The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-02-17

bal ance.s y heets. OF course | Rm gl I'D
TO state there are lots of good rcom.
mission houses that do a good clean
straightforward house business, but
it Is not easy for the grower to find
out except by experience, which
sometimes means loss, which of the
commission houtes are good and
which are not good. Where the
handicapped by the individual ~ho
does not know the market end by the
one who sells because be needs the
money. 1t Is only natural the buyers
are keen fell ows and buy as ohespIy
as they Gan. You cannot blame them
Tor this. If one man, Who Ia not
posted OF because he needs the money,
sells at low figure it pulls down the
market aud makes 1t harder tor the
grower who is posted, to get the price
for his truit that he u entitled TO,
The association eliminates such con-
ditions.
The association saves the grower Il
great deal OF money by buying in
carl DAD lots the paper, box material,
sprays, ETC., and furnishing to the
Nv Oosb Ptbtot pun COSt III
handling which has saved thousands
OF dollars tor our growers. The man
ager OF an association naturally meets
representatives from all the other fruit
sections, buyers aad sal lesmen from
the different implement houses and
spray manufacturers, and naturally
by absorption becomes vel posted
and consequently is able to give the
growers great deal of very valuable
advice and information on these sub.
jects which would be difficult for the
grover to get otherwise because he
does not have this opportunity OF
meeting ell these different people
connected with the business.
The directors Of such an association
should be selected with care. They
should be successful growers with
good business ability, popular and
Recognized as square man, and be
selected 80 as to represent each sec.
tion OF the district. The association
should to run on the cooperative
pan, and conduct its business with a
view OF paying the grower the pi ice
realized tor the fluit, less the actual
expense OF doing the business, with
out endeav0ring to create surplus
TOR stock dividends Stock should be
held entirely by The fruit growers and
the amount OF capital su bsoI ibed
should be necessary to properly equip
The association with shipping ware
house, proper facilities, and cold stol.
age plants where necessary. The
union should require contract from
each grower for his crop in advance
of the coming season. Ibis is abso,
lutely necessary in order to run an
association succe ssfully. Without
contracts binding the growers the
association cannot make sales. am
sorry to say that II the growers are
net bound by contract some mem bers
would decline to deliver the fruit
when an opportunity presents Itself
whereby they eau get five or ten cents
more.
Hood River formed the first union
different districts throughout our
different fruit sections waking up to
the necessity Of the association which
have al Ways advocated since went
into the fruit business In Hood River
Expressing my views editorially In
Better Fruit of which | am editor and
publisher, in the first year of its ex-
istenGe, my concl uding remarks we're
ds follows, -" Finally when we have
got an association in every district we
can organize under one grand assooi
alton composed of the managers OF
the district associations, which can
create harmonious policy, which
will not only be for good In all but a
power IN the land.
Before closing | want to touch
briefly on "A few general topics | do
not believe In over production.
here never has teen continued
over production OF any food COM
modify. There are temporary over
productions. The crop of apples in
1896 was GO million barrels, The
average crop Tor 'last three years has
1een about million barrels. In con
nection with bis decreased crop it
must be noted that the popul alton OF
United States has increased phenom-
enaily aud | might add that while the
popu,Ation of United States has in
creased 800 per cent the consumption
of fruit has increased 1900 per cent,
which In my opinion does not seem
to indicate an over production. The
increased consumption OF truit is
probably due to two cases. The
Americana are rapidly becoming a
fruit eating nation.
Another reason for the increased