FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 63 



|100 per jear for this service and we find it very satisfactory. For 

 example, if Ave sell a carload of apples or peaches to a commission man 

 in Iowa, if it were an individnal shipper and the commission man wrote 

 back that they w^ere in bad condition and he conld not receive them, he 

 would have no recourse, but we wire to the Produce Reporter, they 

 put a man there at once and he inspects the car, and if he reports it 

 O. K. about that time the commission man begins to think that he 

 has made a mistake and he wires us that it was another car that was 

 bad, and he remits for our car. We have the best class of fiiiit growers 

 in our part of the country in the association and they are very glad 

 to be in it. It is not a make-shift or anything of the kind, but it is 

 fair to both producer and consumer. 



Q. What was the average price of apples per barrel this year? 



A. We have not made our final statement as yet, so I could not 

 tell. We have sold many thousand bushels at $2.25 per barrel. F. O. B. 

 South Haven. 



Q. Could you receive the same at South Haven as at Chicago? 



A. Yes ; Ave had no difficulty in getting as much F. O. B. South HaA^en 

 as the buyers were paying F. O. B. Chicago. 



I knoAv of a man who sold a hundred bushels of as fine ]jeaches as 

 I ever saAA'; sent them to a commission man and all he ever got for them 

 Avas a few ]>ostage stamps. If thoy had gone through <mr association, 

 he'd have got what they were Avorth. 



Q. What was the average price of Elberta peaches? 



A. They aA'eraged about .fl.2() for the entire crop. 



Q. Do I understand that you got the same price in South Haven 

 that they got in Chicago? 



A. Yes, sir. While I have no statements to \n-oye that fact, yet 

 I am positive that we get more money than they get in Chicago. The 

 buyers come into our packing houses and see us pack the peaches and 

 apples; they know just Avhat they are getting and are glad to pay the 

 price for them. I knoAv a large Indiana buyer Avho said that next year 

 he Avould Avant 20,000 bushels and he Avould not look any further than 

 our {jacking house for them? 



Mr. Hale: I have sold peaches at 20 cents F. O. B. Shelby Avhen 

 they Avere selling for 18 cents in Chicago. What Mr. Myham says is 

 a fact. 



Mr. Myham : We can do anything that Ave think that Ave can. Twen- 

 ty-five years ago Ave said that Ave Avouldn't have any more saloons in 

 South Haven, and Ave have put them out and kept them out. (Ap- 

 plause.) 



The strength of the association lies in the fact that it is an honest 

 concern. We do not countenance any crooked Avork. 



Mr. Pratt: I do not wish to be understood to be against the associa- 

 tion, but I do not Avish you to belicA^e that all commission men are 

 crooked. 



Mr. Myham : Of course, all commission men are not crooked, but 

 as large and reputable a concern as does business in Chicago has been 

 indicted tAvice for crooked work, and Avhen that is the case, it is hard 

 ' to trust any of them. 



Q. How are apples graded? 



A. The a])ples AAcre all graded "by hand, but the peaches were run 

 through a mechanical grader. 



