There is, how
ever. an allied concern. The Fruit
Growers Supply company, which
has five hundred thousand dollars
of capital stock. Each local associ-
alton that so elects subscribes to
the capital of the Supply company
in proportion to the number of box
err of fruit that it handles. All but
three or four of the local assOcia-
tons are stockholders in and men,
bers of the Supply company. To
them the Supply company sells box
es. nails, wrapping paper, and like
supplies, doing a business that runs
between one and two million dollars
a year. AS its profits are iistrib-
uted among the stockholding assO-
Citations in proportion to the amount
of fruit handled, this is strictly
cooperative enterprise. The men,
bers of the local association, in eff
feet, get their boxes and so on at
cost. The Supply company, buying
in larger quantities, gets low prices.
For this years use it has purchased
nine million boxes, equal to eighteen
hundred carloads of lumber; hun
dred and twenty cars of tissue-paper
wrappers for oranges and lemons:
and twenty cars of nails.
Saving Devices of the Exchange.
In 1898, when materials and la
Dor were much cheaper than at the
present time, it cost the growers
about forty-five cents box to pack
their oranges. Last year the cost Of
packing to exchange members was
thirty cents a box, and the total
selling cost only about six cents.
Formerly the commission houses
charged growers five per cent for.
guaranteeing cOllectiOns-that is.
TO cover bad debts. In the last
three years the exchanges loss from
bad debts has been less than five
hundred dollars In short, the eX-
changes total packing. selling and
collecting cost is about thirty-slX
nd &
only about one-half what the same
service cost the growers before the
exchange was formed To pack
lemons costs about twice as much,
or sixty cents box, but the saving
is relatively the same. 1t is claim
ed. also. with reason, that the sta
BILE conditions established by the en-
change lessen the risks of jobbers
and retail distributors and that they
consequently, now handle the fruit
on a smaller profit margin than
formerly.
The saving in this respect has
been estimated at 80 to- 80 cents
box.
AS the exchange shipped last year
eight and a half million boxes of
fruit, saving of 80 cents box in
packing and selling cost alone would
mean a net gain of about three mil
lion dollars to the growers. But with
the greatly increased output oranges
of late years have become staple
commodity almost everywhere IN the
United States and Canada. The coun-
try grocer, who formerly bought
box only occasionally, now deals in
oranges almost as regularly as in
sugar. Naturally, he doesn't expect