PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING 23 



(iiiijilely, but this central packing idea ai)|)licd to I he fruits to which it 

 is npi)li(al»l(', will do away wKIi thai (juitc laij^cly, and 1 believe that 

 it is a nio\e in the ii<;hl diic'ction and will y,row. 1 think it must. I 

 thiidc the conditions themselves will foi'ce it. 



Ml', (iiaham: Ju reply to some of the criticisms that have been made 

 regaiding I lie lew words I said. The remark was made that we have 

 been handling our fruit with scarcely any profit at all, scarcely getting 

 enough out of it to pay exi)cns('S. I wish to say that in Grand Kapids 

 that has not been the case, that we have never had a central packing 

 association nor any cond)ination of fruitgrowers to sell our fruit. Even 

 last year, the year of low prices, 1 beliexe the fruitgrowers in the vicinity 

 of Grand Kapids got satisfactory prices for their fruit. I know that 

 we did, and I believe that thej all did who grew decent fruit, and the 

 great majority of that fruit was sold on the market and streets of Grand 

 Kapids to buyers who came right there and bought it and paid iheir 

 money for it; and I still believe that that is the proper way to sell fruit. 

 We have had a fruitgrow^ers' association there, and I think it has done 

 us a very great deal of good; but that association has never handled 

 the fruit. We have had an agent there whose duty was to keep him- 

 self posted, and the members of the association posted, on the markets 

 all over the country, and in regard to all points about which fruit- 

 growers desired to know. We have been kept posted through that 

 association, but we have never attempted to handle our fruit through 

 it. We have offered everv inducement, we have advertised far and wide 

 for buyers to come tliere and buy our fruit, and they have come and 

 bought it and paid us good prices for it. I believe that this is the way to 

 handle fruit. I see a great many dilticulties in the way of handling fruit 

 through a central packing-association. As has been said, there are only 

 one or two kinds of fruit that can be graded up to certain standards. 

 What are you going to do with the rest of your fruit — your strawberries 

 and cherries, and all that class of fruit that vou can not grade? Are we 

 going to establish a packing-house association simply to handle peaches, 

 apples, and perhaps plums, while we are growing fruits of all kinds 

 from the first of June throueh until winter? Shall we establish central 

 packing associations to handle tw^o or three kinds of fruit, shutting out 

 all the dealers from coming in and participating in any profits or bene- 

 fits, and then ask them to buy our straAvberries and that class of fruit 

 that we can not handle in that manner, on account of grading and so on? 

 I believe in dividing the profits in this matter. I believe it is a separate 

 and distinct business, looking u]> markets and handling fruit, getting 

 the best systems and methods of transportation, and I don't believe 

 the fruitgrowers themselves are the people to do it- T.ct them get 

 together, form their associations, advertise their crops, bring in buyers, 

 the more the better. If they have plenty of fruit of good quality, I 

 believe the buyers will come and take it at fair prices. 



