The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-04-18

Nine out of ten of the citrus grow
ers of Florida. whether affiliated
with the Florida Citrus Exchange or
not, will state that they regard this
organization as the most potent fac
tors for the general good of the in
dustry that has ever existed in Flor
ida. A similar attitude toward the
exchange is held by bankers, mer-
chants and business men generally,
even though they may have no di
rect association with the body. New
corners to Florida often are puzzled
by the freedom and apparent SINGER
ity with which favorable express
sions regarding the work of the ex
change are made on every hand,
when these are considered in connec-
tion with the comparatively small
volume of fruit marketed by the or
ganized growers.
Persons, who have lived in Flor
ida for a sufficiently long time to be
personally familiar with the develop
ment of the citrus industry in the
past twenty years, recall that, fol-
lowing the destruction wrought by
the great freeze in 1895, the pro-
duction of oranges in Florida for
some years was not on sufficiently
large scale to make the marketin 6
of the fruit present any problems.
Grapefruit was practically unknown
and the orange crop was the only
one in the citrus field that offered
anything to be sold at the north
The supply did not at all meet the
demand, and growers had no par
ticular trouble in disposing of all
they had for sale. Before the freeze,
the orange production of Florida had
reached such a volume as to make
the marketing a matter of consider
able concern, and Just year or
two previous, an organization had
been formed to handle them better
In less than ten years after the
time of the freeze, Florida orange
production had come back. In
fact, it had reached a volume great
er than that had been attained in the
old days. With no system what
ever in the marketing, the question
of securing returns that would make
the crop profitable became serious
The growers could sell their fruit
ION the tree" to spectators who ad
vanced few cents per box early il
the season. These spectators some
times were able to dispose of tn,
fruit later at great profit, some
times they were not so fortunate
sometimes the growers got NOR
than the amount advanced NOR
often nothing else. If the grove
did not choose to dispose of the crol
in this way, he could consign it t,
a. commission house in some north
ern city, depending upon the hon
esty of the latter for the returns.
In many cases, there were no re
turns. A few growers, producin!
superior stuff, went north and eStab
lished marketing connections whicl
enabled them to get, in a fair aver
age Of instances, enough out of thei
fruit for their groves to be profit
able. AS the production increased
the number of crops sold at price!
which gave the growers adequate re
turns for their investments and la
Dor, decreased proportionately
Finally, grove owners awakened tC
the fact that their efforts were con.
tributing to the prosperity of the
manufacturers of materials, which
they used in the production of cit
rus fruits and to that of the trans
portation companies, which carried
the fruit to the market, as we'll as
enriching commission men and
spectators, but returning very little
to themselves.
Following this awakening, there
was discussion all over the state as
to the best means for the protection
of the growers. A committee, COM
posed of score or more of the most
intelligent men in the industry,
made trip of INVESTIGATION to Cali
fornia. In that state, the same prob
lens had been confronted and in
large measure. solved, through the
California Fruit Growers exchange.
Upon their return from the Pacific
coast, the Florida investigators de-
termined to follow out the same gem
eral plan of operation, The Florida
Citrus exchange was formed as
result of this determination, its ba-
sic law differing only in some minor