The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1912-08-30
COMMUNICATED.


through his commission house, known
as the Southern Michigan Fruit asso-
citation, and in order to get them he
deliberately states falsehood, that
he got the largest prices for grapes
of anyone in the country. told him
10 his face at the annual meeting that
he had stated a falsehood and he knew
it and that l would prove it and / did
so by publishing letters from people
who were willing TO make affidavits to
/ same He is not satisfied by demand
I ing the proofs, but thinks by waiting
six mouths that the people would for
get, and follows it up by making the
statement again.
sent his article to Crawford Bros.
and the Chautauqua & Erie Grape Co.
and the following letters will show
you who is telling the truth, also the
lights in which Cary Durham is held
in the grape business:
LETTER OF cHAUTAUQUA & ERIR
GRAPE CO.
Westfield, N Y, July 81, 1912.
Mr.. ]. 1. Day,
Decatur Mich.
Dear Sir:
Your favor of the 18th with enclos
ure received in regard to Mr.. Dun
hams statement
Now, his statement is entirely
wrong. We handled last season for
our growers total of 1625 cars, in
Guiding 8 pounds and bulk grapes
For the pound baskets of Concords
we pooled net to our growers 915 cents
for the entire season. This includes
every pound basket of Concords we
shipped and does not include the 1ac
we take out for the expense of hand
ling.
We did not sell car for less than
10c for pound baskets and we sold
enough cars for more than that to
make up for what reduction we had
to make on the few cars that arrived
in bad condition. But in no case did
we have anything that made us loss
of more than &c per basket, and when
he states that we sold grapes for SC
he certainly is stating an untruth.
We believe in organization as the
only proper way to handle the grapes,
and if every grower would join and
ship nothing but first class fruit we
would all get more money.
We enclose you one of our bylaws,
which we think shows that we are
just as near to the grower as any or
ganization can be.
If there is any further information
you would like, kindly ask.
Yours truly,
Chautauqua 81 Erie Grape Co.
Per J. NJ. Wethy,
Financial Sec.
LETTER OF CRAWFORD BROS Co.
- North East, Pa, Aug. 9, 1912
Mr. J. Ingersoll Day,
Decatur, Mich.
Dear Sir:
Your letter of recent date is at hand
We note what you say regarding Mr..
Peterson and appreciate same, assur.
ing you we will give him the best
treatment in our power.
The recent articles in your Decatur
paper have been brought to my atten-
ton, especially in view of the fact
that our name has been brought into
the controversy with Mr.. Durham
statement in regard to our Mr.. Farr.
1t is not in Mr.. Fairs nature to act
as he has reported, furthermore we
did not sell any grapes during 1911
for less than nine cents +. Q. b. cars
here, our general average for the sea-
son being somewhat better than 10
cents
When Mr.. Dunham states that we
pool only sales we collected for in full,
and also that we take an average of
daily prices instead of pooling total
number of baskets shipped, he states
what is not so. Our pools are made up
daily of all baskets shipped in the
different cars and the average prices
for the season are taken from total
shipments instead of average daily
prices.
The amount of the situation is his
Mr.. Durham has been caught red
handed in so many underhand tricks
that he cannot exhonerate himself and
is undertaking to carry the bluff by
misrepresenting outside conditions,
ignoring the fact that all our reports
are matter of record, not only shown
by our books, but having been pub
lished in practically all the papers
throughout the grape belt. 1t shows
the smallness of the man to imagine
that he can carry the bluff in the face
of these facts. Think the sooner you
rid yourselves of him the better it will
be for the interests of the grape grow
ers in Michigan.
Yours very truly,
Crawford Bros. Co.
The facts in the above letters are
borne out in published statement of
the grape returns in a paper called
the "Grape Belt" OF January 9, 1912
l have talked with the large grape
growers and sellers of grapes in New
York and Ohio and they freely state
that if it were not for Cary Durham 5
ignorance and bull-headed way ia sell
ing grapes that the growers in the