The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-09
Sound Advice to Fruitgr0WerS

exchange believes that there is onl,
n system which is practical in {
large sales operation of perishablt
fruits, namely, resident statesmen
The value of any commodity is baset
on supply and demand. IN order t.
obtain maximum value, the sales
manager must have, at his daily COM
mand, the whole demand of all the
markets of the world. Travelling
statesmen, as a main system, is ex-
pensive and impractical. I know OF
one large producer who tried that
system, and he says it cost him $500
per car to sell his fruit at unsatisfac-
tory prices. The trouble is that the
travelling salesman and the demand
only meet by accident. 1t takes one
man 30 days to cover the state of
Iowa thoroughly. When he is in Keo-
kuh the demand may be in Council
Bluffs and vice versa. The average
fruit dealer buys from hand to mouth,
and does not anticipate his wants
very far ahead. ONLY a few of the
larger operators in the big cities do
that That the principle of resident
statesmen is correct, it is only neccs-
sary to point out that practically ev-
eryone of tho large successful or
CARNATIONS have adopted it; the Cali
fornia Fruit Growers exchange, the
United Fruit company, etc. In the
same government publication from
which have already quoted, appears
the following:
The cooperative marketing asso-
citation keeps itself well informed with
regard to prices and market condi-
lions in the markets in which it sells
or can sell its goods. This is done by
means of telegraphing. The prosper
u marketing association doing a
large business 1t the present time
eXpends a large amount of money in
t~elegraphing. The annua expense of
the Eastern Shore of Virginia Pro-
duce exchange for telegraphing is
about $4,000, n the Growers ex-
change which handles the principal
portion of the citrus crop of Califor-
MIA is $75, 900. The best success of the
marketing association necessarily de-
ponds on a knowledge of the best
markets in which to sell the prod
ucts. The of the association
must, in effect, be in every market in
which he sells, and all the time"
Obviously, under a system of trav-'
cling statesmen, this would be impos-
sible. Do not misunderstood me-
travelling statesmen are all right, as
an auxiliary, but not as a system.
Resident Statesmen.
How, given the necessity of having
resident statesmen in all the markets,
the problem hat confronted the eX-
change (and it is the problem of the
whole Industry was how to maintain
without assistance, such a co"mprehen-
n costly system. The Califor-
Fruit Growers exchange can do
it, as they are dealing in a commod-
ity which is packed and shipped from
every day in the year.
Their system of sales branches costs
them, so I have heard, $4,000 per
or $500 600 per year. The
United Fruit company can maintain
so branches of their own throughout
the year, and without assistance, as
they, too, have a product which is
shipped the year round. But we in
the northwest are dealing in a COM
modify which is harvested through a
keted through a maximum period of
about six months. No matter, then,
what our total volume, we could
afford to maintain a branch Of
flee system without assistance, unless
we wish deliberately to adopt an eco.
nomically Wasteful method. For, with
the statesmen busy six months n
idle six months, there would be not
only an unthinkable economic waste,
but also deterioration in the men. No
man can work actively for six months
and loaf the other six months, and be
as good a salesman or business man
at the end of his six months idle
ness as he was before. Besides all
this, the men would fall out of touch
with the trade and become rusty. Had
solution to this question before it
started business, it would never have
started. 1t found the solution in OPP
1t found there We're other
associations in other parts of the
United States, producing other and
nOn-cOmpetitiVe fruits and vegetables,
whose commodities came into the mar
ket at opposite or nearly opposite sea-
sons to ours, and who had the same
need for resident statesmen that We
had. n who had also the same eco
nomic problem. n by intelligent
of these factors, a ton
mage was provided that rotated all the
year round, and the service thus CO.
Operatiyely established. was nut in
charge of specially trained superin-
tendents and has worked beautifully
and at a cost vastly lower than any
one of the cooperating concerns could
have created it independently. At the
present time there are 1913 branch
sales offices in the exchange system.
of these offices is responsible
FOR a certain territory in it's vicinity.
we aim, and come very near, to
being in contact, every day of our
active season, with every one of the
10000 carload buyers of fruit in the