Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-12-11
GOVERNMENT AID FOR
PRODUCE SHIPPERS
VIM. DOHERTY BELIEVES DEPART
MENT OF AGRICULTURE SHOULD
INSPECT TRUCK AT SHIPPING
AND RECEIVING POINTS.
SHOULD COMPILE STATISTICS AS
TO PRODUCTION IN GIVEN LO-
CALITIES, AND AS TO TIME OF
MARKETING.

the Frisco Gulf Coast Lines. after a
series of conferences with truck growers
along the st. l.. B. & VI. Ryand CORES
pOndence with prominent growers all
over the South,ha authorized the fol-
lowing interview, in which he outlines
a solution of the problem of marketing
Texas fruit and truck crops.
The plan outlined by Mr.. Doherty is
the result Of years Of study and obscrva-
tion, and he is confident that the Demo
cratic administration will not hesitate
to take stepstO aid the truk and fruit
growers in their present predicament
Mr.. DOherty's plan follows.
There is something radically wrong
with the Texas system of marketing
fruits and vegetables. 1t is an undisput
ed fact that Texas produces fruits. veg
etables, and melons of fine quality at
a season when the markets are practi-
cally bare save for the Texas crop Tex
as truckers are making money, but they
are not making the money 10 which they
are entitled by reason of the climatic
advantages they enjoy. i have been deep
ly interested in this subject for the past
fifteen years, and | have probably given
it more serious thought than any other
subject not embraced in my regular Off
icial duties. While | was connected with
the II. f. & w. T. Railroad, that line
which was operating through an essen
italy fruit and truck country, it was
natural that the conditions affecting
! these commodities should come in for a
great deal of my attention. Having for
the past six years bee-l connected with
/ the st. L. B. & NJ. which penetrates the
great Lower Rio Grande Valley, the nat
ural winter garden Of the United States,
and having witnessed the transforma-
tion of that Valley from a desert to
garden that produces over two thousand
care of vegetables per annum,it was
again natural and essential that | should
consider this subject. In east Texas L
have seen hundreds of carloads of beau
tiful peaches rot upon the ground while
people throughout the United States
wanted and needed them. IN this country
hundreds of carloads OfmelOns and veg
etables rot in the field while there are
people anxious to have them and willing
to pay a reasonable price for them.
Truck growing under conditions such
as we enjoy along the gulf coast of Texas
should not only be a most profitable in
dustry. but it should be as staple as
banking. | do not believe that we are
growing too much. lido not believe that
the sole cause of our trouble is that com
mission merchants who handle the crop
are dishonest | do not believe that the
sole trouble is because of carelessness
in packing / believe that both of these
contribute but | am firmly of the Opin-
ion that there are many honest commits
ion merchants and that a majority, a
vast majority, of the truck and fruit
\ shipped out of this state is of high quail
ity. properly packed and properly hand
led.
That we have made great progress in
our system of handling and marketing
cannot be denied Truck Growers Asso-
Citations have been organized at numerI
Gus points and several large associations
have been perfected and are operating
very successfully. Many efforts have
been made to consolidate all of the truck
growers. not only in Texas, but all Of the
Southern states into one organization.
If this could be done and if the members
of such an organization would place their
products unreservedly in the hands of its
managers. the problem Of marketing
would be solved However. after fifteen
wears of effort along this line, we are no
nearer to the consummation of that plan
than we were at the beginning
\ Still there is way out. 1t is entirely
possible TO bring about conditions that
will be 50 much better than those which
obtain today. that they will convert truck
growing into an industry as staple as
anv We have in this country.
\ Let us look a little further into the
conditions that exist now. Naturally. the
ideal way TO handle fruit and vegetables
is To sell for cash at loading station.
and this lis dons in a great many cases
successfully when the crop is short. But
the moment that the buyers discover
large supply. they realize that the advan-
tage is theirs and will no longer make
cash offers and the farmers are com
PEELED To consign. 1t has been suggested
that the growers should makeup their
minds to sell what they could for cash on
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