Page 10 



BETTER FRUIT 



Noz'cnihcr 



ration and cider stock, and tlic report 

 says that the price of $1(1 per ton was 

 above the average and tliat probably 

 •¥8 per ton would be nearer the general 

 average in the state. 



Our consular returns in our investi- 

 gation of foreign markets shows that 

 chops from the United States sold in 

 Germany at from 2 to 3% cents a 

 pound Just what price may be realized 

 after there is an extensive develop- 

 ment of tile ])roduction of tlried longan- 

 berries, iasi)berries, etc., in the North- 

 west is a little diflicult at this time to 

 determine. If the develo])ment is kept 

 in harmony with the extension of the 

 markets, there is a prospect that the 

 longiinberry at least, anil probably the 

 blackberry, will be sold in the market 

 for drying for 2% to SVa cents per 

 pound for the fresh berry. Insofar as 

 foreign markets are concerned, how- 

 ever, for these products, our investiga- 

 tions revealed that there has been little 

 or no development, and if this country 

 continues to plant and ijroduce berries 

 to be marketed in the dried form ex- 

 traordinary eflforts will have to be 

 made to prepare the market for them, 

 and the piobabilities are that these 

 markets will have to be found mostly 

 in North America, at least until some 

 great effort is made for their intro- 

 ductiim into foreign counti'ies. 



In the matter of jellies, preserves, 

 pickles, etc., foreign markets reveal a 

 very small pro])ortion of goods of that 

 character from the United States. The 

 market for these things will also have 

 to be strenuously exploited and de- 

 veloped. There is no reason, however, 

 why these products should not be ex- 

 tensively produced here in the North- 

 west and marketed all over the world. 

 In the line of berries we produce the 

 best that the world grows. Strawber- 

 ries, raspberries, blackberries, logan- 

 berries, gooseberries and others of a 

 similar nature that are produced here 

 in the Northwest cannot be excelled in 

 any part of the known world. But the 

 market side of the (piestion has yet to 

 be worked out, and to proceed with any 

 extraordinary production on these 

 lines, without at the same time making 

 special efforts to extend the markets 

 would be extreme folly. I have seen 

 strawberries, blackberries and rasp- 

 berries sent from British Columbia to 

 Crosse & Blackwell at London, shipped 

 in barrels, to be prepared into jams, 

 jellies, etc., for the world's markets. 



Insofar as the production is con- 

 cerned, there is no reason why a very 

 extensive industry in this line should 

 not be develoijcd here in the North- 

 west. With the ojjening of the Panama 

 Canal we are put on the map. As far 

 as world's markets are concerned we 

 will be able to compete in the produc- 

 tion of this class of goods if we devote 

 ourselves to the production of high- 

 class articles of a standard ciuality and 

 organize for marketing the same. The 

 new rate of transiiortation by the 

 Panama Canal on canned goods from 

 here to New York, for instance, is .30 

 cents per hundred, as against 85 cents 

 by rail, and for dried fruit is 40 cents 

 per hundred, as against H by rail, and 



a re(kiclion to all European points of 

 one-half the present rail and steamer 

 rates by direct shi])ment. This shoidd 

 give a great imijctus to the develop- 

 ment of all diied and canned goods for 

 which this country is especialix titled 

 for production. 



Nothing further is now needed but 

 the organization of communities and 

 districts for canning, drying and ])re- 

 serving, and the further organization 

 of selling agencies to distribute these 

 goods tlirough the world. Here in the 

 Noi-thwest we are usually too prone to 

 hari) upon our splendid possibilities of 

 production, to view with pride and 

 pleasure the various fruits and vege- 

 tables which we produce, to jiraise in 

 all kinds of literature the excellent ad- 

 vantages which we have in production, 

 and then to sit (|uielly down and fold 

 our hands and exi)ect some unseen 

 power to take up the problem of prepa- 

 ration and marketing these splendid 

 fruits for which we have all of the ex- 

 cellent conditions of production. We 

 have been given to making exhibits 

 only of our raw i)roducts, advertising 

 them on all occasions almost all over 

 the world for the imrpose of getting 

 more ijroduccrs into this territory, and 

 we have failed to realize that prepara- 

 tion and marketing are just as essen- 

 tial as production. We now find our- 

 selves with vast (luanlities of fruits 

 produced, uni)repared for market and 

 without the conunercial machinery to 

 carry them to the consumer. This 

 great City of Portland has neglected 

 seriously that feature of its i)roi)er 

 function. They seem to have consid- 

 ered that their duty is to bring pro- 

 ducers into this territory, while as a 

 matter of fact their primary function 

 is to market the products of the North- 

 west. If these products are marketed 

 in such a way that the producers get 

 fair leturns for their labor and invest- 

 ments, the question of increasing i)ro- 

 ducers will take caie of itself. A pro- 

 ducer who is making a profit and 

 having a comfortable existence will be 

 the best advertiser for the country. If 

 the i)roducers of fruits, berries and 

 vegetables here are not securing a 

 profit from their products, the didiculty 

 is almost entirely confined to the mar- 

 ket end of the problem. 



