Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1911-02-02
COAST APPLE MEN COMBINE
Growers Of Northwest Meet at Port
Iand-commlttees Named.


gate capital of $50,OOO,0OO, invested ii
apple orchards and an output Of 10,
900 cars yearl, having a value o.
from $6,OOO,0O0 to $8,O0O,OOO, more
than 100 applegrowers from Oregon
Washington and Idaho gathered in the
Y. M. G. A. auditorium for the pur
pose of forming a National selling
agency Of sufficient breadth and width
to control and dispose OF the apples
produced In the three states men
toned.
A committee Of Is was appointed
at the close Of the days work tc
prepare a working plan for the con
sideration Of the convention tomor
row morning.
Leading apple culturists from the
three states took part in the proceed
lngs. Ex-Governor Miles c. Moore, OF
Washington; Judge Fremont Wood
of Boise, Idaho; Miles Cannon, OF
Weiser, Idaho; e. G. Benson, Of Pros
ser, Wash, ex-president of the Wash
ington State Horticulture Society; G.
e. Whistler, of Medford, representing
the Rogue River Fruit and Produce
Association; H. c. Atwell, Of Forest
Grove, Or, president of the Oregon
State Horticultural Society; ]. N
Stone, of Milton, Or; H. G. Richards
Of North Yakima, Wash; A. P. Bate
man, of Mosier, Or, and G. H. Sproat
Of Hood River, Or, were among the
more active spirits of the enterprise.
The only opposition to the plan
proposed came from the pessimistic
tone that prevailed through the talk
of E. H. Shepherd, editor Of Better
Fruit, published at Hood River. AL
though the discussion lasted through
out the day and the speakers were
numerous, Mr.. Shepherd could not
see the light as advanced by the
more hopeful in the plan of creating
central distributive agency for the
output. He maintained that there
was no way for an organization-at
least he had heard of no plan-which
would eQualizo the values between
the apples produced in the various
districts. He was certain that there
was no chance for over-production.
That he regarded as a bug-a-boo Gre
ated by the railroads and the press.
"All Government statistics" said
the speaker, that / have been able to
get hold of, all the information that
have gathered and all of the inter-
views with old-time nursery men go
to show that over-production is i'm
possible, in apples at least. There is
no such thing as over-production In
this country in any food product.
There may be faults of distribution
for a continuous number of years
that has never occurred and cannot
occur in any known food product"
Regardless of Mr.. Shepherds views,
the applegrowers continued in their
deliberations and appointed the fol-
lowing committee to draft plan: H.
w. Otis, of Wenatchee, Wash; H. c..
Sproat, of Hood River; H. C. Lamb,
of Milton, Or. John Forbis, of Port
land; c. F. Whistler, of Medford, Or;
A. P. Bateman, of Mosier, Or; Miles
Cannon, of Weiser, Idaho; c. l..
Smith, of Lewiston, Idaho; Will F..
Ritz, of Walla Walla, Wash; w. NJ
Nelson, of North Yakima, Wash;
George G. Eaton, of Granger, Wash;
c. H. Clark, of Wenatchee, and G. H.
Sprague, of Cashmere, Wash.
The convention was called to order
by President Atwell, of the Oregon
State Horticultural Society, Frank w.
Power, of Portland, was made sec
retary. A committee on credentials
was selected and they made report
in the afternoon. The call of the
specified that the object
of the meeting was to form a cooper
ative selling agency and to provide
some means for apple box legisla-
ton. Suggestions were rendered as
to the best plan of procedure and
disclosed the fact that the
of a committee should
be made to work out a plan,
C. E. Whistler took the lead in the
debate and contended that the diff
culties of the undertaking were, first,
the method of establishing grades
and, second, what should be done
with regard to the division of the re-
ceipts of the selling agency. Should
there be a Jackpot created. as the
speaker called it, in which ali should
be given an equal share of the pro
ceeds, or should values be placed
upon the apples of each district and
division of the receipts be placed on
this basis? In this debate George
Aggers, of White Salmon A. F. He'll
Inwell, of White Salmon; ]. G. Tate,
Of Hood River; c. B. Clark. of Wen
atchee; ]. N. Stone, of Milton; w. K.
Newell, of CASTOR; c. l.. Dick, of Sa-
lem, and others took part.