Summer Meeting. 59 



Avilling to give the apple shipper a chance, because I know he is a good 

 fellow and generally has a large family to support; besides I hold as I 

 have said before, that apple growing is a business by and in itself, and 

 the marketing of apples is also a business by and in itself. My 

 orchard being like myself, comparatively young in years, I have not had 

 many large apple crops, but whenever I had any apples of consequence 

 I have generally sold them to wholesale apple dealers or commission 

 merchants. And expect to pursue this course in the future. I don't 

 mind being shaved by the apple shippers in the ordinary way, but what 

 I object to is a clean shave. 



In 1901, when Missouri had a fair crop of apples, several prominent 

 apple shippers came to see me to look at my crop, but did not think I 

 would sell to them, because I was an apple dealer myself. I told them 

 very frankly to disabuse their minds, and that as an apple grower I was 

 ready to sell my crop. And I did sell all of my crop to one man from the 

 good city of St. Louis, who belongs to the International Apple Shippers 

 Association. He paid me nearly $30,000.00 for my apples delivered on 

 the cars, he stuck to his contract "and I stuck to mine, and not one un- 

 pleasant word passed between us. And this year before the Ben Davis 

 turns to crimson red or the Huntsman to golden yellow, I expect to see 

 some of you apple shippers at Cedar Gap, drinking my buttermilk and 

 buying my crop. 



In 1902 I sold a large portion of my crop to a prominent Memphis 

 apple dealer, who is also a member of the International Apple Shippers 

 Association. He must have done well on his purchase, because on several 

 occasions after that, when I called at his store, he invited me to his cel- 

 lar, where he keeps an open barrel of olives and other things imported 

 from Kentucky. My Memphis friend, although a pessimist, is a phi- 

 losopher as well ; he realizes that in order to stand in with the apple 

 grower he must keep him in good spirits. In 1903, on the last day of 

 April, when the prospects were as rosy as the rising sun of an August 

 morning, the elements destroyed the crops, and the Missouri apple 

 growers were taught another lesson on the dark side of the divine calling 

 of horticulture, and in consequence of this calamity, many of them 

 haven't the ready cash this year to visit the World's Fair, and those who 

 do come here can't afiford to dine and drink champagne at first class 

 hotels like you prosperous apple shippers, but proud and aristocratic as 

 they are, have to economize and straddle stools at the lunch counter. 

 Such is life in this ungrateful republic. 



Mr. President, in closing my remarks, which I fear are already too 

 long, I will say to the apple grower, don't be afraid of the apple shipper. 



