BETTER FRUIT 



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



Apple-Price Conditions, 1916— Can We Do Better? 



I AM convinced we have the ability 

 to solve the biggest problem that 

 confronts the apple grower today, — 

 the marketing and selling of our fruit 

 at profitable prices. 



I believe if the proper eflort is made 

 by the fruitgrowers in the right way 

 that organization can be perfected that 

 will control our marketing and selling 

 in such a way as to secure greater 

 efliciency, elimination of production at 

 a loss, wider distribution, greater con- 

 sumption, better prices, a good living 

 and a fair profit on our investments. 



We all know we have been experi- 

 menting for years, especially on the 

 marketing of our apple crop. We know, 

 and most of us will admit, we have 

 made mistakes. It occurs to me we 

 have had about enough experimenting. 

 We have got experience, plenty of it. 

 It has cost us a lot of money, yet we 

 remain unorganized, with no settled 

 policies that are acceptable and satis- 

 factory to a large majority. It seems to 

 me there is good reason to assume we 

 have arrived at a period and are in a 

 condition, financially and otherwise, 

 when it becomes necessary to take 

 stock. By that I mean we should re- 

 view the past, profit from our mistakes, 

 analyze the present and plan for the 

 future with united effort and carry out 

 our plans with determination. In other 

 words, "it's time to clean house and call 

 for a new deal." 



Are you satisfied with this season's 

 prices? 



Before answering the question let us 

 take stock of conditions. What I omit 

 you must take into consideration. You 

 must verify my statements and correct 

 them, if in error, before determining 

 for yourselves that this season's prices 

 are satisfactory or unsatisfactory. 



The apple crop in 1915 was 76,000,000 

 barrels. 



The apple crop in 1916 was 67,000,000 

 barrels. 15 per cent less than last 

 season. 



The government estimate on value 



1915 was $2.02 per barrel. 



The government estimate on value 



1916 was $2.76 per barrel. .36 per cent 

 higher this season. 



The apple crop on cold storage De- 

 cember 1st, 1916, was 20 per cent less 

 than in 1915. 



The apple crop of the Northwest was 

 less than 6 per cent of the total. Our 

 increased crop added 3 per cent more 

 in 1916 to the lolul in 191.5. The crop 

 of the balance of the United States was 

 18 per cent less in 1916, making the 

 total crop of the I'nited States, as 

 before stated, 15 per cent less than in 

 1915. Business is jjrosperous all over 

 the United States except in a few 



By E. H. Shepard, Editor "Better Fruit.' 



spots. There are no unemployed. 

 Nearly all classes of labor are getting 

 higher wages; money is plentiful; bank 

 deposits are large and interest low. 



There is not a district in the Union 

 where the quality of apples is reported 

 high grade in 1916 except the Pacific 

 Coast States of California, Idaho, Mon- 

 tana, Oregon and Washington. Califor- 

 nia ships outside the state only New- 

 towns, which are exported. Idaho, on 

 account of early frost, lost almost its 

 entire crop. Montana produces at 

 present only a few hundred cars, leav- 

 ing only two states, Washington and 

 Oregon, with a crop high class in 

 quality. 



Every product of the soil that the 

 farmer produces except rice has ad- 

 vanced in price. Some products being 

 more than doubled. Nearly every man- 

 ufactured product has increased in 

 price by leaps and bounds. The only 

 product of the soil, except rice, that 

 has not increased in price is North- 

 western box apples. 



Fellow fruitgrowers, why? Are you 

 satisfied? 



Our comparatively low prices are not 

 caused by depression, because the 

 country is prosperous. They are not 

 due to our people being without money, 

 because everybody is at work at good 

 wages. They are not due to lack of 

 money, because money is plentiful. In 

 fact America today is the richest nation 

 on the globe. 



Interesting information on finances 

 of the United States are shown in 

 the statement of Edward N. Hawley, 

 chairman of the Federal Trades Com- 

 mission, in an address before the Ohio 

 bankers, in which he stated the bank- 

 ing capital and surplus of the fifty-six 

 domestic banks of England (exclusive 

 of the Bank of England), with eight 

 thousand branches, was $500,000,000. 

 The capital and surplus of fifty-seven 

 overseas banks was $500,000,000; the 

 capital and surplus of domestic banks, 

 loan and trust companies in the llnited 

 States is $3,400,000,000— more than the 

 combined banking capital and surplus 

 of all other nations in tlie woihl. With 

 all this wealth, with evei> other com- 

 modity greatly increased in price, why 

 are Northwestern box apjiles showing 

 no advances, with large (Uianlities sell- 

 ing for less than in 1915. 

 There must he a reason. 

 I submit the problem to you for your 

 consicleration. In doing so |)ermit me 

 to avail myself of the privilege, if you 

 I)lease, of giving you some ijcisonal 

 opinions. I feel justified in my remarks 

 with the hope the growers and market- 

 ing concerns, as well as olhci- identi- 

 fied interests, will tackle some of them. 



and in doing so create a movement that 

 will evolve a plan that the majority of 

 the apple growers will adopt, with rea- 

 sonable assurances of securing belter 

 prices. 



I believe our success depends on 

 organization and control, not in the 

 Northwest as a whole, but in each indi- 

 vidual district. 



In other words, it is my opinion, 

 take it for what it is worth, that each 

 individual district has got to work out 

 its own solution, boss its own job, in- 

 stead of "letting George do it." 



We grow the same varieties, but they 

 vary in color, size, grading and pack- 

 ing and other characteristics. It is a 

 recognized fact by the trade the same 

 variety in the same grades and same 

 sizes vary in value in different districts. 

 Few districts will be content with a 

 less price for the same variety, grade 

 and size, sold through a common co- 

 operative selling organization. I don't 

 believe any more convincing evidence 

 on this statement is necessary than to 

 call your attention to the jealousies 

 aroused by differences in prices ob- 

 tained by the North Pacific Fruit Dis- 

 tributors. The further fact that they 

 abandoned the central selling plan, 

 placing the matter of selling and prices 

 in the individual districts, seems con- 

 clusive. 



There are some features common to 

 all districts for general improvement 

 that seem worthy of attention. 



We all know that we planted ex- 

 tensively, but, alas, not wisely. We 

 planted hundreds of thousands of 

 acreage, building an output which, 

 developed suddenly into millions in 

 1912, without either adequate or satis- 

 factory selling organization. I don't 

 wish to comment at length upon this 

 acreage. It represents an investment 

 that must be saved if within our power. 

 But I do wish to impress upon your 

 minds a few facts that are obvious to 

 those who will pause and consider, take 

 stock and find out where they are at. 



There are thousands of acres of 

 apples in districts where soil, climate 

 or conditions arc such that apples will 

 never make for the owner the profit 

 per acre he can make on other crops. 

 The only sane advice is, dig up the 

 trees and grow some other crop. 



Another feature of the apple business 

 that needs correction is varieties. We 

 have about two hundred varieties, more 

 or less. I believe the varieties that 

 will prove profitable to a certainty in 

 future years are few, the list short 

 enough to name in a minute, — alpha- 

 betically, — Arkansas Black, Delicious, 

 Oravenstein, Grimes Golden, .lonathan, 

 King, Ortley, Rome Beauty, Spitzen- 



