The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1923-07-13
IDAHO POTATOES
FIND BIC FIELD
FOR MARKETING
twenty-five States Last
Year Use Gem State
Tubers; Quality Is the
Main Factor.
Boise. Idaho. July 10.


Editor The Tribune:
Dear Sir-A few weeks ago | ha,
the great pleasure of visiting my for
mer home in Kentucky. It's I'm,
old town, founded in 1880, just acros.
the we'll known Mason-Dixon line
Among the boyhood friends 'callet
on was one who had succeeded hi.
father in a fourishing retail grocery
business. OF course | talked Idaho
to him. Sometimes l think it is my
mission to go into all the world and
preach the gospel of Idaho to every
creature.
81 know something about Idaho.
he said, interrupting my flow of elo-
quence. "Come back here" And he
led me to the rear of the store where
he had his office and handed me an
invoice for a carload OF Irish potatoes.
He showed me some of the potatoes,
too. They were fine baking stock, av-
eraging eight to twelve ounces each.
Believe / would have known where
they came from even il | hadn't been
told.
Il tried out small lot of your Ida
potatoes last year." said my friend,
'and they were unanimously adopted
by the first families of our section of
Kentucky. This season / have been
using them almost to the exclusion Of
all other potatoes and the demand is
growing constantly.
was glad, of course, to hear all this
and proud, too. because the Union Pa
cihc had been active in its endeavors
to promote the widest possible mar-
kets for idaho products, particularly
potatoes So, when | returned to
Boise, | undertook to make a person
al investigation of the distribution of
Idaho potatoes. The auditor at Salt
Lake City furnished me statement
covering the movement for the season
of 1929 10 the states east and south
of North Dakota, South Dakota, Kan
sas and Colorado.
The figures surprised me and | be-
lieve they will surprise you. How
many states do you think were repre-
sented? I'll tell you-there were Is,
a large majority of the states in the
territory mentioned, in fact majority
of the entire union And we added for
good measure the District OF Colum-
bia.
Figures are dull reading but every
citizen of Idaho ought to be happy
over these. The 25 states and the
District of Columbia took total of
l0.l30 cars. Alabama used 20 cars;
Arkansas 242; Connecticut is. District
of Columbia S, Florida 80, Georgia OF,
Illinois 23l7, Indiana 20, Iowa 81.
9, Louisiana $50, Maryland
5. Massachusetts, SO. Minnesota 7,
81, Missouri l247, New
Hampshire 2, New Jersey l36. New
York .423, Ohio 100, Oklahoma 1899,
2l7, Rhode Island |,
Tennessee 26s. Texas 3ll6, Wiscon-
sin IS. While | knew that the u. ?.
had been active in its endeavors to
ind markets. particularly in the terri
ory above mentioned, had not real
zed that our Idaho products were
inding so wide a range Of markets.
The most surprising feature of the
statement is the fact that we shipped
potatoes to Minnesota and Wisconsin,
both very heavy producers of this
staple. Don't tell me its foolish to
hip Goals to Newcastle.
Yours very truly.
Joel L. Priest
P.S.-Onc time asked storekeep-
n how he was able to sell so much OF
certain article. Quality, my boy"
,,d 4. oo,,,f,tx, ~