The commercial and business inter- 

 ests here have permitted the people 

 from California and other states to do 

 most of the marketing of the fruit 

 products. The (California cannery 

 people have had no well-defined inter- 

 est in bringing up the production of 

 fruits in this territory, nor have the\ 

 been interested in any way in seeing 

 that the i)roducers received fair returns 

 for what they grew. On the other 

 hand, they have continually hammered 

 down the prices to the iiroducer until 

 he has been totally discouraged in the 

 whole question of trying to produce 

 fruits and berries for the Portland 

 cannery. 



A few years ago a producer of Bart- 

 lett jiears in Oakland, Oregon, experi- 

 mented with the market in California 

 and an Oregon cannery. He divided 

 his crop equallv in (fuanlity and (pial- 



ity, sending half to (>alifornia and half 

 to the cannery in Portland. The Port- 

 land cannery reported that his pears 

 were inferior and so |)oor that thev 

 could not afford to jiay but a very snail 

 price; 1 think it was about f!) per ton. 

 The (California cannery reported his 

 pears excellent, entirely satisfactory, 

 and paid him a price three times that 

 paid by the Portland cannery. This 

 \ear the California canneries have 

 bouglit pears at Salem and shipned 

 tlieni to (California for canning, paying 

 as high as $42 per ton for the first 

 {|ualily and *2;") per ton for the second 

 grade. It has finally become a well- 

 established fact that the Oregon Bart- 

 lett pear, although not cpiite so good 

 for shipping in the fresh state, is fully 

 equal, if not su])erior, to tlie jjcars pro- 

 duced anyw'here in the world for can- 

 ning purposes. Had this fact been 

 made clear by the canneries of Oregon 

 years ago, and the growers encouraged 

 in that line of industry, Oregon would 

 today be taking in immense (piantilies 

 of money for canned pears. 



The Oregon canned pears are now 

 l)ronounced in France and Great 

 liritain to be especially fine. In fact, 

 in our world survey of the fruit mar- 

 kets, we find it uniformly established 

 wherever Pacific Coast canned goods 

 find a market that they are pronounced 

 thoroughly satisfactory, if not superior, 

 to the canned fruits from any other 

 part of the world. The canneries now 

 operated and maintained by Oregon 

 peo])le are proving that the Oregon 

 Bartlett pear, the Oregon strawberry, 

 gooseberry, blackberry and raspberry 

 cannot be excelled, and in all of these 

 lines prospects are excellent for an ex- 

 liansion in trade. The manager of the 

 California Fruit Canners' Association, 

 Mr. C. H. Bentlcy, in his address before 

 the California Fruitgrowers' Conven- 

 tion pays high tribute to all of these 

 Oregon products and wishes that in 

 some of these things they could pro- 

 duce as good quality in California as 

 we produce here. He pays a particu- 

 larly high tribute to the Oregon straw- 

 berry and says that the markets will 

 take great quantities of them. He pays 

 equally high tribute to the Oregon 

 gooseberry. 



What is absolutely necessary for the 

 development of this industry in the 

 Northwest is the establishment of can- 

 neries and dryers owned and operated 

 by the peojile of this territory and tbeii- 

 produce marketed by an association 

 permanently interested in the develop- 

 ment of the industry. This organiza- 

 tion seems to be imbued with the im- 

 portance of securing a market for the 

 by-products of the fruitgrowers. To 

 my mind, this should not be the central 

 idea of the canning and dr> ing and pre- 

 serving industry. If this territory has 

 the real natural advantages for the 

 production of a high ciuality of fruits, 

 berries and vegetables of certain types, 

 it is of primary importance to jiut iq) a 

 high quality of goods, to distribute 

 them and establish a reputation for 

 high-class products. We must make a 

 reputation for our canned pears, for 

 our cherries, for our blackberries and 



