Imperial Valley press., 1945-05-24
ean Citrus Move East
as WuF Moves West?

just as sure as you re IN a hurry
to get somewhere these days, you
drive up to a railroad crossing and
find that a freight train has got
there first. Usually it's one of those
mile-long monsters you can't see
any end to.
Don't get mad, though. Turn off
your motor and relax. If it weren't
for these long freights chufing one
right after another across the val
1eys, deserts and mountains of the
West, the war effort could never
have attained the speed and eff
cheney it has.
OF course, so far as the Western
roads are concerned, the grand cli-
max is still to come. You've prob
ably been wondering what will
happen to citrus shipments as the
Pacific War reaches full momentum.
Your reporter has just gone into
this with the Traffic Department of
the Exchange, with special refer
ence to this summers whopping
Valencia crop.
X X X
Well, there's no question about it,
the transportation problem this
summer, and throughout the Pacific
War, will be tough.
The traffic is tremendous, of
course, right now. According to the
best sources available, the tonnage
handled in 1914 by the class-one rail-
roads in California was more than
2H times that of 1899. But so far
the big movement of war materiel
has been toward the East coast. Now
the main food will surge West.
The movement of oranges and
lemons this summer will be further
complicated by the fact that Cali
fornia's deciduous fruit is in heavy
supply; there's a bigger southern
peach crop. Also, $4,000 cars of
Kern County potatoes, usually
ready May 1, won't move this year
till June lat The same time as I'M
perial Valley melons and the start
of heavy southern Valencia ship
ments!
There are some factors on the
other side of the ledger
Refrigerator cars returning west
will be used to haul many kinds of
military and civilian supplies. This,
and the fact that shippers can now
use "reefers" as we'll as van cars for
Lei. shipments, will tend to bring
the cars back here faster and go far
toward assuring an adequate sup
ply. The government time limit on
unloads, and the fast handling of
cars by the military, will also help.
But the difficulties will be great.
The citrus industry has never faced
a situation comparable to this in
all its history. And the Sunkist
grower is going to be fortunate as
never before in having a group of
men as highly trained and thor
Oughly experienced as the Exchange
Traffic Department to look after the
transportation of his fruit.
Throughout the coming Pacific Var
period these men wiH be cooperating
Nth the Sunkist Sales Department in
The routing of euery car Of Exchange
fruit :. handling all rerouting with Ut
most speed and efficiency =. roatching
the progress OF each car every day and
doing everything possible to anticipate
and preuent delays :. and seeing that it
is properly inspected. pentilated and iced
throughout its journey.
There's no other service like this
in the citrus industry. Yet because
the Traffic Department also does a
highly efficient job. it actually re-
turns to Exchange growers each
year many times the amount of
money required by the Exchange to
run the entire department Just
one more of those many advantages
that citrus growers gain by work.
ing together through the Exchange.
Next report: in this paper two weeks
from today.
California Fruit Growers Exchange
sunkist Building. Los Angeles SIS, California