The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-26
CALIFORNIA FRUIT INDUSTRY FAMOUS FOR ITS MARKETING Fruit Growers Exchange One of Most Perfect
 Organizations WHAT IT HAS DONE
 FOR THE GROWERS Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Spent On Advertising Builds
 Business to Enormous
 PrOpOr tiOns
By HOLLAND

New York, April 5.-(Special.) .)-For a few hours yesterday, G. Harold Powell was in New York, having stopped over while on his way from Boston to Los Angeles Although his time was much occupied and limited. MT. Powell was able to spare enough to tell some of the re- suits of California's largest industrial de- velopment His account covers not only the past P months but some of the ear Her years of the California Fruit Grow CTS association activities.
 No better authority could have brought the latest information from California. re- specting this industry than MT. Powell himself is. He is the chief executive au- thority of the Fruit Growers exchange of California, Mir Powell did not dis cover his qualification for this important work until after he had served for some 15 years in the department of agriculture at Washington His especial responsi- bility was the plant department. He could not have realized while engaged in ex- pert and professional work of this kind that the day would come when he would have supreme executive authority over one of the largest of Americas agricul- tural industries
 Even in California, where the varied in- dustries and activities are so many, there may not be full appreciation of the mag nitude of this fruit-growing industry, and what it means each year in new wealth represented in dollars not only for Cali fornia, but all other parts of the country.
 The Fruit Growers exchange does every thing in g. large way. AS it is in daily tel egraphic communication with all parts of the United States, so that in that way it can secure reliable information respect ing markets, the movement of cars and various other things which it is impor- tant to know, it does not hesitate to spend money in large amounts for tele- graphic service. Last year $S0.000 was ex- pended in telegraphic tolls alone. Large as this sum is, the expenditure was jus tified from every point of view. This year, MT. Powell says, there will prob ably go out from California 48,OO0 car loads of citrous fruits. These will be dis tributed throughout the entire country The extraordinary feature associated with the distribution throughout the country of these California citrous fruits is that the entire cost is less than per cent on the delivered value of the fruits-that is to say, the value of the rruit as delivered to the exchanges.
 THE SMALLEST IN THE WORLD
 Careful investigation has shown, that this is the smallest cost for the distribu- ton of commodities to be found anywhere in the world, and this is one of the con spicuous triumphs of the Fruit Growers association.
 Authentic statistics gathered by this as- sociation contain another unparalleled record. The figures show. that in Il years, through the agency which dealt with 2500 wholesale buyers, there was collected and sent to California s170,G G00,- coo. The amount increases each year. and at the end of another II years will be considerably in excess of $170, 0,0O0, ,000 But 1t is not the size of these figures stated in dollars which is so remarkable as is a reversed calculation, so to speak, which shows that in Il years the losses occasioned by bad debts, accidents or damage to the frluit were in the aggre- gate only $S000. This amount Is less than one two-hundredths of per cent on the aggregate business. And it is known that with respect to the smalness of this loss another record not equalled probably anywhere else in the world has been made
 ECONOMIC PUBLICITY
 The Fruit Growers exchange is becom- ing one of the greatest sales organiza-
 
 ago it undertook greatly to increase it's markets, realizing that if larger markets were obtained there would follow in- creased population and increased devel- opment of the agricultural interests in California. So a publicity department of the exchange was organized whose pur- pose was to develop larger consumption of the products of the citrous farms, and to do this by advertising widely the ad- vantages of the use of oranges as food or beverage that being the one qualifi- cation of the orange for meeting in- creased market demand, and also widely advertising the two possible uses of the lemon. With great skill and real econ omy, which did not hesitate at large eX- penditure, this advertising and educating campaign was so carried on that last year the exchange spent sS50,00O on this single department of it's activities. This expense was justified by the increased markets it created
 How wonderfully the development of this industry has advanced prosperity in California, and indirectly in the rest Of the country, is shown by the fact that there are now 14O0O farmers, men of great ability, industry, many of them of high scientific attainments and all possessing unusual business capacity. who are now engaged in cultivating and marKeuns