The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-01-13
THERE IS CHEER FOR The FAITHFUL

THERE Is CHEER FOR The FAITHFUL
"When Fruit Men Get Scared" is
the title of an article written by James
II. Collins. who spent several weeks
here last summer, appearing in The
Country Gentleman" of January /.
But the article bears a message that
should be gratifying to all fruit men.
Of tried districts, and especially cheer
ing to the faithful among the growers
of the Hood River valley.
MIR. Collins visited the most Of the
apple districts as we'll as the citrus
belts last year. His opening paragraph
shows that he observed conditions pret.
ty closely. He says:
The big crop last year in famous
winter.fruit sections seemed to be. not
apples or oranges but meetings! Long
before blossoming time the clans began
gathering. From the citrus groves of
California to those of Porto Rico the
growers came together for debate and
organization, as well as for tructions
and Reorganization, and the apple
world was In ferment from the
Rogue River valley of Oregon to the
Shenandoah valley of Virginia.
In.another paragraph he says:
So growers everywhere began hold
ing meetings. criticizing officers, man.
ayers and market methods, withdraw.
ing from old organizations and forming
new ones, listening to explanations,
plans, dreams. One kind of growers,
with clear head, understood that it
was the time to hang on to his inter-
ests. even though mortgages and Rloans
made it desperately hard, and with the
aid of the banker he hung accordingly.
Another type OF grower, yielding to
gloom and Encouragement, talked of
letting go. of getting out of fruit into
some profitable line, of chopping down
his trees and raising grain or hay on
fve-hundred-dollar land
Then comes the message to growers
and shippers and the cheer for the
faithful. Extracts from the body of
Mr.. Collins article are as follows:
These are mighty interesting times
in the fruit industry. On the surface,
with all the clamor and pessimism, it
often looks as though everything were
going to pieces. But down underneath,
the real meaning is reconstruction on a
sounder business basis. Old evils in
production are being eliminated and
broader ideas of marketing are coming
in everywhere. The need for organiza-
tion at home, where fruit is produced,
is clearly seen by most growers, be-
cause shortcomings are close at hand.
The need for organization in the big
markets is not so clearly seen. because
those markets are far off, little under
stood by growers, and the factors that
make for success or failure, good prices
or bad, are not in evidence to them.
Big crops were factor in the ruin.
GUS prices of year ago; SO was war.
But it is fairly certain that with bet
ter understanding of market conditions
by growers and better organization of
shipments, there would have been much
better prices.
Nine growers in ten believe that low
prices are due to Cutting of markets.
Real market gluts of fruit like winter
apples, which can be stored and. held
for months. are much rarer than is
commonly supposed, and while citrus
fruit cannot be held SO long, once it is
off the tree, it still has margin of
stability that makes it entirely differ
ent from berries ssand soft fruits. which
must be handled quickly.
Seventy-fve per cent of all the so
called market gluts uf winter fruit,
with falling prices, are probablyoprice
scares instead. They can be prevented
by better organization Of growers and
produce men, and that will come as
soon as the operation of price panics is
more widely understood.
Under normal circumstances, by
skillful organization, storage and sales.
manship the northwest would probably
have made some profit on box apples.
But individual growers, under pressure
Of fright or debt, began consigning
their fruit to eastern markets in COM
petition with growers associations. and
in a little while whatever confidence
existed was destroyed, and prices bad
dropped TO less than freight charges.
One of the big northwestern growers
organizations sent representative
thr0ughlthe middle west selling apples.
lie found many towns where box fruit
had never been handled. and sold lots
Of three to ten cars in such places.
Fruit dealers paid association prices and
began selling the consumer at moderate
margins of profit. to assure steady
trade all winter.
The association had plenty of fine
fruit in its own cold storage to supply
demand through these new outlets Gre
sted by real salesmanship. But as soon
as healthy distribution began, individ-
ual growers in the northwest would
ship in two or three cars that repre-
sented their whole crop, and sell lit
tie below association prices. In little
while box apples we're on the toboggan
slide, and the individual growers often
got less than freight charges for their
fruit.
This price was scare, pure and sim
pie. There was no glut in those mar.
kets. Dealers had been shown how to
make money out of box fruit. but the
small individual shipments of few
cars. coming in at slightly lower
price, destroyed confidence. The fruit
dealer who had his money invested 10
box apples did not know how cheaply
his competitors would be getting simi.
lar fruit tomorrow. So he closed out
his holdings and turned to barrel ap.
pies, or oranges, or something with
greater stability.
The unorgsnized grower brings price
panic into the market in this way again
and again, pulling prices down to a
ruinous level. causing loss TO all grow.
ers and dealers. He sets out with the
idea, usually, that he can market his
stuff himself to better advantage than
anybody else can do it, and he winds up
by selling ii at price five to ten cents
below the market, because he lacks the
real selling ability and the broad mar.
ket Information that would enable him
10 dispose Of his fruit at profit.
In the produce trade there is also the
small, fiy-by Knight buyer who picks up
few cars of stuff in growing districts,