58 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



GOING AFTEK THE CONSUMER'S DOLLAR. 



BY MR. DON FRANCISCO, CHICAGO. (ass't. MGR.^ CALL FRUIT GROWERS^ 



EXCHANGE.) 



Those who have been seeking to raise the con(litions of farming, by 

 showing how more and better crops may be produced, are constantly 

 met with the criticism, — ^"Tt is all right to talk al)ont our raising more 

 and better crops, bnt what we Avant to know is, how can we get more 

 for what Ave now raise? How can we get more of the consumer's dollar? 

 Show us that and we will be encouraged to raise more and better." We 

 have even heard the argument, — "If we can't get more for Avhat we now 

 raise, we might better cut down our production, and so force prices to a 

 profitable basis." 



Nor does the comi)laint come alone from the producer. The consumer 

 of farm products feels the "high cost of living," or more correctly, '"the 

 cost of high living," and, knowing liow little the average farmer gets 

 for his crops, is up in arms against a marketing s^^stem, or the lack of 

 one, which doubles and trebles the price he must pay for the necessities 

 and luxuries that only the farm can produce. 



We see, therefore, that the producer and the consumer have a mutual 

 grievance and that the complaints of the one are provoked by the same 

 forces which aggregate the other. Very naturally those who are blamed 

 most severely are those between the two-commonly termed "Middlemen." 



We do not come here today to present any panacea for marketing dis- 

 eases but rather to make an impartial analysis of some of the forces 

 which influence i)rices and consumption of perishable. 



We will refer frequently to the California Fruit Grower's Exchange. 

 First, because it is the most highly developed co-o])erative organization 

 in this country, and therefore, in the best position to study marketing 

 problems, and second, because my duties have brought me into inti- 

 mate contact with this organization and its merchandizing problems. 



The problems of the consumer, the retailer and the jobber are the 

 problems of the shipper. The 20U million people of this country com- 

 prise the ultimate market. The ;:}00,000 ]»roduce retailers, the 25,000 

 jobbers and their 75,000 traveling salesmen are your agents, who per- 

 form a distinct function in distributing A^our fruit and produce to these 

 200 millions or a portion of these 200 millions. 



We Avill dispose of the horticultural side of the growers' ])roblem by 

 merely saying that agricultural science and modern cultural methods 

 have made it possible for the groAver to economically produce fruit 

 which should yield a fair return on the investment. 



Assuming that we have a })roduct of merit — a ])roduct Avhich is all 

 that Ave represent it to' be — the marketing system must be one Avhich 

 is fair and satisfactory to the jobber, retailer and consumer or the full 

 value of the fruit Avill not be realized. Tf any ste]> in this system is ex- 



