48 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



ducing, and the trees are over six and seven years old. During tlie 

 year 1912 it is estimated there was something like 24,000 cars sliipped 

 from the western states, it is estimated that after allowing liberal 

 shrinkage of orchards falling into decay by neglect, and normal con. 

 ditions prevailing the western states will have in excess of 100,000 

 cars to market in the year 1920. 



It is the prospect of this enormous increase that is causing the 

 large growers and distributors to sit up and take notice. 



In analyzing the situation we must take into account supply and 

 demand — who are the consumers of our apples today? The moneyed 

 class are consuming about all they want, their appetites may be 

 f-:t.imulated a little but not enough to make any impression on the pro- 

 spective increase. The working people constitute the great majority 

 of our population and they as a class look upon apples as a luxury; 

 this is especially true in the winter months when they are usually 

 high priced; while the mechanic and better paid laborer is hardly 

 recognized as a factor in the consumption of apples today if he has 

 had steady work he may on pay day treat his family to a dozen apples 

 for which he pays from 25c to 50c a dozen, and it may be many paydays 

 before he can afford to give them another treat. 



We now have before us a concrete proposition; there is little 

 doubt but what we are going to" have app'es in sufflcieiit quantities 

 to place them upon the table of every family as a daily diet. 



The question is, how can this be done? It is my opinion" one of 

 the first things to be done is to transport the apples from the orchard 

 to the consumer at least possible expense; this must be done through 

 your association, then the grower must be satisfied to sell at a price 

 which will give him fair returns on his investment and labor. 



The next step will be to educate the consuming public the present 

 methods of buying must be changed; they are now paying 50% to 

 100% profit on a dozen apples which the retailer is compelled to ask 

 in order to cover shrinkage and cost of handling in small quantities, 

 the consumer must be taught to buy in original packages whether they 

 be in bushels, or barrels; if he can but start the public buying in this 

 manner it would not take long to create competition among the re. 

 tailers so that they would be advertising apples as leaders at prices 

 that would soon place them in the same list with sugar which in most 

 cases is sold at a minimum profit by most retailers for fear his com. 

 petitor will undersell him as sugar seems to be the one article that the 

 majority of the consumers will inquire the price of when buying. 



Why not put the apple in the same class? 



When we can show the laborer who earns from $1.25 to $2.00 

 per day, the clerk who gets from $40.00 to $60.00 per month, that 

 he can, both from an economic standpoint and a healthful one, use the 

 apple as a daily diet and thus transfer it from the list of luxuries to 

 the list of daily necessity then the question of what we are going to 



