igi6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 9 



query to two hundred reliiil dealer-.s 

 throughout the I'nited Slides: "Sup- 

 posing the retail price of cranberries 

 is S'i cents per quart, or three quarts 

 for 25 cents, please state vvliat reduc- 

 tion in your sales would result from 

 advancing the price to 10 cents per 

 quart, 12 'i cents per quart, 15 cents 

 and 20 cents." I received ninety-two 

 replies and from twenty different mar- 

 kefs locatetl in sixteen dilferent states. 

 The average of these rei)lies showed 

 that the estimated percentage of de- 

 crease of sales as price advanced was 

 as follows: Advance from 8V:i cents to 

 10 cents per cpiart. reduced sales 12%; 

 from 10 cents to 121/2 cents, 23%; from 

 12% cents to 15 cents, 37%; from 15 

 cents to 20 cents, 67%. This same in- 

 quiry was made by the Hon. J. A. 

 Gaynor of (irand Rapids, Wisconsin, a 

 prominent cranberry grower, to one 

 hundred retailers in the State of Wis- 

 consin in loot), with the following 

 result: Advance from 10 cents to 12 V2 

 cents per quart, reduced sales 49% ; 

 from 121,4 cents to 15 cents, 74%. The 

 diflference between Mr. Gaynor's figures 

 of 1906 and my own of 1912 may be 

 because of increased regular cranberry 

 consumers in the later year, or by the 

 difference in the purchasing power of 

 the dollar. 



The supply is not appreciably affected 

 by price, excejjt as prices reach abnor- 

 mally high levels and draw supplies 

 from remote sections, or by abnormally 

 low prices diverting away from a given 

 market supi)lies intended for it, re- 

 tarding shi])nienls or preventing ship- 

 ments altogether by the price being 

 below the cost of packing, transporta- 

 tion and marketing ex])enses. A de- 

 creased supiily is less likely to cause 

 an advance than an increased supply 

 will cause a decline. The price may 

 be so adversely affected by the supply 

 of fresh fruit and vegetables being 

 thrown on the market in excess of the 

 demand that, in order to secure and 

 insure any stability of price, the con- 

 trol, or ])artial control, of the supply 

 seems absolutely necessary, and so 

 necessary that I believe the govern- 

 ment should recognize its necessity and 

 extend to agencies marketing for the 

 growers the same latitude extended to 

 the growers themselves in the way of 

 permitting and encouraging their or- 

 ganization for exchange of informa- 

 tion and control and regulation of dis- 

 tribution. Most of our fruits and 

 produce cannot be held long in prime 

 condition, even in the best of cold 

 storages. They must be s(dil while the\- 

 are sound and attractive and cannot 

 be held for ransom. Thus monopolies 

 on fruits are an impossibililx because 

 of the very nature of the goods. More- 

 over, policies of conservation are nec- 

 essary if the ijroducer is to reap any 

 reward for his labor and if the con- 

 sumer is to have a fresh, line article 

 at a stable, reasonable value without 

 fluctuations which destroy or adversely 

 inlluence the demand. The control of 

 the sui)i)l,\ should be legilimale and 

 only sullicienl to maintain the demand 

 relativeh' to (he crop produced. The 

 business of trading in fresh fruits and 



Exhibit made by Uie Wenatchec North Central Distributors at the Eighth National Apple 



Show, Spokane, in the apple shippers' 100-box contest for the most striking advertisin" 



display of the brand of Extra Fancy ajiples that it is offering on the market. 



The Idaho-Oregon Fruit Growers' .\ssociation exhibit at the Eighth National Apple Show 

 Sjiokane, November l.i to 20, in the apple shippers' 100-box contest for the most striking 

 ailvertisin^ dis])lay of the brand of Extra Fancy apples thai it is offering on the market. 



vegetables is probably the only one in 

 which supply and demand entirelx 

 control values. 



There is always a low jjoint reacheii, 

 in case of an oversupplieii market, 

 where no lower price will increase the 

 sale. The consuming masses under 

 any marketing system now in vogue in 

 large centers cannot be made to re- 

 spond with sullicient demand to relieve 

 a glutted market before tlie fruit or 

 jiroduee has so deteriorated as to be 

 unattractive to most of the consumers, 

 if not unfit for food. This fact explains 

 the reports of carloads of fruit or 

 produce which are being dumped while 

 I'.riee in uptown retail stores is but 

 slightly changed. The commission mer- 

 chants or receivers must bear the bur- 

 den of luijust criticism. Price of fresh 

 fruit can he so low, caused by excessive 

 stipph , that there is no room for prolil- 

 al)le margins to connnission merchants. 



jobbers or ilealers; hence the trade will 

 not use much effort to sell them and 

 will bend all their energy to sell other 

 things in which tliere is a profit. From 

 this cause often rises the statement 

 that when prices are high more fruits 

 sell than when they are low. Last 

 summer potatoes were very cheap and 

 netted a price to many growers below 

 the cost of production. I heard more 

 than one grower and dealer remark 

 that people did not seem to eat many 

 potatoes when they were so cheap. 



Marketing men. I am sure, will agree 

 that a large supply under proper con- 

 trol can be distributed to the markets 

 of the country at nnich better prices 

 to the producers and at perhaps as low 

 cost to the consumer, and to greater 

 satisfaction and more certain profit to 

 the dealers, than a smaller supply un- 

 controlled or unguided. .\ very great 

 deal of waste and heav\ losses con- 



