The Daily Missoulian., 1914-04-09

Don't tie yourself to your local as
sociation with a loose contract; tie
yourself tight, then sit tight and fight
and win" was the leading thought left
yesterday afternoon with large
crowd of Bitter Root fruitgrowers by
j. TT. Robbins of Spokane, former gen
efal manager of the North Paclflc
Fruit Distributors. and H. F. Davidson,
president of the Davidson Fruit com
pany of Hood River and a trustee OF
the distributors. The meeting was
held at the chamber of commerce
building. the large audience room be-
ing crowded with fruit men, some of
whom came the length of the valley to
hear words Of instruction and advice.
From O'Clock until in the evening
these growers listened attentively to
these two gentlemen, a period at the
last being given over to the answering
of questions. The addresses We're Won
derfrlly Instructive, concerning the
working principles of the distributors,
and that they will result in a strength
ening of the local branch of the larger
organizations is safe conclusion.
The meeting was presided over by
H. H Spaulding Of the chamber OF
commerce, who delegated the duty of
introducing the speakers to Ward M.
Sackett, a trustee of the distributors.
Mr. Robbins was the first speaker,
consuming considerable time in the
explanation of the evolution Of the CO.
operative thought as it's introduction
into actual practice. He stated that
r ,,,,1, .]pir- I'm NJ To
out OF London, so far as the bacon
trade is concerned, through CO. opera
tive marketing. something that could
not have happened through any other
agency, controlled by the farmers Of
Denmark Continuing along this line,
he stated that from 46 to 81 per cent
of the consumers cost reached the
pockets of the producers in this coun
try, and that in Denmark 81 per cent
of what the consumers pay returns to
the producer He declared that in
Denmark this reaches 25 per cent in
the egg business. He then declared
that the United States is far behind
every other enlightened nation in the
matter of CO. o-operation In Denmark
50 per cent Of all products are handled
cording to Mr. Robbins.
Touching on the investment propo-
sition. Mr.. Robbins stated that $780,
100000 is invested in fruit lands and
fruit trees in oregon, Washington,
Idaho and Montana; that with such
an Investment anything which demor-
allies the fruit business will make
hard times in those states, particularly
in fruit districts. He then argued
safeguard the business should be done
Continuing. he declared that the mar
keting problem is the one most vital.
You folks must get it out of your
heads that you are in the real estate
business, and understand that you are
in the orchard business declared Mr..
Robbins. so long as fasteners were
getting off the train daily and fairly
taking your young orchards away from
you at surprising prices You did not
have to worry about the market prob
lem, but now these buyers are not
coming SO steadily, if conditions in this
district are anything like Yakima and
Hood River conditions, SO you now
have an orchard producing apples
that crop is Your bread and butter:
you don't want to see the day you can
afford an automobile slip farther into
the future, SO you are now nightly
concerned over this marketing ques-
ton.
Taking up the work of the distribu-
fers during the past year, he declared
that mistakes had been made, but that
the organization had established bet
ter record during the time it had been
organized than had any other fruit
marketing organization ever formed in
the world. He declared that in accom- :
plishing these results, the central Of
flee had encountered gigantic difficult
ties and problems. with 5000 mem
bers there were 5000 ways of running
the organization, and the farther a
member lives from the central office
the more he knows about how il
should be run" Continuing, he de-
eiared that districts promised them q
certain number of cars Of apples, ant
they sold them, fully expecting to gel
them for delivery. but that in every
district the amount furnished fell fal
short of the amount promised HI
showed the situation this left the cen,
trail office in.
If YOU want to get the best results
help u.s. aeefaftd the speaker. Ut.
your fpfglsni2a tiol; get behind ane
push, give us the information W,
need and we will honestly do our part
This applies to honest grading ant
packing in most important sense
Keep the grade up, but don't try t,
dispose of few boxes of apples at tn
price of better grade by mixinl
them with better apples. Sell you
apples in the grade they belong in,'
Mr.. Robbins called attention to tn
fact that last fall and winter was th
first time in 20 years that the appl
market advanced from the beginning