The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-09-13

CSALS dS HICu IL N40
during the season, comparing like
conditions, month by month.
Their only solace will be: The Elk
change did it. All of the growers of
the state must pay the bill"
So much for prophecy and so much
for theory. What have been the re
suits Florida has shipped up to
March l, practically the same amount
Of fruit that she did the preceding
year. They shipped up TO Christmas
practically the same amount of fruit
that they did last year, although the
shipments began considerably later
Prices opened at about the same as
they did the preceding year and have
advanced steadily from the opening of
the season up until Christmas. which
was thing that was new in the his
tory Of the Florida citrus industry
About the middle of December, GER
tain weather conditions set in in
Florida that were unprecedented in
their length and severity; there
was succession of nearly three
: weeks OF very hot, murky, moist days
when fruit decayed on the trees and
in transit, no matter how much care
was exercised in its handling and
shipping. This was a severe handi-
cap on fair test of conditions.
In addition to this, from practically
Christmas until nearly the first of
February, the entire North was swept
| by a series of billiards., one after the
other, that in their frequency and in
tensity have never been equalled.
Lake Superior for the first time in
the memory of the white man was
frozen clear across it's entire eXpanse
from shore TO shore
From seventy TO eighty per cent of
all the citrus fruits that are sold in
the great cities are sold either from
| fruit stands or by peddlers. Weather
conditions such as those that prevail
ed made it impossible for either the
fruitstands or the peddlers to do
! business. Oranges would freeze in
transit from warehouses to the stores,
! and it was an impossibilty to cart
! them, unlocked, in peddlers' wagons
! or offer them for sale on peddlers'
stands. This was another very seri-
! GUS and unexpected handicap for com.
/ paratiVe results. But in spite of all
/ that, the sales of Florida oranges in
| the month of January this year net
/ ted the growers at least three times
! as much money per box on the trees
! as they did in January of the proceed
! ing year
The citrus crop of Florida will
! average higher price to the growers
! this year than it has in any one of
the last ten years. Grapefruit opened
at $3.50, f. O. b. cars, and it has
steadily increased to where sales
have been made in February in car
load lots at $500 box, f. o. b. cars
packing house.
Some timid, shortsighted growers
sold their oranges last summer and
early fall at from 20 to so cents box
on the trees, and thought they were
doing a good thing. Their neighbors.
who were, and remained, outside the
Exchange, have sold their oranges
since that time, by following the
advice of the Exchange, at from $1.25
to s1.4O a box on the trees; while the
members of the Exchange, who were
progressive enough to have their fruit
put up in modern houses. under mod
ern methods, have netted as high as
two dollars a box on the trees-and
higher in many ins'ances-so that
| there Is no Question but that the
average price received, f. o. b. pack
ing house, Florida, for the entire
citrus fruit crop this year has been
not less than 80 cents a box higher
than was received the preceding year,
in spite of the dire prediction Of the
Green Fruiters."
The foregoing being the case, we
presume that the Exchange and it's
supporters will be perfectly willing
to take on themselves the onus of
that portion of the Pink Sheets"
statement which reads: Their only
solace will be: The Exchange did
it,"
This brings us to another point.
Our county has certain candidates for
the state Legislature and the State
Senate, who are asking for your suf-
frage to place them in those bodies as
your representatives. Have not the
evidence and results of the present
citrus season justified you in demand
ing of these wouldbe legislators
their pledge to support the Anti
Green Fruit BILL and is it not fair
question to ask them to pledge them
selves publicly before the primaries
and before their election that they are
going to stand fat for the enforce
ment, not only of the present social
ed Green Fruit Law" but for an
amendment to it, if necessary, that
will put sharper teeth" in that law
than it now has?
Under the Green Fruit Law as ii
now stands, its enforcement practi
cally lies in the hands Of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, and the Commits
sioner Of Agriculture can make or I'M
make the effectiveness of this law
T~t,v-