The Republican journal., 1913-02-06


is perhaps Is cents box; not that if he
! has his own team. And he sells them
for five cents each, or, if particularly
progressive, three for ten cents. He
charges that price because he can pet Il
and if the consumer would only ACQUIRE a
little wisdom and keep posted on marke Of
prices, he could soon force the retailer to
sell for less.
The crop was exceptional this wear
except in the Hudson River valley,
Canada's crop was enormous. The price
at wholesale has not been high. In fact
it has been particularly low for the good
grades of fruit. The high retail price is
the result of the greed of the retailer
and the ignorance of the consumer. and
that is ali there is to it,
THE FARMERS FRUIT.
In spite of the jobber's fiat statement
there is considerably more to it. Even
taking his explanation Of the high cost
as true-and 1t is to a certain extent-it
does not explain why good apples are al
lowed to rot on the ground on the farms.
That is the fault of the farmer, of his
obstinacy. according to the iobber.
THESE farmers are simply pig-headed, )"
said an apple buyer for large concern,
man VINO travels all over the East buy
ing from the apple growers Il have been
to farmers In years when the apple crop
was light and have paid them 81. so and
even So barrel for apples. This past sea-
son went to the same men. could offer
them only 81. Is to 81. so a barrel for their
fruit. Would they accept it? ! should
say not. You paid me 81. so before for
these apples they said, Why should
sell them for half of that now?'
Il tried to explain that the crop was
much larger. that apples were more
plentiful, that the law of supply and de-
mand cut the price automatically. but
that didn't satisfy them. They could
not or would not see it. 'We won't sell
for that price, they declared. Wen
let them rot first.
And SO there were thousands of
bushels rotting on the ground three
months ago, simply because the farmer
was not willing to cut his profit little
because he wanted all or nothing.
COLD STORAGE TO THE RESCUE.
''Of course some of these farmers plac
ed their apples in cold storage and NAV
get their price for them late this winter.
but great number of them couIdn' [
afford to do that. In some instances
they would have had to cart the APPLES
perhaps twenty miles to cold storage
plant. So many of those who wished to
keep their apples stored them them
selves in farm buildings or in pits which
they dug. Not only have those apples
not come on the market, but great
percentage of them never will come. be-
cause they will spoil. Then the farmer
will blame the buyers again.
Despite all that is SAID about Cregon
apples and California apples, New York
is and has been for years the greatest
appIe-growing State in the Union. Vir-
ginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio also stand
high on the list in the amount of apples
produced. In these States by far the
larger share Of the apples are packed for
shipment in barrels instead of boxes.
Here, again, on the barrel apples, the
retailers greed enters into the question
of high prices, according to the iobber.
There are 90 quarts in a standard
barrel, +" he says. "A barrel of apples
can be bought a! wholesale for any price.
from 81 TO S4, tie last-named prlce being
an exceptionally high one, charged for
particularly fine fruit The retailers in
New York are charging this winter from
Is to 20 cents quart. Of course there
is not retailer in the city who will
admit that he gets 96 quarts of apples
out of barrel. Give him a liberal al
lowance and say he gets 70 quarts.
even at that, see the enormous profit.
Take So as an average price for barrel
of apples; the average is really not SO
high. Add SO cents for expressage.
Then take the lower price of Is Ger is a
quart and figure it out. Seventy quarts
at Is cents a quart equals S10.5O De-
duct $3.50 for the cost of a barre of
apples and there is 81 profit, or 200 GER
cent. Do you wonder say the retailers
are to blame for the high prices?"