White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-10-22
WHO IS TO BLAME FOR
PRESENT PRICES?

| LA Ilno oCooSA, WAoA ASo ~OAiiPhSoS-
ions oflarge prouuc Ion, spray residue,
due to the September freeze, apple
growers will get "hck" out Of the
/ following discussion between a grow
er, a marketing agency and retail
grocer published in recent issue of
the Seattle Times:
Excessive profits charged by Sc
attle jobters and grocers on apples
that come to them all boxed and
ready for the trade are one of the
Washingtons great apple industry
nearly wiped out unless steps are
George w. Dilling, former Seattle
said today.
The high resulting prices to the
consumer, he charged, are making
tive and greatly cutting down con-
sumption.
Since 1919, SAID Mr.. Dilling, most
of the states best orchards have lost
money and have been steadily de-
creased in size by owners grubbing
out acres upon acres Of trees. Con-
sumption of apples all over the
United States is decreasing and thou
sands of cars of the fine fruit now
lie in railroad yards of Middle West
centers unsold.
AS viewed by Mr. Dilling there ap-
pear to be two. other reasons for the
present situation which are subject
! to remedy.
]. Grocers do not dare to buy direct
from the growers, for if they do the
jobbers threaten retaliation by re-
fusipg to sell the grocers their othsr
seasonal fruits, such as bananas,
oranges, etc.
2. Seattle shippers bring here great
quantities of culls which should not
be on the market and which sell in
tie Yakima Valley at So ton, and
then retail these low-grade apples at
81 to 81 box, making great
profit.
Instead of the consumer now being
able to buy extra fancy Roman Beau
ties, the best baking apples, or extra
fancy Jona:hans, for $1.75 box, he
now must pay $3.50 or 81 box, Mr..
Di.ling SAID. Yet these same apples
can be delivered direct to the grocer
from the grower at $1.29 a box, the
29 cents being the shipping charges.
The jcbber buvs the apples for 81
a box f. o. b. Yakima and sells to
the dealer at $3.50. The dealer then
adds another dollar for the profit
and the result, Mr.. Dilling says, is
little consumption, for the consumer
can't and won't pay such prices for
apes.
1 Restaurants and hotels are buying
culls by the carload for their pies,
whereas the eulls ought not to be on
the market at all, growers say. These
cu.ls ars shipped loose in the car. If
they are put up loose in tox they
run thirty-six to thirty-eight pounds
- the box, or, if packed, average
forty-two pounds.
The extra fancy Roman Beauties,
larger sizes, run rs to 100 apples per
box and only the sizes which average
90 to the box are in any demand, Mr..
Dil-ing said. The same holds true of
the extra fancy Jonathans. These
same high-grade apples could be
shipped by the carload to the Puget
Sound market for $1.29 box. If the
jobber then added so cents and the
6ASSSl " SCtlSo lCl IllCU SHARE Oh
Profits, the top price to the consumer
would be $2.z9, but Mr.. Dilling be-
leves that the consumer ought to be
able to buy these apples at Sl.75.
With the lower price, consumption
would be greatly increased ard the
states apple orchards could find a
market for their product.
Mr.. Dilling said h.. lid not suggest
| fHtc ~tl,a -
remedy for the situation, but he feels
that unless some steps are taken the
apple industry will become less and
less an important productive asset to
the state.
"App'e growers making the charge
that the jobbers get that high profit,
or the grocer either, are mistaken"
said an official of the Ryan Fruit
Company, speaking for the jobbers.
We can buy the extra fancy Roman
Beauties and extra fancy Jonathan,
TOR instance at $l.15 box at the or
freight charge, making our cost here
Sl.30. We are selling to the dealer
| at $1.50 box and you can buy all
you want. at that price.
with forty or fifty jobbing houses
A+SAS, "Ainl SAoASC WOu-Q VIC UdVS 10
make such an unreasonable profit?
We are anxious to move our apples,
but we have to make a handling
charge"
"The trouble is with the growers"
said Frank E. Kannair, secretary Of
the Retail Grocers' Association. "The
g.sowers are not cooperating. They
tried to get marketing organization,
but because of their factional jeal-
cusies, they fell down. Also, they
have huge production this year and
are trying to get freight rates to the
east reduced. The grocer buys only
such Quantities of apples as his
patrons will use, and many grocers
buy direct from the grower. It's nom
sense to say that the jobber won't
let the grocer buy direct. But when
the jotter buys and then has to de-
liver the goods to the dealer, he has
to add that charge to the cost of the
GOODS"