The Daily Missoulian., 1913-02-09

fortune-lf not Of the right variety, e;
address by w. f. GWin, general
manager of Northwestern Fruit IGx-
change, Portland, Ore, at the annual
convention of the Washington State
Horticultural association, North Yak
ina, Wash, Jan. II, 1879
What is the matter with the fruit
business of the northwest?
1t is characteristic of the weak and
derelict to charge their failures to
outside influences. Let us. upon whose
strength and sanity the welfare of an
industry depends, and who, in turn,
depend upon that industry, not to
make this mistake. The fact is that
most of the ills that flesh is heir
to" are from within. not without.
This is an axiom of human activities
as we'll as human life. On this hy-
pothesis nearly all of our own partic-
ular economic ills can be attributed to
our sins of omission and commission,
and the few remaining ones, justly
chargeable to the other fellow, can
be corrected without the costly neces-
sity of eliminating him.
In the first place, there has been,
within and without our ranks, recl-
less promotion of the industry, and
Bull" speculation in it's securities
Oand values) until there has come
the inevitable period of reaction and
readjustment, and the morning aft
err headache which follows a specula
tive debauch.
Up to this time, it may conserva-
lively be said that our investments
have mainly a speculative value; we
are right now at the period of our
development when these values must
be shown to be intrinsic or else re-
adjustment downward. Their CONVEX
sion from speculative to intrinsic
character depends upon our ability to
demonstrate a sustained average earn
ing power for a period of three to
five years. in correct proportion to
the investment. Scientific manage
ment, applied to every phase of the
business from nursery stock to con-
sumer, is the only thing which can
accomplish this, in the best districts.
In the less favored districts, where
production is less generous and regu-
lar, where overhead charges are nec-
essarily higher, readjustment of VAL
ues seems inevitable and in some
cases, reversion Of the land to more
suitable crops.
Attendant upon this first evil. fol-
lowed closely second and almost
equally detrimental one, namely, the
extensive planting of inferior varie-
ties. These paintings are now, for
the most part, in bearing, and the
ic pnirpr into tho m Y al in
violation of every economic law, and
at the peril of our cherished reputa-
ton For, it must be remembered
this reputation was originally found
ed on strictly high-class varieties and
eternal vigilance is the price of its
maintenance. Some idea of the ex-
tent to which this inferior variety
matter figures in our market prob
lem, is had from the following quo-
tation from a Washington newspaper
of recent ISSUE 1t refers to the hold
ing of a single association, of a sim
gle district (and one of the best in
the northWest in a single storage
center:
"There is now in storage in one of
the eastern market centerS 1000
boxes of association apples, of which
the number of varieties is 70. Most
of this fruit is of inferior varieties.
and should not be grown here. We
should reduce our varieties to 10 at
most; not to exceed six or eight as a
matter of fact"
The foregoing pronouncement is
absolutely correct. The aggregate of
these inferior varieties becomes ap-
palling. The future holds absolutely
no hope for common varieties 1t is
worse than shipping Goals to New
castle to ship them to the east,
where they can be produced at far
less cost. and of equally good and
sometimes better quality. The soon
er we in the northwest eliminate
them. the better. for meanwhile they
are positive detriment to our in
dustry.
The third count in our self f-indict-
ment is voiced in the following quo
tation from report No. 90, United
States department of agriculture, on
Systems of Marketing Farm Pro-
ducts"
Certain weaknesses have appeared
in cooperative marketing as in CO.
operation for other purposes. The
business cannot thrive under an in
competent manager; the board of di-
rectora must not nag the manager
and require him to accomplish re-
suits without the power to do so; de-
ficient capital is fatal, and credit il
buying and selling is often so. A
common weakness of these associa
tions is found in desertions by mem.
bers; instead of selling all their pro.
ducts through the associations, the,
sell some of them through othe
channels. If a competitor offers to
member higher price than he get
through his association, he sells t.
the competitor. Sometimes the bus