BETTER FRUIT 



AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF MODERN, PROGRESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



Northwestern Boxed Apples and Salt Mackerel 



By Dwight L. Woodruff, District Manager Apple Growers' Association, New York 



A SICK business needs curing just as 

 much as a sick man and a sick 

 business is one in which a rea- 

 sonable amount of success and perma- 

 nent progress, commensurate with the 

 effort expended is not being realized. 

 The Northwest boxed-apple industry is 

 the business in question and anyone 

 fairly well informed knows that in 

 comparison with other agricultural and 

 horticultural enterprises, this business 

 is not fulfilling its mission; neither is 

 the grower reaping the reward he is 

 justly entitled to reap. Let me ask you, 

 hard-working, self-denying (oftimes 

 heavily mortgaged) apple growers; you, 

 the local merchant, who reads the signs 

 of the times clearly; you, our long 

 suffering and faithful banker, carrying 

 the financial burden of your com- 

 munity, frequently without bankable 

 security; let me ask you, why the com- 

 modity in question should be and is 

 selling in this season of 1917-1918 at 

 prices only slightly above former pre- 

 war prices, when nearly all other food 

 products are selling at 50 to 400 per 

 cent advance. 



As an illustration: California and 

 Florida oranges are readily selling for 

 from $8 to $10 per case, while North- 

 western apples at the very best are 

 only bringing from $2 to $3 per box. 

 A box of apples weighs 50 pounds and 

 a case of oranges 72 pounds, which 

 only shows a difference in weight of 

 about 45 per cent, while the selling 

 price shows a difference of about 265 

 per cent in favor of oranges. Expert 

 dieticians claim the food value of 

 oranges and apples is practically the 

 same. The objection will be advanced 

 immediately that there is a very short 

 crop of California and Florida oranges. 

 This is all very true, but at the same 

 time the difference in price is out of 

 all proportion to the crop conditions. 

 The increased prices received this year 

 for Northwestern boxed apples does not 

 begin to offset the increased cost of 

 production. This is an obvious fact. 

 Then why; what is wrong? You will 

 admit there is either something being 

 done that should not be or something 

 being left undone that should be done. 

 You will admit my statements are true 

 thus far. Beyond question a remedy is 

 needed. There is a solution for every 

 problem, otherwise there would be no 

 problem. That an effective remedy is 

 at hand is my firm belief. 



A little digression from the main sub- 

 ject and I will then briefly outline a 

 few essential features of the remedy. 

 The dullest business man or the least 

 observant apple grower knows that 

 what we need is a wider distribution of 

 our apples. We all know a freer move- 



ment is essential for our best interests. 

 More retailers should be handling our 

 product and selling at a fair profit. To ' 

 accomplish this we must thoroughly 

 educate the retailer's customers. A good 

 illustration is here presented. One of 

 the largest retail grocery houses in 

 America, located in New York and 

 having fifteen principal places of busi- 

 ness, are now specializing and featuring 

 Eastern-grown apples, simply to satisfy 

 a whim — not on account of the superior 

 quality of the apples, as I frequently sef 

 displayed in their windows apples such 

 as we send to the cider mill. Another 

 point, referring to a far more serious 

 side of our problem, is: We frequently 

 hear voiced something like this: "Yes, 

 you Western fellows certainly do grow 

 beautiful apples, and you put them up 

 in a dandy package. We take our hats 

 off to you, but your apples don't have 

 the flavor that our apples do." These 

 statements usually come from people of 

 mature years, who are in fact recalling 

 childhood days. They forget that when 

 they were growing children any apple 

 tasted good and satisfied better than our 

 most delicious apple does now. In the 

 past we have been all too willing to 

 mentally agree with that statement, 

 knowing full well it was not true. 



Now to get back to the main subject. 

 Human nature seems to be a peculiar 

 quality. You find it everywhere, and it 

 is just as pronounced in the Northwest- 

 ern apple grower as in the Eastern 

 apple buyer, and perhaps more so. We 

 instinctively rebel when any new thing 

 or movement is advocated. Many times 

 this is a good standpoint, but more 

 often it is not. The business world is 

 being kept alive through new enter- 

 prises, new ideas, new viewpoints and 

 new methods. Without them the whole 

 commercial structure would stagnate 

 and rapidly decline. A balance wheel 

 between the unimportant and the essen- 

 tial is always necessary when advocat- 

 ing any untried features. Webster's 

 dictionary tells us that to educate "is to 

 impart knowledge" and that to adver- 

 tise "is to give notice of information." 

 When we mention advertising to the 

 average man, he immediately shies and 

 quickly sidesteps. It is a mysterious 

 subject to him. It is something he 

 knows, or thinks he knows, little about, 

 but if we say "educate" to the same 

 man, he immediately becomes inter- 

 ested because he knows that education, 

 if rightly used, is beneficial in every 

 walk of life. The point, then, to be 

 brought out is, that we must thoroughly 

 educate the consumers throughout the 

 length and breadth of our whole land 

 so that they will readily use more of 

 our Western apples. The uninformed 



will say immediately th,it "this is all 

 foolishness. We have had apples since 

 the world began. Everyone knows all 

 about apples; everyone knows that we 

 grow the finest apples that were ever 

 produced and advertising cannot do us 

 any good," but that this is false I know 

 from experience. 



The possibilities in the growing and 

 sel'ing of Northwestern apples have 

 only very slightly been developed. We 

 grow approximately 25,000 carloads of 

 apples annually in the Northwest, and 

 without giving this any serious consid- 

 eration, it seems like an enormous 

 quantity, but careful comparison shows 

 that we are not producing any consid- 

 erable portion of the apples grown in 

 the United States. It is easier, oftimes, 

 to deceive one's self than to deceive 

 others, and that is just the thing that we 

 have been doing for the past several 

 years, and we are doing it much to the 

 detriment of our own individual in- 

 terests and the interests of our neigh- 

 bor, no matter what apple section we 

 may represent. 



In the early days of the Northwest 

 apple industry, the competition between 

 the various districts tended to promote 

 growth and wider distribution, but 

 there came a time when this ceased to 

 be a fact. Our tonnage became great 

 enough so that one district was com- 

 peting with another on an oftimes un- 

 fair basis, and while that district may 

 have temporarily gained the lead, they 

 have not been able to maintain it. The 

 only competition that should rightfully 

 exist between the various apple districts 

 is that competition based upon the de- 

 sire and purpose to produce and market 

 an article superior to our neighbor. 

 This competition, coupled with intelli- 

 gent selling and distributing methods, 

 and climaxed with a centralized, gen- 

 eral advertising or educational cam- 

 paign must and will bring to the grower 

 greater success than has been possible 

 under our methods. 



Every apple district has at least one 

 more or less successful co-operative 

 organization, and for all of these I have 

 only words of praise, which also ap- 

 plies to the independent shippers who 

 have worked along constructive lines. 

 Many efforts have been made and are 

 still being made with a larger outlook 

 to combine the marketing efforts of the 

 different districts in one organization. 

 Success along these lines has not been 

 forthcoming, and, for the lime at least, 

 ii may be advisable to drop further 

 efforts of this character. 



Admitting that the time has not ar- 

 rived calling for centralized marketing 

 as a whole, we will not admit and must 

 not admit that it is not possible — yes, 



