The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-02-15
MIR. SUGRUE VIEWS
FRUIT SALES PLANS
An open letter by John F. Sugrue,
president Of the Cashmere Fruit
Association, TO the fruit
growers Of the We
natcbee valley.

The marketing question Of the fruit
Of the Northwest has reached crisis.
The value Of the apple industry is at
present existing is indisputable. Its
future success or failure is in the
hands of those engaged in the raising
Of fruit.
There rs no opposition to the state
ment that has been so often made
that the raising and marketing Of the
Northwestern apple are two separate
and distinct branches of one business. "
The knowledge Of (l) how best to
raise ana prepare the fruit for ship
ment and ~ how TO secure the best
prices for the said fruit. does not gen
orally exist in the brains Of the same
man or body Of men. We are now
more particularly concerned with the
second proposition, namely, how best
TO market the product On this ques-
tion there are two leading issues:
First. That each section should be
law unto itself and that it is more
advisable to fight our fellow grower
from another district than to combine
with bin.
Second: That the best and most
economical method is one big protec-
tive and selling agency whereby
instead Of competing with our neighbor
we can confer with him, whereby in
stead Of meeting him in the same mar
kets we will, as far as possible, avoid
one another. And whereby in event Of
our having to meet in the same mar
kets we will be enabled to place our
respective products in that market in
proportion TO the amount needed at
any particular time by that particular
market
The first contention is, in my opinion,
mainly based on the belief Of each sec
tion in the great superiority Of its
product over that of its neighbor, and
that opinion, bear in mind, is common
to all sections. Does this superiority
really exist to the degree supposed,
aud even if it does, is it a good and
sufficient argument for us to commit
ourselves to war of interests or not?
In the first place | do not believe the
superiority does exist to the extent
claimed. Each section has apples of
peculiar merit and if those particular
varieties were the only apples in ques-
tion the position taken by the advo-
Gates of Isolation might be tenabe.
We have, however, to consider the
industry as whole. Also the con
suming public do not confine themselves
to the high priced apple, and it is the
consuming public as a body and not
any particular section of that public
that we have to reckon with.
Local pride is a most worthy and
proper spirit to encourage but il should
not be allowed to bind US to a certain
hard and fast business theories which
are not of an experimental nature but
which have been tried and tested and
found to be advantageous for years.
The science of selling, because it is
science, has certain aXioms which can
not be gainsaid, and acceptance of
these admitted facts are absolutely
necessary to the successful disposal of
our crops today, and much more so in
the near future.
Up to 1910, apples of good quality
sold themselves. From now on, owing
to the fact that the box apple is no
longer novelty and to the rapidly
increasing volume of fruit produced, it
is up to US to sell them. To do this we
must eliminate all unnecessary compe-
tition and expense and consider the
question not from our own particular
view point but from a broader and
more comprehensive standpoint. If
we do not do this, and this promptly,
our industry will find that history re-
peats itself with fatal regularity and
that the period of depression, and, to
many, of actual ruin, that has been
the feature in so many industries of a
like nature to ours will inevitably come
to pass.
Personalities must not be an issue in
this attempt to solve our troubles.
Suggestions of merit must he consid-
cred for the good or harm that is in
them. Local prejudice should be laid
| aside. This is a matter of business
pure and simple, and should be decided
on business principles only.
1t seems strange to me that in this
age of cooperation such strenuous
objections should be raised to thorough
| and comprehensive cooperation as has
been suggested by the Rogue River
Plan Though investigation of this
! plan has up to the present brought to
/ the grower. Lack of investigation has
been the means of circulating many
wild and idle surn ises which had no
foundation in fact and which, when
exposed to the light of day, faded
away into oblivion. On the other hand
we find that by cooperating with other
sections there are distinct advantages
to be had, the minimizing of expense
for instance Much of the work of
distributing entails expenses that,
falling OH any one section are almost
prohibitive, but if divided equally
amongst two or three sections become
but a triIlng charge. To establish
proper facilities for each section the
apple growers of the Northwest would
necessarily have to duplicate and trip
licate machinery that would necessitate
unnecessary expenditure of large sums
of money.
In most instances the establishing of
rival agencies would, in addition to
increased cost, lead to cutting of
prices and a war amongst ourselves,
the cost and loss of which would be
borne by the grower and the benefits
of which would be reaped by the mid
dlcman. This is not our Obj ct. II
has been argued that the time is not
. ripe. There is no time like the pres
ent. This matter cannot be settled in
any hurry, but to settle it as soon as
possible means that we must get to il
at once.
This years crop alone bids fair to
tax our hest efforts. Let US get all
the information we can on this very
vital subject, 1t has been argued that
until we get our fruit assembled there
is no need for a method of selling it.
Tins argument is dangerous. Better
the machine waiting for the fruit than
the fruit waiting for the machine.
The machine won't rust but the fruit
will spoil. Why not bend our energies
TO doing both? Why not prepare the
machine and assemble the fruit at the
same time. We need both ends of this
business taken care of. There should
be no conflict between the aiders of
II either branch of the industry Nohodv