Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-04-18
PINEAPPLE GROWERS BELIEVE Much
FRUIT WILL ROT IN FIELDS IN 1914

up 10 these statesmen to get rid OF
200 cases OF Hawaiian pineapples
each, during the year. Do you sup
pose there is a single one OF them
that couldn't deliver the goods? II
there should be, that one wouldn't be
holding his job very long"
But the fact of the matter is that
last years pack Of 10000 cases has
not all been sold yet, and the new sea.
sen is almost at hand. Practically
every. packing concern has a lot of
fruit still unseld in it's warehouses
right here in Honolulu, and some of
them have unsold stock in San Fran
cisco. For some reason they haven't
been able to dispose it. The jobberS
are more or less Indifferent. belieE-
ing that all they have to do is to
wait until they need it, and there
will be plenty to be had-and that the
longer they can wait the more profit
able it will be to them.
The packers through their associa-
ton. have recently begun an expensive
advertising campaign in the popular
magazines, and the firm of Libby, Nc
Neill & Libby is at the present time
devoting a large amount Of its ad.
vertising space in pushing Hawaiian
pineapples, as any reader of the ma
gaines will be in position to sub
stantiate. 1t is expected that this
publicity will stimulate the trade, but
to what extent no one can more than
guess. There does not seem to be
any lack of effort on the part of the
packers to sell their goods, and the
fact that every case not sold repre-
sents in cost to them something like
So which has been actually paid out
for fruit, labor, cans, sugar, labels
and boxing. One company at the
present time has about 10000 cases of
last years pack still unsold land they
all have more or less) which at So
per case cost represents over $780,
600 tied up. The interest on this sum
will be over $1,000 per month. And
in the case of at least a part of the
firms, this cost is actually represent
ed by an oVerdraft on which interest
is being paid.
Unless these statements are basicly
wrong, it Is not remarkable that the
packers should limit their pack to
what they believe they can readily
dispose of, or at least confine them
selves to taking care of the fruit from
their own fields. If they have need
for more they will then buy from the
small growers, but not otherwise.
No Selling Combine.
J.. d. Dole, president of the Hawaii.
an Pineapple Company, which at
present has the largest output of any
concern in the islands, has specifically
denied that his company has ever
had any. understanding, with other
pineapple firms regarding prices. 9th
eryevidenee points to the same conclu-
sion regarding the other companies.
1t would possibly be better for all
concerned in the business were they
able to pull together, although as sew
eral managers have pointed out any
such agreement would be illegal, and
would subject the parties to it to pro-
secution under the federal antitrust
laws. But the relations between
these, firms-particulaFl during the
past year-seem to have been any.
thing but harmonious. From the view.
point of an outsider the present policy
seems to be the old survival of the
fttest kind, of each for himself and
the devil take the hindermost. Both
of the big slashes in prices were in
stituted by the Hawaiian Pineapple
Company against the wishes of most
of the other firms, and considerable
bitterness was thus engendered last
year on this account On the other
hand probably every cannery has
been suspected or accused by the
nfhnrc ot with
having secretly cut prices or granted
discounts to favored customers. 1t
is an axiom in all lines of packing
that the lowest price fixes the price
for all, hence the resulting i'll feeling
when 1t becomes known that one pro.
Queer is underselling his neighbors.
Until the past few years, these
things did not so much matter The
demand was still ahead of the supply, |
and the pack was quickly snapped up
by jobberS on future orders. The |
pack was then ordinarily sold out |
before June each year, and while the
fruit was still green in the fields. 1t |
happened that a packer |
would later find himself short on his |
estimates, and be compelled to hustle |
goods to fill his contracts, and some |
times having to pay premium to get
them.
These were the days when the Wa
liawa pineapple men, who had inaug. |
lrated the business. and who had |
started with nothing. were buying au-
building fine houses. and |
ioing little globe-trotting during the
slack season. None of these men
are exactly in destitute circumstances
1t the present time, but the profits are
coming in slower than formerly.
Roughly figured. the returns for The
present seasons pack will be some
hing like 50 coo. geo less than it would |
nave been under the prices of a year
lgo provided the entire pack is
sold promptly. The total cut during
he year has amounted to perhaps
between 20 and - per
'ent
cost Being Reduced
But if the cut rates will move t he
Goods, the loss will not he too Sc
'erely felt, for the cost Of preserving