Lower coast gazette., 1914-05-09
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1914.
Marketing Lower Coast Produce.

|ucts when shipped 10 diilioot AZ
narket are such as to develop continued inquiry
:. 70 how # will be possible to avoid the dlsas-
,~o,,e losses that occur from sending produce 70
. market already too fully supplied when some
,tber market may be scantily suppllea anu
,rbora far better returns would be realized.
We note that the majority OF the orange pro-
d,cers in California advertise their me puppy
navel oranges, saying that this crop IS system.
o4;oo,,v distributed all over the country ana the
advertisement calls the attention OF buyers 10
tho California orange and recommends 1hem as
an excellent article for eating, morning noon Or
n;oht agreeing with practically everyone. IN
this way these united Californlans are a'temp'
mo TO ~eoualize market values throughout inc
ao,,ntrv and to secure a constant and reasonably
well paving market for their orange crops
ORANGES have the advantage in beng a COM
narat;vely staple article and capable OF Delne
lent in cold storage for months without mater
ial injury. The peach crop Of the eastern STATES
and the fig crop of the southern states are 30
~fnoitiye in their quality that thus 1ar II mas
heen almost impossible to get any regular mar
k.t value for them. Years ago the New YORK
market was flooded with Delaware peaches a.,
some neriod in the year almost every year anu
a. other times there would be a great scarcity
and prices were double, triple or even quad
ruple what they ordinarily would be.
Here in Louisiana recently, up at lndepeho.
ence. on the Illinois Central Road, 2 coterle OF
strawberry buyers combined against the pro.
ducers and insisted on lowering the prlce OF
strawberries. The producers resented tins Ell
fort and considerable shipments were mace 10
New Orleans and for some days New orleans
has been enjoying better strawberries tnah 10
usual in it's experience, as ordinarily the very
hest strawberries produced in Louisiana are
sent to the northern states.
!. Farmers organizations and gardeners or
carnations all over the country have been en-
deavoring TO solve this problem. The success
Of horticulture in the: seuth depends largely up
on its final solution in some satisfactory way.
But apparently we are nearly as TAR away as
ever from any such solution. 1t was thought
some time ago that the matter was compare
lively we'll settled by the buyers from the
north coming down to Independence, LOUISIANA,
and buying and paying for strawberries right
on the spot. This worked well for some years
and the town Of independence grew up to be
quite a large one, with several banks and did 9
large and successful business in many dlrec-
tons. This recent combination OF the straw
berry buyers is the first strawberry war that
we have heard of and it is extremely unfortun'
ate, as wars Of any kind are generally very IN.
furious to all parties concerned therein.
The Lower Coast is destined to be our great
market garden, just as is the Pacific coast from
San Francisco right down the coast for hun
treds Of miles toward Los Angeles. Those go
ing up to San Francisco by the Southern Pacific
lines and going up on the coast line have motto
cd the thousands Of acres of vegetables and es
~pecially Of lima beans and of sugar beets tina
are seen from the car windows, nearly all tn
time. There never has been much complaint
California concerning distribution. The chic
complaint there that we heard was the fact thu
the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroad
were charging freights on oranges, grapes an
other more porishable fruits up to the ver
highest degree that the trade would bear. vi
ting California a few years ago the local new
papers claimed that the oranges were netur
less than rs cents a box to the sexual produce
because Of what was then named as extortlo
ate over charge made by the railways.
We have always thought that the Cutting
the markets was the most serious difficulty
be overcome and that could hardly be arrang
for otherwise than by some express cofnpa1
or 8 organization Of that kind that wou
take over the business and give it compile
publicity and the express or some such co
pany should be charged with free action II I
disposal Of the produce in whatever mari
they might select II, for instance, the We
Fargo Express Co, from California, o.
American Express Co., from New Orleans W
charged with such work they could take all
produce that would bear express charges .
with telegraphic information that they sho
be getting constantly, they could send the ?
duce to the best markets available, endeay
inp to keep reasonable supplies in all mark
nL:. n~~blcro hoa olroadv hoon wnrknd