82 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a certain day. Of course, when the market was up, they came up a little; 

 when Chicago market was down, they dropped somewhat, but as a rule 

 they about followed Chicago prices. 



Q. But on the whole you found it advantageous? A. I have not yet 

 found a grower who sold to the buyers but is ready to declare that 

 another season he will do the same if he gets the chance. 



Q. Is it simply the convenience, and the certainty that you were not 

 being robbed when you took the money home with you, or the fact that 

 you got better net prices? A. I suppose, as a rule, the money satisfied 

 people the best, in any case. It is always gratifying to have something 

 to say about fixing the price. About the time the buyers came in there, 

 peaches were going in Chicago from thirteen to seventeen cents per 

 basket. Of course that narrowed the margin down pretty close with 

 us, and when these men offered us something like those figures, we were 

 sure of that much, at any rate, and that the peaches would not leave 

 us in debt. 



Q. They largely shipped away from Chicago, did they? A. Yes, as 

 near as I could learn, that was so. There were one or two Chicago buy- 

 ers there, but the rest went to other markets. They were buying as high 

 as fifteen carloads per day. At South Haven there were 281 cars shipped 

 east, and I think the greater portion of those that were bought were not 

 shipped to Chicago. 



Mr. Rouse: While I agree fully with the sentiment and principle that 

 my friend Gurney offers, I call to mind the fact that two years ago there 

 was just such an organization as that, with a constitution covering all 

 the ground he gave, and the officers were elected and all arrangements 

 made to proceed to business. The members signed the constitution and 

 proceeded to business. They paid m their money, and I would like to 

 know what became of that. Friend Gurney was chairman or president 

 of that association, Judge Russell was treasurer, and I would like to 

 know why that organization was not continued, when it seems as if it 

 would be so profitable? 



Mr. Gurney: I would say that there was such an organization, and it 

 is in existence today, and I was president of it, and we have a treasurer, 

 and he has some money (the membership fee was fifty cents), and I was 

 put on the executive committee to draft some by-laws. After we got the 

 by-laws ready we had a meeting and proposed this plan of hiring a 

 man as business manager, and to pay him we engrafted into the by- 

 laws that this man should be instructed to take out one tenth of one 

 per cent., or that the consignee should take this out and send it to Ihe 

 treasurer, to provide a fund to pay these expenses. When these by-laws 

 were put to vote, this part of them met with so much opposition that it, 

 and I guess the whole of the by-laws, were voted down, and the executive 

 committee did not think it best to hire a business manager without 

 knowing where the money was to come from to pay him; and conse- 

 quently, from that time on, I do not think there were any more meetings. 

 Hence my remark, that I am afraid that the farmers as a general thing 

 would be so jealous of each other that we could not run a thing of this 

 kind successfully, because, to run it successfully, you must have money. 

 Consequently, so far, the organization is a failure. 



