The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-06-14

Tor handlers of Florida oranges ora-
a'ihg IN this state to begin to move
III many instances before the oranges
were Iuliy grown. A few earlv shin.
ments would sell for fair prices but
as soon as the movement began in
earnest the market would colIanse
and would remain in that cond;t;o,,
uhtii iate In the season. The growers
themselves We're not responsible for
tnat condition, as the peonle who
were doing this shipping were either
buying on their own account mr. hand.
ing on account for the growers II
bought, the growers who sold felt
that having sold the fruit and receiv-
cd the money, he had no right to saw
70 the shipper that he should wait
until the fruit was mature. The pur-
CHASER felt that it was his right To
send this fruit to market early
enough to anticipate the decline
which would wipe out his profit and
probably result in a loss. Those who
were handling for the account of the
grower were not interested beyond
the price per box that they received
for their services Much of it was
handled at a fixed price per box, re-
CARELESS of what it netted the grow
er; hence they were interested in be-
ginning as early as possible; shipping
as fast as possible and moving as
much as possible as the volume NOV
ed governed the net amount of their
income for the seasons business. In
private conversation with a number
of the most intelligent of these oper-
ators, they admitted that it was
wrong, that the shipping of this green
stuff killed the market, but took the
position that if they did not ship it,
somebody else would, and they were
in the deal for all they could get out
OF it. l have studied this question
closely, both in California and in
Florida, as we'll as in the markets.
have seen promising markets go to
pieces when the volume of fruit Of
fered was not excessive, but l never
saw 1T go to pieces under a normal
supply unless there was some inner
ent defect in the fruit. California
navels often cross the continent, en-
countering extremely low tempera-
lures in transit, are frozen en- route,
and, when they finally reach destina-
ton, are thawed out and become bit.
ter. The most disastrous season that
ever saw in California fruits was
the season of 1903 and 1904, one of
the severest winters on record, when
practically everything that reached
the Eastern markets for six weeks
had been seriously damaged by cold
When this period passed large vol
ume of good fruit, well matured and
in perfect condition and sizes, was
sold at about the same price as that
the damaged fruit sold for before the
consumers were convinced that they
were good. When confidence had
again been established, it seemed to
be practically impossible to overstock
these markets. Knowing these things
to be true, the management of the
Florida Citrus Exchange, in its first
seasons business, placed itself square
ly against the movement of imma-
ture fruits, as there was no other
way to rehabilitate the market for
Florida oranges and place them where
they should stand, in the lead of all
themselves, in the main, had come
to learn the effect of putting this
green, immature stuff on the market,
and they are not to be held RESPONSE
BILE for the shipments that were made
by brokers and spectators. Growers
who were buyers and shippers prior
to the organization of the Exchange
have assured me that the industry
had reached such a stage that they
could make nothing on their own fruit,
but that they evened up and man
aged to live on the profits that they
made in handling the fruit of their
neighbors. A sad state! So far as
know. there isn't a factor today
operating in Florida, California or in
any other of the markets OF this
country who doesn't admit that the
influence of green or immature citrus
fruits on the market is such as to
destroys values. 1t curtails consump-
ton. reduces the volume of business
that can be handled by wholesale fruit
dealers, who. of necessity, are the
distributors after the fruit reaches
the markets, and deprives the grow
err of a living price for his product
The cause producing this effect is
the failure on the part of the consum-
err to accept this fruit and pay their
good money for it.
The Western Fruit Jobbers' Assocl-
alton of America held its annual con-
vention January 3-4-5, 1912, in st.
Louis. On page 76 of the report OF
their proceedings is found the fol-
lowing language, embodied in the re-
port of the legislative committee of
that association:
GREEN CITRUS FRUITS. Our
roora+ory also reoueSted the advice