The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1943-09-30

=
:, airing the harvesting season
~ cost this district thousands
No. on thousands of dollars this
up .r according to a review of the
. .ssrrv situation written for this
s, ansr by Mckinley Desgranges
r Tho Big Y. Not only was the
u :. passed up but due to the
.tra cost and losses sustained,
80 growers received much less
sor their product than they should
have. the letter explains. - -..
starting as early as last jan
n.rv the letter continues, many of
- having the responsibility of
handling and shipping the vari-
n,,s perishable crops began to
have grave apprehensions as to
,he labor situation. AS the days
rolled by, bringing us closer to
,be asparagus season, it became
more apparent that we would be
faced with a serious labor short
age.
Advertising, personal appeals
and various other forms OF invi-
tation were used in the attempt
n relieve the situation. The Food
for Victory committee of Yakima
offered their assistance, which,
unfortunately, it proved, was not
accepted until later in the sea-
son. This committee has done
a wonderful job in Yakima and
mart of Benton county this season
as well as last year.
Several of the key men in the
Big Y organization were brought
in from other plants to help out.
These men slept and ate where
they could and sometimes didn't
eat because of the closed restau-
rants on Sundays and the short
hours on week days. Had we
closed our doors and gone home
when the going got tough, blam-
ing the government and the OPA
instead of the Axis, I wonder what
the story might be now?
Asparagus season came on and
peak deliveries were soon swamp
ing the warehouses and process
sors. We also became aware of
, another peculiar situation. The
growers were not hampered by
labor rules and regulations but
could pay any rate they deemed
necessary to get the crops har-
vested.
This, in some cases, drew labor
from the packing houses and pro-
cessing plants where the wages
and hours were set by the labor
board. This condition was not
corrected until we were well into
the cherry season and then only
partially. This caused consider
able loss by the delay in packing,
due to lack of help in the pack
ing plants. Further loss was met
in shipping the surplusses to other
plants for processing.
The cherries came on before
asparagus was finished, piling up
more work on the already short
crews, many of whom had never
worked in cherries before.
The Big Y worked with about
mali a crew. New equipment
which had been installed for the
emergency was never used on
account of the shortage of help.
Let us stop and think what this
meant, with thousands of Tugs of
cherries rolling to the warehouses
aaliy. Fortunately, our organiza-
uon, with its several plants thru
out the valley, were able to handle
most OF the local surplus which
we were unable to pack. At one
ume most of the plants were all
working on Kennewick cherries.
we received, packed, preceded
ana shipped at a time when nearly
da packing houses were flooded
with cherries.
some people said: "Why worry
aoout cherries-they are not an
essentlal crop?" ALI crops are es-
senual. Crops produced are worth
uoney-more so now than ever
.slore. Let us take cherries for
s'ance, produced this year in
uis district which were sold at
prices ranging from 37c per pound
sS U"h 10 a general average of
'oout l5c per pound.
mad labor been available to
handle them in the normal time
Say less than forty-eight hours
h 'er delivery, this average could
. ave been considerably higher
a,l tnat actually received.
NJ n loc average price, the val
VI the cherries handled by the
e7s ouio have amounted to SAIL
IT, VI so27,344 on zoe average.
LUX what this sum would have
n,s it IN terms of war bonds, or
~ s and ammunition in the hands
our sons and loved ones in the
armed forces!
&c, et tnose who have been sitting
e., iio talking about non-essen-