The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-02-02
HONEST PACK MAKES
HOOD RIVER PRICES
The Rural New Yorker says:

1t is the rctten apple in the box,
the painted knothole in the board. the
musty streak in the butter or bacon
which will decide the price of the sec
ond package of food you try to sell to
a private customer. Most people will
forget to praise the good specimens if
they think you are trying to deceive
them with Gull. Most of us have
heard of the fine packing of the Pacific
Coast fruit. Are there no culls in
these packages? Interested in this
matter, we wrote the firm of Stein
hardt & Kelly, who for some years
have handled apples from the farmers
of the Hood River region. Their
answer follows, and it is worth the at
tention of any fruitgrOwer. y
First you would like to know if the
packing of the Hood River apples is
so perfect that we accept them without
close investigation. Not only do we
accept them without close investiga-
tion, but we accept them without any
investigation whatever, leaving the
entire matter up to the Hood River
Apple Growers Union, body of men
with about nine directors under whose
personal supervision all the fruit is
packed and shipped to market. Our
dealings with these men for the last
three years, during which time we
purchased their crop have always been
of such straight and upright charac-
ter that we have never had occasion or
cause to doubt their packing, and we
have never been disappointed in our
business dealings with them.
Our contract with the Hood River
Apple Growers Union, as represented
by their board of directors, is certainly
a very stringent one, they guarantee
ing US a perfect pack and also guaran-
teeing that every apple in every box is |
absolutely perfect. We have handled
several hundred thousand boxes, and |
never have we found ourselves in con-
dition to make single complaint
against their pack. 1t is as near per
feet as human ingenuity and honesty |
of endeavor can make it, in fact, we
shall be glad to have you drop in our
place of business at any time and take
a box of fruit from any heap, and you
will find that every box is practically
Identical, and that every apple is alb
sOlutely perfect whether you open the |
top, bottom or side of any package.
This is more than we have been able to
say for any large pack of fruit that we
have ever contracted for.
Referring to your second question.
The very best fruit from the Hood
River country is purchased by US on f.
o. b. basis, Hood River, and although
of course the prices are not exactly
public property, still we may tell you
that they average somewhere around
$2.25 a box there. Of course you un-
derstand that a box of fruit will cost
us great deal more, as the freight
from hood River to New York is on an
average Of 60 cents box. Regarding
your question whether it were possible
for number of individuals who are
not connected with this association to
do business on the same plan as that
of the association, suffice it to say that
If you can get number of honest men
who are also good business men to-
gether, they could do just as we'll as
the Hood River Apple Growers Union. |
Regarding your endeavor to encour-
age Eastern fruitgrowers to put up a
package as good as that of the West, |
suffice it to say that this could be done
Just as well in the East as in the West, |
if you can get enough, as we stated
before, honest men who will pack
honestly. The whole thing in a nut
shell is simply and purely a business
proposition. You no doubt know that
the Eastern barrel pack, to say the
least. leaves great deal to be desired.
You know that there are usually three
or four good tiers on top and the rest
is lot of inferior goods. This is the
reason why the public is now turning
toward the box apple to take the place
of the barrel and it is the writer's per-
sonal opinion that it will only be few
years when the barrel apple will be
out Of use for the better
class of trade, owing to no other reason
than dishonest methods employed in
packing.
The entire matter is simply one of
honesty and quality. Fruit can be just
as good in the East as in the West, and
we see no reason why the Eastern
grower can't get just as much for his
goods as the Western grower, if he
will only make up his mind to one ab-
solute fact, and that is that if he
thinks he can fool the people all the
time by putting up fake barrel of
apples he is making big mistake.
STElNHARDT & KELLEY.