White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1934-04-05

Marketing Agreement is so amended
as to provide that the growers deter
mine the minimum code price to the
growers, our efforts to secure a separ-
ate GROWERS CODE will terminate.
Why should not the growers set the
minimum code price on the fruit that
they own and have produced them
| selves?
@: Is a code fixing the minimum
price to the grower practicable?
A: We believe that 1t is. We fail to
see where 1t would be any more i'm
practicable to enforce minimum price
to the grower than 1t was to enforce
minimum price to the consumer Of
interstate apple shipments, as the pres
ent code purports to do. We believe
that much Of the difficulty In enforce
Ing the present code was due to the
fact that there was no minimum price,
below which fruit could not be bought
from the growers. With an immense
supply Of fruit In the hands Of the
dealers, bought at price far below
the code, they were In position to
unload at a good profit on low mar
ket, or to dump vast quantities of
consigned fruit rapidly on brisk mar
ket, reserving their cheaply obtained
fruit for later, and better, markets,
having back of them the assurance
that at no time would there be pos
sibility of privately held storage stocks
/ Lo1@
imum code prices
In a strictly Growers Code" of
course, there would have to be a meth
/ cd provided to meet the costs of adj
ministration. In the existing state
"butter-fat code" this is provided for
by per pound assessment. We be-
lieve that an assessment of, say, one
cent per box for administering the
apple code and providing a reserve
fund to cover unsold fruit, would be
sufficient. Such details would have to
be regulated by the grower delegates
intrusted with the duties of admins
tration. The costs of administration
and the amount of the emergency fund
would, necessarily, vary with the crop
as related to the market demand for
each season.
The practical need of a minimum
price code for the grower may be seen
in the situation last October when the
above quoted prices were offered for
winesaps. On October % we wrote the
RACE, Spokane as follows:
1--WE would greatly appreciate your
advice regarding these prices. From
newspaper articles we note several
criticisms of the failure of the farmer
to cooperate with the New Deal. Hav-
ing no target at which to shoot, how
may we plug the bulls eye? Is it de-
sired that we hold for higher prices,
or are the farmers to bid against each
other in dumping this fruit on the
dealers?
I'm past years, cash offer from
the dealer holding a mortgage on the
crop was tantamount to orders to sell.
I have not found single instance
where returns from fruit sold on COM
mission, after refusal of cash offer,
exceeded the cash tender, and only one
instance where the commission sale
price equalled the cash offer. A cash
offer has come to mean an order to
surrender the crop to the dealer, and
SO firmly has this idea seized upon us
that the above ruinous offer will, from
present indications, be generally &C
cepted by the growers here.
"If it is not desirable that this fruit
be marketed at this average price of
IS cents, or about Is cents below cost
of production, Q63 fancy predominant
ing this SEASON. could we not be Off
cially advised as to minimum? We
would cooperate"
OF course, no minimum was set and
the dealers secured vast quantities of
Winesap apples at prices far below
their minimum code selling price. We
believe that the growers would COOPER
ate in enforcing MINIMUM growers
net code price fully as WE'LL if not
better, than would the dealers in en-
forcing their code. Just why should
the growers be placed in an inferior
class?
I'm succeeding articles we will dis
cuss the prices received on winesaps
consigned from the Priest Rapids val
ley giving figures showing sales and
also an analysis of the costs of selling
and of packing, storage, etc.; the "con-
signment contract" and it's relation to
the marketing agreement; represen-
tation of the grower on the Commod-
ity Committee; the membership of the
Control Committee, and comparison
of the prices received by dealer for
his own fruit as contrasted with the
prices received by us for consigned
fruit.)