I'll 'I'V I'lKST ANNUAL ICIM'OK'I'. Hi» 



entire season, it being a case of fight for every car lliat was set in at our 

 siding. At the stait of the season I was inclined to hhiine the most of 

 our trouble in not Ix'ing able to obtain refrigeratoi- cars to the fact oi onv 

 Association not being on a main line, Inil according to all leports we 

 fared better than quite a number of Associations who are on a main line, 

 therefore the only conchision to dra^v is the inefficiency of the railroads. 

 The question of obtaining ears to ship our fruit in is one of our main 

 questions and there should be some way of compelling the Railroads to 

 furnish cars when needed. Last spring we had promise after promise 

 that there would be plenty of cars and no one need worrj^ about same 

 and while we all realized the fact that in many cases our crops were from 

 two to six times what we anticipated same woidd be, the fact remains 

 that the Railroads did not make any effort to relieve the situation to 

 any extent, consequently a great many of our farmers lost hundreds of 

 dollars and to say the least this is a blow to any man who has worked 

 hard to raise a crop and then finds he is unable to get it to market. Some 

 of you people here today may feel that this meeting is not the proper 

 place to bring up this question but allow me to say that this same question 

 affects 3^our Society and College here as well as every farmer present 

 a great deal more than you may think. No matter what you or I think 

 the fact remains that if the farmer is unable to get his crops to market 

 especiallj' at a time when his crops are large and he has a chance to make 

 a little monej' as he did have last season he will soon become discouraged 

 and wish to quit the farm and when the farmer feels this way, how will 

 the farmers' sons feel? The farmers have been the goats in past years 

 and today is the only man in the world who has nothing whatever to say 

 regarding price he shall receive for what he has to sell. Therefore, I 

 say it is about time the farmer had his say. Few people outside of the 

 actual farmer realizes the fact that the farmer of today must not only 

 work but must study as well if he hopes to become successful. Our 

 Colleges and Societies are doing wonderful work and without them we 

 would not get very far with our farming todaj-. This fact is being realized 

 more and more each year and I venture to say that today you will find 

 very few farmers but what wish to send their boys to College if able to 

 do so. As an' Exchange Manager I am often asked man^^ questions per- 

 taining to the treatment of the soil as well as the crops and as I lack the 

 knowledge of you old farmers I simply turn to one of your College circu- 

 lars and if unable to find an article covering the question I simply write 

 to College and the desired information is promptly furnished free of 

 charge. I fulh^ believe that through the efforts of our Colleges, Asso- 

 ciations, Farm Bureaus, etc., that the day is coming when the farmer 

 will not be compelled to set back and always let the other fellow dictate 

 prices and make all the profit as he alwa^^s has done in the past. But in 

 order to accomplish this we must stick together and stick to the finish. 

 We handled an enormous crop of fruit the past season and had it not 

 been for our Associations I fully believe that we would not have received 

 one-half what we did receive for same. This may sound like a very 

 broad assertion, to any one who is not a member of an Association but 

 just stop for a moment and figure what it would have meant the past 

 season had all our fruit been dumped on our nearby markets. As it was, 

 they were simply flooded all during the season and the Boat lines were 

 unable to handle the small part they did handle without a shortage or a 



