The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1915-03-18

- Arcadia Is 10 work together for
themselves, through en- organiza-
tion already In working condition,
and the only one In sight Is the
Florida Citrus Exchange.
II the meeting is truly a grow
ers' movement for the growers, we
wish IL success, but we believe
that II the animal inside the fleece
Is examined closely he viii be
found he possess yacy long teeth
indeed. Beware Of !sinagog;cs,
nharisees. men sounding rrass
cymbals loudly, ana WOLVES in
sheep's clothing. The growers
should think for themselves"
This is the "unkind,st cur If nH.
and we can not believe that the editor
OF the Grower would have penned such
words had he been better informed
This meeting is called wholly in lie
interest Of the growers. The chairman
OF the meeting Is a grower, the secre-
tnry a grower, tn committee Of sewn
appointed by the chairman to present
n plan OF organization is composed eN'
clusiyely Of growers.
No one IS eligible TO membership rn'
less he is known as n grower Of clirn&
fruits. We are at loss to know frnn
what source came the inform9rlon up
bn which this article IS basel. These
tnen are coming together because, nruFh
OF their fruit is yet unsold, ana what
Ihas been sold In scores Of .instarces
/ have not brought enough To pay the
freight. We know iJefsonallv OF one
Instance where ? grower anI shipper
we \Rplled onto put mp 500 since the
precel mi The sale lacked this amount
,nfApaNkt the expenses. How dare
"a. Hmaf o say that ne even "beieyes
thaNif IN animal inside the fleece is
examtn&d closely he will be found to
possessl very long teeth indeedT The
fact is. II these conditions long con-
tinue the Dor grower win need no teeth
at all and viii wish he had no ap-
petite.
Now a few words as TO the "Prepos-
ferrous Plpr.' orr space will not per
NIT q" elaborate discussion, and Meth
err I, = needful g., ,lls time. This sub.
f. v,li oe discussed fully at the mass
moetlns seXt Saturday. Suffic It to
say Tor the present that this o~slni2a-
tion does not propose to fix p sc and
hold the fruit until this price Is sob
tanned or let it fall on the ground"
1t is true that n minimum price will
be fixed, but If conditions prove this
price to be too high in order to meet
the competition Of other markets, ther
most assuredly the org lization viii
have business sense cg. III to lowei
the minimum prize to meet this com
petition. The only possible way t,
defeat the plan will be for the grow
ers to refuse to cooperate. Failure Is
impossible If the growers stand togeth
er. Whether they will do this or mo-
is nm untried quantity but we mus
confess that we see no reason fO
| sending the fruit north unless some
! body In the north wants It. PeOpl
| usually have q way Of manifestini
their wants, hence we anticipate Their
will be plenty Of buyers IL the trad
needs the goods. If there be no nee,
Of the goods, then let the factorie
close down. Don't keep on manufaC
turing goods when your shipment sale
do not even so much as pay the freight
The growers are aroused as neye
before. They are not complaining =
much at the prices Of fruit In the norII
as they are at what they receive. III
prices in the main have been reasora
bly, good, but the grower is not recejy
ing his part. To illustrate: We hav
before us an invoice Of the sales OF
car load Of grapefruit consisting o
$40 boxes, shipped from this place t
Grand Forks, North Dakota. Thi
fruit sold for $780, TO- a good pdc,
averaging s.. "a per box. But let's Sc
how it rounds out for the grower. II
paid $40 for picking and packing; tn
freight was 1867 81, and the colnmis
sion merchant charged $3.50. - a.
selling, while the grower oni
received S99.57, or 20 cents De
box, not enough to pay tn
cost Of fertilizer alone. Had he co!r
mission man charged reasonable I've
cent, per cent. in proportion TO VIVA
commission brokers' or drummrrS II
ceive for selling other staple good
flor every fair minded person know
this fellow is not justly entitled {
nearly twice as much as the producer
then this grower would have netteu G
cents per box on the tree, which is
profitable and entirely satisfactor
price4 Somebody's wings must be clil
ped, or else good bye to the Florid
fruit business. The grower only is III
key to the situation. He only can rer
edy this great evil. Will he do it,
In conclusion we desire to say tina
we have no war to make on the Citru
Exchange. We are not striking bac
In any spirit Of unkindness for we fe,
sure that the article was written 4
Ignorance Of the real facts. We ha
hoped, and yet hope, when we under
stand each other, that there NAV be