The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1912-02-10
SOLUTION OF HIGH
LIVING PROBLEM
By F. J. Dyer-Concluded.

! lung ioi tHe ycdIDOoh Ol bHe ue-
partment of agriculture in 1910, G.
Harold Powell, then pomologist and
acting chief, bureau of plant industry,
said
"The handling and marketing of
crops through cooperative associations
is more highly developed in fruit
growing than in any other agricultural
industry in America.o
| The department of agriculture set
the seal of its approval on this dictum
by publishing it in its year book. 1t
also gave official Endorsement to what
followed in the text, namely:
| "These cooperative organizations
are formed to purchase the supplies
used in the production and marketing
of the crops, to standardize the har-
vesting, handling, grading and pack
ing of the fruit, to sell the fruit of the
members as unit under whatever
system of marketing is adopted, to
prevent disastrous competition by
| bringing about an equitable distribu-
| tion throughout the country, and to
handle the fruit business in other ways
collectively rather than individually
whenever it can be done more economi-
cally and effectively. There are several
hundred OF these associations among
the fruit growers Of the western states
and a number that are successful
among the fruit growers in the central
west and along the Atlantic coast
This author was well aware of the
difficulty of effecting such organization
among farmers, but he was emphatic
in his declaration of the benefits ac-
cruing from them. g No other agency
said he, "is so powerful in bringing
about better farming, better methods
of handling the industry, greater
prosperity and better community
than group of farmers who are
successfully organized to protect and
develop their agricultural interests. -
SO valuable and interesting are the
remarks of this authority on the eff
facts and principles of cooperation
that anyone interested is recommended
to get from the department of agYicul-
ture the leaflet republished from the
yearbook for 1910, and designated as
"Y. b. Separate 546.'
Perhaps it was strange that Mr..
Powell should find himself engaged,
later, in the direction of one branch
of work carried on by such co-opera-
tive societies. He was sent to Florida,
California and other states by the de-
partment of agriculture to solve GER
tain problems related to the shipment
and cold storage of fruit. Through
the work he inaugurated and carried
on. the fruit growers have been saw
ino millions of dollars. They felt that
his talents could well be employed per
manently in their interests and they
induced him to accept the office of sec
retarv and manager of the Citrus Pro-
tective League, which is associated
closely with the Fruit Growers Ex
change, the latter being a cooperative
society of growers controlling the larg
er part of the citrus crop. In the lass
annual report of General Manager b.
A. Woodford, he shows how the ex-
change handled during the past year
10,s42 ,S31 boxes, or 2s,123 carloads of
oranges and lemons, a little over 81
per cent of the total California crop,
about 40 per cent of all the oranges
and 35 per cent of the lemons eonsum-
ed in the United States. The returns
for this fruit were $50 100000, and the
average price paid for the fruit Free
on board cars was $1.S9 per box.
During the seven years the exchange
has been in existence it has sold f,r
cdSn ABOUT TSJ,DUV.Vbt WoitH VI VI
anges and lemons for the growers, and
the losses through failure to coll =,
or in transmission of the funds have
been less than $4,000 or about l-l50 of
one per cent.
A government official, in acknowl-
edging the receipt of the report con-
tanning these facts, found himself
growing enthusiastic. He wrote:
hos arti i1xr FOR sand
ing me this most remarkable document
the report of the general manager
for the stockholders of the California
Fruit Growers exchange. There ought
to be enough inspiration in the work
of this association, as shown in this
document, to lead the producers of ag
ricultural products throughout the en-
tire country to take up co-oaaratlve
methods of marketing their products
and purchasing their business supplies.
Nothing could more emphatical,v state
the efficiency of the management Of
this cooperative concern than that Us
losses through non-collection of bills
have been only about 1850 of one per
cent.
Gone most impressive fact is that
for six or seven cents per box yol can
Guiding your wonderful system of ad
vertising and of statistical informa-
tion which enables you to svstemati-
eally distribute your car and broken
shipments to the cities and towns in
proportion to their immediate needs,
thus serving the consumers, at all
times, with a splendid product at a
moderate price. wish the people of
the entire country could grasp the sig
nficance of the work that is being
done by your two associations, as
shown by the results given in this re
port.
ssThe members of your organization
have every good reason to feel crate
full that they have had loss of less
than 81 in $4,000, thus giving them
almost perfect assurance for payment
of their product, as compared with the
- e..