The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-06-30
OFFICERS OF THE FLORIDA FRUIT
EXCHANGE ADDRESS MARION
COUNTY TRUCKERS
ASSOCIATION

One of the most interesting meet
ings, we think, that we have attended
in a long time was that held under the
auspices~of the Marion Truckers AS
ISOLATION Friday. Mr.. w. c. Tenn
ple. president of the Florida Fruit Ex-
change; Mr. R. P Burton, its general
manager, and Mr.. w. E. Gray, of the
Carney Investment Company, made
very magnificent and convincing
Rspeeches.
Mr.. Temple is an old Floridian, and
Mr. Burton. much to our surprise, has
been the owner of two orange groves
in Marion county for period of TWEEN
ty-five years, so neither one of them
are strangers to conditions that obtain
in Florida, and they are enthusiastic
as to the force and effectiveness of the
exchange if the growers will become
members of it and give it loyal sup
port.
Mr.. Burton was a merchant of Lees
burg before our great freeze, and was
grove owner in the southwestern
portion of this county. After that dis
kster he went to California, became a
member of the Fruit Exchange of that
state, and seeing the good work it ac-
complished for California, he left it's
service and came to Florida under the
belief that if the same methods were
!. pursued in Florida the same results
s would be accomplished. Mr. Burton
says that it simply revolutionized the
industry in that state and made or
ange grove property increase to such
an extent that the grove owners are
now prosperous and to own a grove is
to possess a fortune
Lemon groves that were worth two
and three hundred dollars per acre are
y now worth several thousand dollars
per acre, and orange property has in
creased almost in the same proportion.
Mr. Gray says that if he had the
Carney Investment Companys proper
ty in California, producing no more Or
anges than it does, it would mean a
fortune for the company.
Mr. Gray said that he visited Cali
fornia, witnessed how the Exchange
of that state handled the crop, how the
fruit was gathered, packed and mar
keted, and became convinced that it
was a good thing, and that it behooved
the growers of Florida to do the same
= thing, so he joined the Florida Ex-
change, and is glad that he did so. He
says that the Carney Investment Com
pany has been shipping through the
Exchange for period of two years;
that last year it's output was thirty
thousand boxes, and the average price
per box was $1.64; $1.1S' on the trees,
- or Y cents, clear net profit, minus
the cost of investment.
If the growers can get together the
Exchange can obtain higher prices, for
then the growers will not come into
competition with each other. The Elk
change has wires daily from every
market in the United States, and is in
better position to obtain top prices
1han the individual shipper. who is not
in possession of those facilities.
The speakers dwelt upon the impor-
lance of establishing a brand and liv-
ing up to that brand, so that it would
have a meaning in the markets, and
when a retailer bought it he would
know exactly what he was doing. A
shippers brand should be as sacred as
his bond
The speakers also told of the green
fruit law recently passed by the legis-
lature of Florida, and the good that
would result from it.
/, Mr.. Burton said that during the past
season the California growers had
, marketed successfully 20,000,0O0 box
es without the markets breaking on
them, and that such thing would
\ have been impossible if they had not
v organized and had not been loyal to
the organization.
AS we said in the outset the speak
ers were forceful and convincing, and
we do not believe that one could have
heard them without becoming enthu'
siastic for the Exchange.
A LAWYERS EPIGRAMS