The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1920-12-16
REVIEW OF EXPORT
APPLE MARKET. MADE
BY Charles A. Malboeuf

Some time in the nineties the first
shipment of Oregon apples to a foreign
market took place. This was a widely
heraded event, full of interesting and
significant features. The apple was a
! NeWtuwn, the purchaser a cash buyer,
the export market London. The price
paid the grower was low, around one
dollar per box, but the opportunities
that SEEMINGLY offered outweighed the
price consideration. Thus the Oregon
Newtown attracted the British buyer
/ long before the modern orchard took
root, so to speak.
1t is quite clear that in the setting
out of the modern orchards, certain APP
pie varieties were deliberately select
/ ed because of their peculiar adaptable
/ ity to foreign trade. The predominance
/ of the Newtown throughout Oregon
/ testifes to that. We simply started
out, with wide open eyes, to raise a
product which. in size and variety, was
already standard factor in foreign
consumption, but to all intents and
purposes a difficult seller in our domes-
! tic markets. as the ancestral. grower
! himself had learned.
One familiar with the days of the
great planting impetus. recalls the ar
guments pro and con the possibilities Of
over production. Both red and yellow
varieties were brought into the discus
soin. That Overproduction was not ap-
| pretended appears to have carried by
general opinion. The Britisher was well
/ known for his fondness for the Newtown
at his breakfast table, the New Yorker
for his appetite between meals and
after dinner. for the Spitzenburg, ct
cetera. London, confidence was as
sured, could rapidly take our entire out
put of NeWtowns, and Manhattan all
the red apples we could possibly sup
ply. There was no danger whatever of
over production.
The Northwest apple industry was a
bold creation, prefectly sound at the
core. but in exporting needed many
things to carry it out successfully.
! Some OF these things we had, others
were ours for the moulding. others ex-
listed in a partial way only. Export
! trading is not hit and miss PROPOSE
! tion. 1t is a highly technical under
taking, based wholly on fundamental
principles and not on eXpedient prac-
tices. 1t takes hard boiled experience
| to master it properly. 1t requires defin-
! lJC pUllClGSs JuolOuSuly COtoIi uCJlNC
program, and intimate knowledge of
supply, demand and economic condi-
tions. A regular and never failing
source of supply, on the markets in
| season, is essential.
Export trading must be carried on
according to the customs existing in
the markets sought, and not otherwise.
! The establishment of permanent,
steadily growing trade is very difficult.
Direct and not indirect contact between
! the shipper and the purchasing trade is
particularly desired by the latter. Mu
! tual confidence between the two must
prevail. The relationship between the
laid down cost of the product and the
purchasing power of the consumer
abroad must be in exact harmony.
Now the Northwest has been ship
ping apples abroad for more than 25
years. From the beginning we have
never lacked any of the advantages
! necessary to establish ourselves firmly
verseas along the lines described. with
! the single exception of direct steamer
service from Pacific ports to the Euro
pean and other Atlantic markets. That
has been our paramount handicap, and
a serious one, because we were led to
believe, and justly so to some extent,
that our remoteness from the nearest
logical seaport. upward Of three thou
sand miles, stood as a barrier between
ourselves and the ultimate consumer.
This feature will be fully discussed
later. Meanwhile | am content we are
all agreed that at no time have the
! Northwest growers undertaken any
general export policy. No concerted
effort to work out a progressive pro-
gram of action has been made. Con
troll of our product intended for export
markets, in the hands of common
source selected from and representing
our own interests, has never been a
feature. No steady supply necessary
to hold and enlarge foreign trade, has
marked our recognition of funda-
mental requirement. In the true sense
of export trading we have played lit
| tie. if any. direct part.
We have sold to exporters when the
export market was good We used ex-