The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-11-05
APPLE DAY

served throughout the United States as
apple day. The publicity that the fruit.
which may become our national fruit,
received was beneficial. Newspapers
and publications handled the subject
editorislly from many different phases.
A thing that is called to the attention
Of growers and market men alike, and
the remedying of which may be OF
more benefit to the grower than any
other one thing. is the difference in the
wholesale price received by the grower
and the ultimate sale price OF the
apple. The grower has never received
a smaller price than this year, and yet
the retail merchant in most instances
sells for the same old price. This Gus
tom keeps to a minimum the consump-
tiOn OF apples.
The campaign that was waged In
Portland, with the slogan Of Eat
Apples-Buy the Box" will have un-
told benefits. Good apples have been
placed on the Portland market. Con-
sumers are finding that they can secure
fine apples at fair prices. They buy a
box and when the last apple is eaten
more are wanted.
We give below clippings from publi-
cations in different parts Of the country
on apple day. The following appeared
in an editorial of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer just before October 90:
Thousands of bushels of apples rot
under the tree each year because they
are not considered worth picking up
and marketing. And while this waste
is going on thousands of families, with
in easy shipping distance of the trees.
are in want; those apples would be
godsend, but the gap has not been
spanned. II is situation often be-
moaned, but never corrected.
"And now the United States is to
have an Apple Day. In all sections
emphasis is to be given on the goth to
the apple as a food product of low
price and high health value. Eat APP
Piles to be vigorous and to cut down the
cost of living. is the message. Ii is a
good movement, and one to be encour-
aged.
"But how much will it profit an ur-
banite TO be told that apples are cheap
food If the prices he is obliged to pay
the retailer belle the statement? What
good will it do city family to know
that apples would improve its health
unless some influence can intervene to
cause the grower to pick the fruit and
bring 1t to market
Evidently an 'appple day should be
devoted In part at least to the study OF
transportation and distribution. Many
will believe that it is not SO much lack
of knowledge of the value of apples
as il is lack of opportunity to secure
apples fresh and cheap that cuts down
their consumption to the point Of sug-
gesting a special day to boost the
fruit. s~~wsa - .~@a
"Under the auspices of the United
States department of agriculture, ap-
Pile clubs are being organized among
the boys of several northwestern and
mid western states, for the purpose OF
cutlivating skill in that branch of pro-
ducton. Its object is similar to that
of apple day. though it looks further
into the future for results. All these
activities deserve ncouragement, but
they miss an important part OF the real
apple question.
The attitude of the public in the city
of Pittsburg and other eastern thickly
populated centers may be gathered
from Frederic j. Haskins article which
appears in another column of this
weeks Glacier.
Apple marketing conditions have
caused the Saturday Evening Post to
bring forth the following editorial.
entitled, "A Symbol of Waste;
1.-TWO hundred and twenty million
bushels is the Department of Agricul
ture's forecast of this years apple
crop; but, from monetary point OF
view, you might almost as we'll say
yards of fabric as bushels of apples.
rhe fabric may be silk or calico; so
may the apples.
"Thus, when il comes to the average
price received by producers we find 1t
ranges from so cents in one state to
more than three times that in another.
In adjoining .states the difference is
great-the August average price IN
Minnesota, for example. being 81. 40,
against so cents in Michigan.
"The same thing is true, to degree,
of most fruits sand of long list OF
other agricultural products, ranging
from chickens to milch cows. We grow
a vast lot of inferior stuff when only q
little greater investment of money,
labor and intelligence is needed to grow
a prime article.
''The half-pruned, half-sprayed, half
cultivated apple orchards that dot the
country symbolic vast waste.
The product of many of these orch
ards is, it is true, waste. On account
of the prevailing climatic conditions
that tllow heavy crop of good fruit
every four or five years, the grower
hesitates to expend much money in he
culture of his orchard. And yet, wher
the poorly cared for trees do produce {
poor product, the result is that the rea
orchard producing sections of the
country are seriously injured by al
over glutted market.
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