The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1912-04-02
COST OF Pro-
DUCINC ORANGES
(SpecisI to the Silver State.)

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good business man is supposed to
know what it costs him to do business.
! Every railroad is supposed to know
what it costs it to haul freight
! As a matter Of fact most business
men only guess at the cost of doing
business and the railroads know very
/ little as has been demonstrated at
hearings before the interstate com
merce commission, about the "eost per
ton mile. -
They merely charge s'all the traffic
will bear This seems to be about the
only fixed rule in railroading.
| When it comes to farmers. they are
notorious for loose business methods
But farming is rapidly becoming more
businesslike. Take the orchardmen.
They are getting highly scientific. For
instance, the citrus growers feel that
lit is necessary to maintain a tariff to
enable them to continue doing bust
ness They know to a moral certainty
that they can't produce lemons and
oranges in competition with other
growers-say in Spain, Sicily, Cuba or
Mexico.
Why? Well, Just look at the wages
they pay farm labor abroad; and all
other kinds of labor, too, Off that mat
ter
''Oh, well. says congress, ssyou
may be right. but why should you
keep the Sicilan, the Spaniard. the
Mexican, or anyone else out of this
market? Isn't it free country?
4 sLive and let live is good MOTTO. =
9Let MS understand this replies
4 the fruitgrower. ''Do we understand
( that yon are representing the Sieilan
lemon growers in congress-. or the
4 lemon growers of California? Are you
here guarding the interests of the or
ange growers in Spain, or those in
4 Florida? Do the laborers in Cuba and
Jamaica and Central America send
you to Washington by their votes and
pay taxes to meet your salary. mile
age and stationery accounts, or do the
\ laborers in the United States meet
these billsgo
"Ah, WELL - replies congress, "these
questions of political economy are
evidently too deep for you; besides, 7
must hurry and dress for a dinner to-
night, given by the Amalgamated
Fruit importers, who have asked me
+ to be the guest of honor. And then,
svou have never proved to rs that it
really costs more to produce fruit in
4 this country than abroad. -
Perhaps it is quite true,' mused
/ the fruitgrower, that, in a spirit of
T Christian charity we should run this
country to build up a military estab-
/ lishment in Germany, help England to
remain Mistress of the Seas. pay the
war debt of Japan and create a fund
/ for Russionizing Manchuria. But if
congress really represents me instead
of the coolie, the peasant and the serf
across seas, we shall soon know, for
/ III undertaket put this question be-
! fore it in black and white
And so for the first time in the his
/ tory of the business of farming, the
exact cost of production has been de-
termined as. nearly as painstaking,
scientific investigation can determine
/ it. The work has been done under the
supervision of a scientist trained at
Cornell and in the department of ag-
riculture, G. Harold Powell, whose in
vestigations in the citrus field have
made him worldfamous.
AS a result of these Investigations,
covering the experience of growers on
many thousands of acres of orchard in
California-where the science of hor-
ticulture has reached a high grade-it
/ is declared that the total cost of grow
ing a box of oranges in California is
$12937 (this including the cost of
putting on the ear for shipment) and
that the cost laid down in the market
is $22706, or 1S1 cents per dozen.
The dealer must have his profit above
this price.
1t has previously been demonstrat-
! ed what it costs to grow lemons, and it
was shown conelusively that if the
duty were lowered, the industry could
not live.
AS an expert professional opinion on
this feat of cost-estimating, the Fruit
man = Guide says:
"It is doubtful if a more compre-
hensive and painstaking array of sta
tistics involving the most minute,
scientific and careful research has ever
been gotten u in any line of indus
try
1t will be on data obtained in such
careful scientific manner, both at home
and abroad-for the foreign field has
been thoroughly investigated also
that congress, when it does take up
this subject, will be asked to act.