The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1913-08-05
BETTER APPLE
MARKET NEWS

a commercial fruit.growing section De
lieyes in his egotism, that the supply
end of the law of supply and demand
as IL operates in the marketing OF ap'
pies, will be governed by the crop
from his section and few dozen oth'
er commercial fruit sections which ne
names to you in rapid succession ana
with the confident air of one having
inside information.
II he is a friend of yours and taxes
pleasure in boasting about the import
ance of his country's cdop on the APP
plemarkets of the world put these
questions to him:
How many barrels of apples nave
YOU generally shipped each season,
for a few years back, to John Smith,
General Merchant Podunk Center!
twenty-five to fifty
How many did you ship him last
year,"
None. He wrote me that the local
farmers had apples to sell instead OF
having to buy as usual
The crop around Podunk 10 not
generally taken into account In crop
reports, is it?'
Certainly not, it dosen't cut any
figure"
But you just said 1t cut a hgure
az least as big as twenty-five in your
sales last season And If ninety-nine
other Podunks cut an equal figure
with the dealer to whom you have
bee accustomed to sell the bulk of
your apples can you see why he was
not so anxious to bid up the price on
those 25 barrels of yours?''
Having thus got the big apple orch
ardist on the defensive and possibly
taken a little of the concelt out OF
him, really how confident is 1t safe
for you to be that you are correct in
your implied argument that crop re
ports to be of value must cover the
non-commercial sections as well as
those known to be big centers or the
industry?
Let Us Open Our Eyes.
Crop statisticians differ in Their OPP
in ons, The crop reports of the Inter
national Shippers association which
are apparently based mostly on re.
ports from the commercial sections,
have generally been more safe to fol-
low than the Governments apple-crop
reports, which theoretically, at least,
are based on reports from everywhere.
However you may feel ABOUT where
the emphasis should be placed n con
sidering the origin of the crop inform
alton you are safe in taking pos
tive stand in favor of more accurate
market news at apple-picking time
and a more wide distribution there
of 1t Is now the custom, and proba-
bly, will be for some time, for most
apples to pass from the hands of the
grower at picking-time for cash con.
siderat on. The attitude of both buy.
er and seller toward that cash con-
sidegation depends on the market
news that each possesses at the time.
The buyer is generally at an advant
age because he has some guidance in
the crop reports of the International
Apple Shippers association. The grow
er could have access to the same I g.
ures If he tried but generally does
If he saw them, simply out OF suspi-
cion of the distributors. Both ordinal-
lily are matching wits in a game OF
guessing, pure and simple. Gambling
n the turn OF the market.
Beyond doubt carefully complied
and unprejudiced market news at
picking.time would put the apple IN.
dustry on firmer basis, remove
much of the expense loading that now
keeps up the prices TO the consumer
and help everybody. The Information
al AppleShippers' Association claims
N'NN ~ Ni'p iNPoiNS Noht Niocc W
ing the bill. But unfortunately so
far its officers have never taken steps
TO get in touch with the growers
through the horticultural societies 80
as to remove from the minds Of the
growers the suspicious which are nat
ursl against reports coming from an
organization with which the growers
organizations have never been accust
omed to cooperate.
The most helpful $ On for the tut
ure solution of the apple-marketing
p'ob!em is that the government Off
cials who will probably have a hand
in the reorganization of the national
methods of collecting and distr but
ing crop reports seem to realize that
the apple industry in this country Is
deserving OF more than the formel