Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1925-05-04
IN OUR
VALLEY

III ERE is thought for the citrus
AAf,uit g,owers Of the Lower RI.
Giande Valley, the cabbage farmers. the
Po'a'o FARMERS, the bean growers all
the miscellaneous producers of Valley
products.
The Sun-Maid Raisin Growers Asso
ciation of California spent S465 900 in
1924 to advertise Sun-Maid raisins.
NEARLY A HALF MILLION DOL
LARS IN SINGLE YEAR TO ADVFR
TISE RAISINS.
The California Fruit Growers Ex-
change spent $l8O,OO0 in 1924 to adver,
tise California oranges
Ihe California Prune and Apricot
Growers spent SlSO,OOO in 1924 in pro
noting the sale of prunes and apricots
through advertising.
The Florida Citrus Exchange spent
100000 in 1924 in advertising Florida
grapefruit and oranges.
How much did the growers of the
Lower Rio Grande Valley spend in 1924
10 advertise Valley grapefruit?
NothIng-unless we except a quarter
page ad in "a Houston newspaper last
in which about $50 was spent urg-
ing consumers in Houston not to buv
green grapefruit.
OF course. the Valley grapefruit pro-
duction has not yet reached the poin.
where the Valley can spend thousands of
dollars in advertising
But the Valley could and should be-
gin advertising its grapefruit to the
otlA ~, 4
The expenditure should be increased as
production warranted it.
Until the Valley learns that it has
something which other folks in other
sections want, but which they will not
and cannot buy until they know about
it it will find its market becoming
smaller as its production increases.
Twenty-Five to so cents a crate set
aside for advertising Valley fruits will
take care of the advertising feature of
the business.
VIM. Wrigley. .r.. & Co. sell moth
ing but five cent packages containing
"planks" of chewing gum. Yet VIM.
Wrigley, Jr., & Co., in 1924 spent ex
actly million and a quarter dollars
advertising chewing gum.
VIM. Wrigley, Jr., & Co. had to sell
25,O0O,000 packages of chewing gum Il
pay their advertising bill alone.
If you have any idea that the radio
is replacing the talking machine, just
forget it. The Victor talking machine
folks spent $l.9OO.000 last year to ad
vertise talking machines. If there was
no market for them, Victor certainly
would have stuck to his money.
Who and what in the Lower Rio
Grande is responsible for this:
A produce merchant at Waco, Tex,
wired to a shipper in the Lower Rio
Grande Valley to send him carload OF
a certain vegetable at $l.5O-a bushel,
hamper or whatever it was.
The buyer paid the draft arrival
of the car.
So far, so good.
But the same train brought to Waco
a similar vegetable, consigned to two
other produce merchants
They were willing to buy-at their
own price. They fixed the price at $l
where the first shipper paid $50.
The buyers who received the con-
signed shipments were therefore able
to 90 to the retail with price two
thirds that of the first buyer.
So, the first buyer said to a valley
man who had asked him why he does not
buy Valley stuff:
81 am not going to buy from the val
lev IL | have to meet that sort OF COM
->s,ststion. If those people do not know
anouNh to protect the people TO whom
thew sell, certainly haven't the time
or the hclination to try to teach them
their business"
Think it over.
Arouncdments have come from Nc
A1len that the contract has been let Tor
.ha building of Carroll College, the
hn;,d;ngs to cost about S2OO.0OO
The Valley has splendid pubhc
..hoo, system. In the next few years
- will have developed an equally effi'
cent system of institutions OF higher
learning. -,
brownsville probably will have an
ether institution of higher education al
~ distant date. exclusively for young
ladies'. Villa Maria Academy, TO De
huiit br the Sisters of the lncarnate
word. will represent an investment OF
d, ouarter million dollars in bulidihgS
alone. , .c
In the meantime, the inclination
;r,nrove our public schools goes rlgh'