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BETTER FRUIT 



January 



The Question of Fruit Marketing After the Great War 



By Gordon C. Corbaley, Seattle, Delivered Before Northwest Fruit Growers' Conference, at Tenth National Apple Show, Spokane 



we have used the foreign markets to 

 help have an outlet to make possible 

 and furnishing of a more even supply 

 to the really important markets within 

 the country. 



After the war this will be different. 

 The whole world has been brought 

 closer together. The United States has 

 become the financial and industrial cen- 

 ter of the world. We have shown our- 

 selves much too big to ever be able to 

 again stay within our own boundaries. 

 We will certainly sell to the rest of the 

 world and buy from the rest of the 

 world on much larger volume and in a 

 much more direct way than we ever 

 have in the past. Perhaps the greatest 

 single influence in bringing that about 

 will be the new American Merchant 

 marine now in process of creation as a 

 war-time necessity. 



At the beginning of the war we were 

 forced to depend on the ocean-trade 

 channels of other countries. Very little 

 business moved direct from the United 

 States to distant lands, and hardly any 

 ocean transportation was handled by 

 American lines. 



Under the war shipbuilding program, 

 the United States by the end of 1919 

 will have as great a tonnage afloat in 

 foreign trade as will Great Britain, and 

 we will surpass Great Britain as a peace 

 sea power, because more than 90 per 

 cent of our tonnage will be Government 

 owned and available to be operated for 

 the purpose of developing American 

 trade lines to every corner of the world. 

 This will present an indeed fortunate 

 situation for us, coming at a time when 

 we will want to do business with every 

 country in the world and every country 

 in the world will want to do business 

 with us. 



Now, just what will this mean to the 

 apple business? In general terms, it 

 will mean an enormous possibility for 

 expansion that will depend in a consid- 

 erable measure upon our being organ- 

 ized to take advantage of it. It is diffi- 

 cult to say just what it will mean in 

 terms of business with individual coun- 

 tries. At the present time we have 

 practically no export business. There 

 is plenty of demand for our fruit, but, 

 for various reasons, we cannot get the 

 fruit there to supply the demand. Pros- 

 perous England could use any quantity 



THE best answer to the question 

 under discussion has been fur- 

 nished by Mr. W. E. Gwin, general 

 manager of the Northwestern Fruit Ex- 

 change. He says: "I don't know. All 

 precedents have been swept aside and 

 rendered worthless. We face an en- 

 tirely new situation, the complexion of 

 which and the exact development of 

 which no man can foresee. We have 

 our opinions of how things are likely 

 to develop, and that is all." 



The effect of peace on the apple in- 

 dustry depends largely on the condition 

 of business in the United States. Our 

 Northwest apples are largely sold as a 

 luxury, and are therefore peculiarly 

 liable to business depression and hesita- 

 tion. Nobody has any real idea as to 

 what will be the exact condition of 

 business during the first days follow- 

 ing the coming of peace. It will be a 

 period of hesitation and uncertainty. 

 That will be because nobody will know 

 what is going to happen. This uncer- 

 tainty will be particularly marked be- 

 cause about half of the entire produc- 

 tive capacity of the United States will 

 be devoted wholly to war purposes. 

 The release of the billions of money 

 and millions of employes from this war 

 work will naturally make unsettlement. 

 The period of hesitation and unsettle- 

 ment is capable of almost any outcome. 

 A great deal depends on the financial 

 condition and the mental condition of 

 the people. They perhaps will be so 

 depressed and worried and scared that 

 capital will run to cover, and we will 

 have a smash. 



I, personally, do not think so. I be- 

 lieve that the wide distribution of Gov- 

 ernment bonds will be one of the most 

 valuable of influences during these first 



Fruit Tree 

 Stocks 



Apple, Doucine, Paradise, Mahaleb, Maz- 

 zard, Peach, Plum, Quince, Japan Pear 

 and Kieffer Pear Seedlings. We can ship 

 Mahaleb and Mazzard direct from Oregon 



Apple and Pear Grafts 



ANY STYLE 



Complete Assortment of 



General Nursery Stock 



There is a small stock of apple seedlings 

 this year, and with the increasing de- 

 mand for apple trees, it will pay to put 

 out a plant. But act now, do not wait 

 until the top of the market has been 

 reached. 



SHENANDOAH NURSERIES 



D. S. Lake, Pres. 

 SHENANDOAH, IOWA 



few months of uncertainty. The return 

 of peace will mean an immediate 

 strengthening of the value of Govern- 

 ment securities. There will not be a 

 boom in Liberty Bonds, but there will 

 be an appreciable strengthening of 

 value that will put confidence into the 

 many millions of citizens who will have 

 their liquid capital tied up in these se- 

 curities. All that we will need as a 

 people to bring us out of this period of 

 uncertainty in an aggressive, forceful 

 frame of mind will be a reasonable 

 measure of encouragement. Once we 

 are no longer in doubt, business will go 

 ahead more rapidly than ever, because 

 we will have untold billions of capital 

 available to invest in development. I 

 refer not only to the capital that has 

 been engaged in war industry, but also 

 to the many billions of capital that will 

 have stored up in Government bonds. 



The whole world is on an inflated 

 basis. I think that we are going to 

 travel on an inflated basis for many 

 years to come. That means high prices 

 for everything, and high prices with 

 plenty of money form the ideal condi- 

 tions for our fancy apple market. I 

 think that Mr. Ford asked me this ques- 

 tion with the idea of leading the way 

 to a discussion of foreign markets, 

 rather than for the purpose of giving 

 me an opportunity to discuss econom- 

 ics. He knows our tremendous interest 

 in Seattle in foreign trade, and he nat- 

 urally judges that the foreign market 

 is to become a constantly increasing 

 factor in the distribution of our boxed 

 apples. 



The best analysis that I have been 

 able to get of the general foreign situa- 

 tion comes from our old friend, H. M. 

 Gilbert, of the Yakima Valley, who says: 

 "The world is going to be much more 

 of a family of nations after the war. 

 In rebuilding and reconstructing I look 

 for a very active demand for fruit, as 

 well as for all other food products. 

 There will certainly be a big demand 

 for labor and we shall have good times, 

 I take it, much as they do when a city 

 is rebuilding after a big fire. This will 

 be especially important on the Pacific, 

 because Japan and China are now 

 awakened and will want to trade with 

 us more than ever. They will want all 

 the modern improvements of railroads, 

 electric machinery and the other inven- 

 tions of the West." 



When I spoke of the former foreign 

 market for our apples as having been 

 of little importance, I have in mind no 

 disrespect to our export apple business 

 or the men who are engaged in it. It is 

 true, thus far, we have sent abroad only 

 a small percentage of our fancy apples, 

 say 5 to 10 per cent of the fancy and 

 extra fancy stock, depending on the 

 year. The foreign trade has been noth- 

 ing but a safety valve to help take the 

 pressure off the domestic markets. This 

 is not alone true of the apple business. 

 It pretty accurately describes the condi- 

 tion of almost all American exports, 

 except the great staples. As a people, 



POSITION WANTED 



As manager of a fair sized apple orchard 

 proposition by a competent and exper- 

 ienced man with a small family. Either 

 salary or salary and commission propo- 

 sition will be considered. Two years 

 Horticultural Department, University of 

 Illinois, fifteen years practical experience 

 in bearing orchards, one of which was in 

 the Payette Valley, Idaho. Have had 

 considerable experience with gasoline 

 and kerosene engines and thoroly under- 

 stand all phases of apple orchard work. 

 Open for employment on or before 

 March 1, 1918. 



HENRY 0. HINKLEY, Dubois, Illinois 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



