The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-02-22
No. 10
"SkOOkum" in 1914
TO FRUIT GROWERS:

~ hUll UhON EhS:
At the annual meeting of the SKOO-
KUN BOARD OF GOVERNORS in
the summer of 1914, the application of
the WENATCHEE GROWRS EX-
CHANGE was received and favorably
passed upon and they were elected to
membership. One of the cardinal prin-
ciples of the BOARD OF GOVERN
ORS has always been to submit each
new applicant for license to pack
SKOOKUM to rigid inquiry and ex-
animation as to their eligibility and
fitness. New members have in all
cases been very solemnly warned as TO
their responsibility of playing the
game" in good faith and at the same
time warned that failure to live up to
the requirements would result in the
prompt withdrawal of their license by
the GOVERNORS. The EXCHANGE
has never assumed any rights in the
matter of the admission of new men,
bers or the expulsion of delinquents.
These matters lie solely in the hands
of the growers representatives the
BOARD OF GOVRNORS-with only
the power to recommend on the part of
the EXCHANGE. 1t is splendid
commentary on the intelligence, watch
fulness and good faith of the SK00-
KUN licenses that in all the four years
in which SKOOKUM has been packed,
occasion has never arisen for the ex-
pulsion of one of the participating as
sociations and in only very few cases
has it been necessary to warn or disci-
pline individual growers or packers.
1t is the policy of the BOARD OF
GOVERNORS, however, that in case
the of the grower or packer failing to
live up to the requirements after re-
ceiving one warning, the license to
pack SkOOKUM is withdrawn.
Right here want to correct mis-
understanding as TO the grade of the
SKOOKUM brand. 1t was never IN
tended that SKO0KUM should consist
of anything better than strictly
extra fancy. In other words, it was
never intended to be STRICTLY up to
the grade requirements for extra
fancy. 1t doesn't make a box of
apples extra fancy to stamp the words
extra fancy" on it. The apples in
the boxes must come strictly up to the
the TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS of the
official grade. There is, of course. no
excuse whatever for stamping box of
apples extra fancy that is not fully up
to the requirements, yet in many
cases, as everybody knows, it is done,
but where this sort of practice is at
tempted in the SKOOUM deal, the
offender is subject to immediate expul-
sion from the deal and the benefits
| thereof.
Encouraged by the successful out
come of the 1918 campaign, the
BOARD OF GOVERNORS decided to
take another step forward and increase
the output of SKO0KUM. Accord
ingly, subscriptions to the pack were
invited, and 1853 boxes were shipped
in the fall of 1914. The 1914 pack
| consisted of Grimes Golden, Delicious,
Stayman, Rome Beauty, Newtown
and Winesap. The brand had attract
ed much favorable attention on the
part of the New York trade the year
previous, so there was considerable
rivalry on the part of the principal
operators for the 1914 pack. After
extended negotiations covering several
weeks, prior to the harvest, sale was
consummated of the entire output to
the firm that is known throughout the
country as one of the largest boxed
apple dealers in the United States:
| STEINHARDT & KELLY. This firm
is one of the highest class operators in
the fruit trade, both financially and
morally, and have done very much for
this industry. AS everybody remem-
5ers, 1914 was the most adverse mar
ket year this industry had ever exper-
fenced. There was the largest crop of
apples in the United States and Can
ada that had been produced for many
years. business and financial condi-
tions were at low ebb, and then, to
cap the climax, war broke out in
Europe on a scale unprecedented in
the history of the world, on August
1st, just at the critical time when
market sentiment could scarcely have
been worse; credits were paralyzed
and business of every kind thrown in
state of semi-panic and demoraliza-
tion. NEVERTHELESS, the EX-
CHANGE successfully negotiated the
sale of the entire SKOOKUM pack at
an average f. o. b. shipping points, of
$I.00 per box, which worked out, in
the different varieties as follows.