Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1917-02-06
MUST ADVERTISE BERRY
FOREST GROVE MANUFACTURE
Err FEARS COMPETITION.
Interstate Commerce Commission
Holds Axe Over the Loganbery
Industry in Bottle Rates Case

The universally advertised grape
Juice and the attitude of the rail
roads serving this section Of the
country seem to be the chief obstacles
to a brilliant future for the logan
berry industry in the Willamette val
ley. The valley is admitted to pos
sess the soil and climatic conditions
best suited for the culture of the
berry but these natural advantages
are dimmed somewhat by the market
ing problem.
Loganberry growers, juice manu-
facturers and fruit packers from
many parts of the Willamette valley
and the state of Washington, who
attended the hearing of the bottle
rate case in Portland recently, unite
in saying that whether the loganber-
ry industry in Oregon shall remain
and continue to develop or shall sim
ply pass out Of being depends upon
the decision of the interstate conn
merce commission in this case.
The railroads have come in for a
good deal of criticism as result OF
this hearing. W. Ell. Paulhamus, gen
eral manager of the Puyollup Valley
Fruitgrowers association, who was
an interested witness at the hearing
in Portland said:
"In order that the loganberry juice
industry may develop, it will need the
assistance of the railroads. The big
competitor of loganberry juice is
grape juice, which is manufactured
extensively in the east. If rates on
containers west-bound and on the fin
ished products eastbound are unreas-
onably high, the loganberry and ap-
pie juice manufacturers will not be
able to compete with the eastern pro-
ducts.
"Another thing to be taken into
consideration is that it costs only
500 to $25 ton to manufacture
grape juice, while loganberry juice
costs about $50 a ton. Grapes also
produce more juice, ton to ton, than
loganberries.
"It is my opinion that the north
ern roads are asleep at the switch
as far as their own interests are con-
cerned, in permitting the southern
and central lines to continue efforts
to help the California glass factories
by seeking an increased rate from
the east, on the theory that the con-
tainers must be bought in California.
eff fruit juice and by-product
manufacturers in Oregon and Wash
ington are not given reasonable con-
sideration in the matter OF freight
rates, it will mean that we will have
to go out of business and the exten-
sive manufacturing of fruit Juices,
jellies, jams and preserves must be
confined to the east.
eff our industries and land devel-
opment shall progress, we must have
reasonable freight rates and more
concerted encouragement from the
railroads. :"
"The loganberry must be advertsl-
ed" said J. N. Hoffman of Forest
Grove, who recently returned from a
six weeks trip to the middle west
and east, in the interest of the To-
cranberry business. Mr.. Hoffman says
he is free to confess that he is less
enthusiastic now than he was before
he made the journey.
"The farmers have enough acreage
in loganberries to supply the demand
at the present time," says Mr.. Hoft-
man. and he would not encourage fur
ther planting until the market is more
widely developed. "What the logan
berry business needs now is big ad-
vertising campaign, which would cost
mint of money, to catch up with the
grape juice people, who have already
spent millions in printers ink"
Mr.. Hoffman was in Denver, Chi
cago, Minneapolis, st. Paul, Cincin-
natl, Baltimore, Washington, D. c.
New York City, Omaha, Salt Lake
and other cities, and all the time he
was talking loganberry juire-to bic
wholesale people, bottling works, and
manufacturers. He thinks that his
trip will help to put the loganberry
on the map. If the juice is to be
well established in the east, he thinks
it must be shipped back in large cans
and bottled back there, as the cost
of freighting bottles west and east
again makes the cost to the consum-