Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1924-04-17
Georgia Vans Offer The Georgia
Farmers An Opportunity Similar
to The California Co-operatiyes

anu cooperative marketing of Georgia
fams, the farmers of Georgia are Off
eTed an opportunity not unlike that OF
me ~ Snla commodity organiza-
How lny of you ever thought of
eating rN4ns three times a day when
you were boy, say twenty-five wears
ago. Most of us never saw any rails
ms except during the HOLIDAYS. Most
~ tney came in little prize box
Drought by Santa Claus. But what of
loudy! You can get them at every
corner drug store. You can buy them
IN any. cooked form at hotels, cafes,
ana other eating places. You eat them
and like them too.
Then years ago the California rails
IN growers were selling their raisins
at about cent and a half a pound,
when 1t was costing them two cents
a pound to grow them. They were los
ing money of course, and the bigger
the farming operation the bigger the
loss. They didn't quit. They got busy
and organized and began advertising.
They began telling the people what
tine food they were. They began tell
ing you how much iron they had in
them, and as result we began eating
them, and today they are selling five
times as much as they did ten Years
ago, and getting five times as much
for them.
They were "croakers" in California
who said they couldn't do it. These
croakers' said raisins wouldn't keep
and all that sort of thing. They offer
ed every sort of objection and hind
rance. They said people wouldn't buy
them except during the holidays, as a
dellcacy-that raisins weren't staple
commodity, and all that sort of thing.
But these California raisin growers
showed them. Roger Babson, the great
financial wizard says the California
raisln growers today are averaging
more clear money per capita than any
other class of farmer in the whole Of
California and that means the whole
United States.
The prune and apricot growers
have done the same thing with their
commodities. 'Sunkist" citrus fruits
are known all over the world, vet a
few years ago the owners of large cit
rus groves were cutting down their
trees and planting their lands in grain
and other crops of that nature, simply
because their lack of system in pack
ing, grading and marketing oranges
and lemons made these fruits profit
less. A few of the farsighted growers
said let's organize. They did. They
had ups and downs until they worked
out system that would solve their
problems, and today that same land is
the highest priced land on the Pacific
coast because these groves are ire
mendously profitable.
Fresno, California, the metropolis of
the ralsin growing valley called Fresno
Valley, was so dead broke ten years
ago that all wholesale travelling men
passed up the town, there not being
a merchant who could buy a bill of
goods on credit. The land on which
raisins were ching grown, was selling
tor SIS an acre, when it sold at all.
A few months ago, Roger Babson
J stated that Fresno, California is TODAY
l the richest town in the United States
ffser capita and. that Fresno county is
the richest county per capita. That
same land that was going begging ten
years ago at SIS an acre is today SELL
Zig tor $i.OO and up an acre. Organ
;aZ-l>n did that. Organization made
tn: ralsin crop tremendously profita-
b" and that made the land on which
they were grown ccrrespondingly
profitable.
Our Georgia farmers can do these
things with their Georgia Vans. If
these Californians could overcome the
difficulties they did with perishable
fruits, wei certainly can do the same
with sweet potatoes, because to saw
the least they are only semi-perishable,
We can, by proper methods, keep
them for months.
Like the Californians we can pre-
pare them in first-class shape, adver
tlse them and create a demand for
them. Every eating place you enter
you can buy one ore more California
products in some form, but not one
place in ten will likely serve Georgia
Vans, Why? Because we are doing
nothing to make people want them.
We are going to create that demand.
WSare going to make people all over
the United States and all over the
world, as to that matter, twan Georgia
Vans, because we are going to make
them so good that they will be far SUI
perior to any Others. This can on1v be
done by organized effort.
We are going to make Georgia fam
Gus tor her yams.
Every Georgia farmer should be in
terested in this movement. 1t means
a new money crop" a crop that can
be made after other crops have been
made, and made at less expense than
any other crop. 1t is a crop that is
less liable to failure than any other