The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1914-09-11

Wnen any eastern business mousse
pays the freight of so cents per
box, advances $ y so cents per box,
with interest on freight and stor-
age costs accumulating, or a sum
per box-all this on a perishable
product, do you think there is much
! freedom left to the organization as
to what price this fruit can be sold?
! lions make such freedom a nonen-
tity. Experience dearly paid for
has unquestionably proved these
| facts. The Distributors are abso
lutely opposed to this manner of
business and as far as the growers
of the Northwest will permit, will
refuse to place themselves in such
disadvantage. To remedy this they
are frankly and fearlessly advocat-
ing the growers to provide home
storage. Their growers are investing
hundreds of thousands of dollars
to provide home facilities. For
some reason or other the Wenatchee
District is the least able of all dis
tricts to store her own fruit. Hood
River, Yakima, Walla Walla, Spo-
kane and Payette, are provided
with ample home storage for prac-
tically all their hardy keepers. The
Distributors are building an insti
tuition which not only assemblies
this fruit, but which sells it. We
are endeavoring diligently and CON
sistently to as far as possible to free
ourselves from the control of COM
mission houses We are endeavor-
ing to build an institution that will
go into all parts of the consum-
ing world and hunt buyers, thing
which is very necessary when they
do not hunt us.
The Distributors are trying to
build an institution which will dis
tribute this fruit orderly, which will
do away with glutted markets, with
wholesale consignment, with plac-
ing ourselves to the absolute mercy
of the other fellow. We are try
ing to make merit the only recog
nized difference, not strategy and
the ability to see just how much
less we can sell under the other fell
low to get the business curse
which will always prevail as long as
many different organizations try to
market this fruit. The only inter-
est many competing institutions
have in common is to see how we'll
they can Guido their competitor.
Fellow growers, this is nothing but
matter of common horse sense,
long learned by experience and long
ago corrected by other businesses.
Growers Should Keep Some Things
to Themselves
When fruit is placed in storage
away from shipping point, it places
| the shipper in very unsatisfactory
position to make proper sale. BY
this system all buyers know the ex-
act amount the shipper has for sale,
information which is already too
freely exploited. We know of no
business that endeavors to sell its
product by publishing how much
| they have for sale, unless it is a
fake business. You ask banker
for money, Immediately he assumes
an attitude of conservatism. He
does not say, eyes, I welcome you,
my vaults are filled with money, I
am very anxious to serve you" We
should use at least little of this
common sense in our business, and
place ourselves in position to be
the least conspicuous, especially as
to having the trade know just how
much fruit is for sale. Nothing will
help this more than home storage.
The buyer seeing several hundred
carloads of fruit in storage away
from shipping point, knows of the
SO cents freight, together with stor-
age and interest costs. He further
knows this fruit is perishable. With
this always in view he plays his
game, a waiting game, game
which is usually at the expense of
the grower.
A Big Problem Facing the Grower
One of the most momentous
problems confronting the North
west grower is the magnitude of the
physical problem now fast ap-
preaching. problem which every
thoughtful man should view with
concern. There are planted in the
four Northwest states over 100000
acres of apples. Eliminate 80 per
cent for failure, which is radically
conservative, and there remains
100000 acres to bear apples. A
full bearing orchard will average
better than a half carload to the
acre. This means that in less than
four years, at least $4,000 carloads
of apples must be handled. A noted
railroad authority recently stated
that if in 1917 the Northwest will
have $4,000 cars to ship, it will
create a problem of shipping which
the railroads of the northwest are
incapable of handling. He further
said that If all the passenger
I coaches baggage cars and refriger-