The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-03-24

land and New Jersey. Peaches, to
matoes, plums, snap beans, corn
English peas, in fact everything tina
grows right here in Florida, ant
even pineapples from far away
Hawaii. Why, it's ridiculous. Flor
ida, the nations fruit and trucl
patch, like" he snorted.
Yes" spoke up a third man, who
had been a listener, joining in the
conversation, IN tell you of my ex-
perience down in one of the lower
west coast cities a week or two ago.
Tomatoes are necessary to my ex-
istence. | have them all the time
if it is possible for money to pro-
cure them There were few served
on the hotel table the first two days
that | was there. Then they stop
ped appearing on the menu. / stood
it for a day or two and then asked
why there were 40 more Can't get
EN- responded the proprietor
None in the market But see by
the papers that they are shipping
thousands of crates every day from
the docks and trains Can't get 'em,
he repeated. They come here already
Grated for shipment Buy them by
the crate, then. | retorted we are
tired of eating timed goods. We
can get those at home-yes, and
I fresh tomatoes, too Can't get EN-,
was the laconic answer That made
me mad"
Il went down to the dock and in
! quired if it was possible to buy one
or two or more crates of tomatoes
that arrived for shipment. ] found
that it could not be done, as all of
the crates that came in were already
sold, having been bought at the ORR
ginal shipping point or in the fields.
Neither could | find any at the
| i-IOtGlS SUI 70. E@Adl Ill III Ill SD1llt' vi
the crates, | found that they were
net fully ripe and ready for eating,
the shipper counting upon the time
consumed in shipment to ripcn them
by the time they reached the north
I the handlers if it would be possible
to buy more fully ripencd tomatoes
at the fields, Yes. he replied,
they'll be glad to sell if there was
any market for them.
That gave me an idea Making
up small party, | charted a launch
and went down the coast for a dis
lance of only five miles Here I
found around some hundred acres of
tomato fields, with the fruit in all
stages of ripening, and one or two
packing houses in full blast. Going
into the packing house | watched the
method of sorting and packing. u
noted, as the shipper had said, that
only the half-ripe fruit was being
packed, and that any fruit that was
too ripe was rejected. Just outside
the packing house was the Gull pile.
where the ripened or damaged fruit
was thrown, later to be dumped in
the bay.
Inquiry developed the fact that
| could buy all the ripe fruit that |
wanted at a nominal price, practical
ly nothing. | asked why this fruit
was not brought to the local mar
ket in the city. Can't get nothing
for en- responded one of the grow
ers, the merchants will only give
you trade for EN-. or else not
enough to pay for hauling EN- up
| Why don't you can them?' | asked.
'Mought be done he replied indif-
ferently."
purchasing half bushel and
making arrangements for supply to
be delivered to me at the hotel every
week, | returned to the city and laid
them before the hotel proprietor
and told him what | had done. After
that we had tomatoes the whole time
was there, and my example forced
that hotel man to also make arrange
ments to supply his other guests
with them. 1t just needed initiative.
| that's all, he concluded.
You've half spoken the right
words" | said. Initiative and per-
sistence. Somebody to start the
movement in the right direction and
then to keep it moving. Everything
| you gentlemen have said is true-toO
| true-and it is a shame and dis
grace to my State that it is true.
but there is a reason for it, and a
| remedy. The reason. very valid
and human one, when all is consid
cred. Not that | am excusing it, but
that | can explain it and the expla-
nation is logical, and the outcome of
present economic conditions as they
exist in the marketing of our fruit
and vegetables and the absence of
any attempt to remedy them. either
by the growers themselves, the sew
1eral marketing organizations and the
failure of our cities to enact benefi-