Pase 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



Ma\ 



of the year. Any other system jeopard- 

 izes the interest of the producer, re- 

 duces the volume of business of the 

 jobber, and keeps the net profit of the 

 retailer below what it otherwise might 

 have been. 



The retail fiuit business needs the 

 same careful investigation as that sug- 

 gested for the fruit jobber, with a view- 

 to improving the entire retail business 

 system, to developing better methods of 

 creating an increased consumption, and 

 of putting the entire retail system on a 

 basis which will make it the most vital 

 factor in handling the rapidly increas- 

 ing fruit crop. To accomplish this end, 

 the average retail fruit dealer needs the 

 co-operation of the producer and the 

 jobber. The consumer demands a ser- 

 vice that imposes a heavy overhead 

 charge on the retailer's operations — a 

 condition which the producer does not 

 usually appreciate. In all of these oper- 

 ations the consumer is king. By gain- 

 ing his confidence and serving his best 

 interest, the interests of the producer, 

 the jobber and the retailer are assured. 

 Without the interest of the consumer, 

 all merchandizing efforts must fail. 

 The aim of every factor in the fruit 

 business should be to stimulate the de- 

 sire of the consumer for fruit, and then 

 to give him an attractive, fresh, whole- 

 some supply at a price which pays a 

 reasonable profit to every factor in- 



volved and yet be well within the con- 

 sumer's reach. 



Whether the jobbing and retail fruit 

 business is organized along economical 

 and edicieni lines, whether the purchas- 

 ing, the deliveries, the credits and other 

 features of the business are handled 

 with the fewest number of steps and 

 with a minimum of economic waste, 

 and whether the handling of the busi- 

 ness by producer, jobber and retailer 

 serves the best interest of the consumer 

 the author is not prepared to say. It is 

 recognized that both the wholesale and 

 retail systems are products of modern 

 industrial and social life and that 

 changes in the system must progress 

 slowly. The facts outlined in this dis- 

 cussion are not presented in a spirit of 

 criticism, but in the hope that they may 

 lead to investigation and to a clearer 

 understanding of the different phases of 

 distribution; that they may induce the 

 jobbing and retail fruit interests, the 

 railroads and the producer to study 

 their own problems more carefully, 

 and to study the ])roblems of every 

 other factor as well, to the end that the 

 fruit distributing system from the pro- 

 ducer to the consumer may be made 

 more stable, more direct, more efficient, 

 with every wasteful step and process 

 eliminated and all handled to gain the 

 confidence of the consumer and to serve 

 his best interests. 



Northwestern Fruit Exchange Report 



ALTHOUGH Northwestern apple 

 growers are discouraged because 

 of low prices in lfll2 and 1914. it is 

 now discovered that the average for 

 five years, including these two disas- 

 trous seasons, is around one dollar per 

 box net to the grower. This is a fair 

 indication that the same average will 

 be maintained for the future, assuring 

 affluence and independence if orchard- 

 ists take proper precautions to meet 

 inevitable fluctuations from year to 

 year. The situation is thus summed up 

 by W. F. Gwin, vice-nresident and gen- 

 eral manager of the Northwestern Fruit 

 Exchange, in announcing today the 

 general average returns both for the 

 current season and the past half decade. 

 All selling charges deducted, the Cash- 

 mere Fruit Growers' Union realized 69 

 cents per box on 189,167 boxes, which 

 is all of the 1914 crop for which ac- 

 counting was completed on December 

 31st, 1914. It is not expected that the 

 final results will change this average 

 much, but it might be a few cents less. 

 For five years the Cashmere average is 

 97% cents on 677,982 boxes, all grades 

 and varieties. The only other growers' 

 organization which has used the Ex- 

 change central selling agency for five 

 years is the Rogue River Fruit and 

 Produce Association of Medford, Ore- 

 gon. The average for 1914 is 61 cents 

 per box; for the five-year i)eriod it is 

 .'«1.04 on total shipments of 317,.580 

 boxes. .Judging from averages for other 

 districts computed on December 31st it 

 is expected that the general crop aver- 

 age for 1914 to all Exchange ship- 



pers will be between 60 and 6,5 cents 

 per box. 



"The orchardist must lake the excess 

 above a dollar per box in the good 

 years," declared Mr. Gwin, "and create 

 therewith a sinking fund to finance 

 himself in the poor years. Having re- 

 ceived this warning, he should not 

 complain if bankrujitcy overtakes hin 

 as a result of dissipating his reserve in 

 land and stock speculations, automo- 

 biles, fine residences and trips abroad. 

 These things are all right when we can 

 afl'ord them; but the last thing we can 

 afford is to gamble with the capital re- 

 quired to operate our business. .lust 

 now the grower is suffering a severe 

 headache, the result of a prolonged 

 speculative debauch. The thing to do 

 is sober uj) and face the situation the 

 same as other business men are doing. 

 The result is sure to be lasting pros- 

 perity. The troubles with apple grow- 

 ers are chiefly due to their own mis- 

 apprehensions," insisted the marketing 

 official. "They have proceeded on the 

 theory that production and prices from 

 year to year are stable. Nothing in the 

 history of the industry, either here or 

 elsewhere, justifies such supposition; 

 nevertheless, orchardists have adopted 

 this false assumjition (piite generally 

 and have followed it to inevitable grief. 

 The figures we give out today afl'ord 

 both explanation and remedy for ex- 

 isting conditions. In the future there 

 will be vears when prices will fall as 

 low as they did in 1912 and 1911. 

 There will also be seasons of high 

 prices like those of 1910, 1911 and 1913. 



Therefore it is of vital importance to 

 the apple grower to figure his business, 

 not from year to year as he has been 

 doing, but on the basis of not less than 

 a five-year period." 



The fluctuations of the apple market 

 from year to year are very apparent in 

 the following tabulation of returns net 

 to the Cashmere Fruit Growers' Union 

 of the Wenatchee Valley, selling 

 charges of the Exchange having been 

 deducted, showing total apple ship- 

 ments and average prices per box for 

 all three grades by years (to get the 

 net returns to the individual grower, 

 deduct five cents per box, the local 

 assessment to cover cost of assembling, 

 loading, etc.) : 



Extra Fancy Fancy 



1910 32,543 $1.35 8,396 $1.14 



1911 ,S0,24n 1.62 8,770 1.27 



1912 113.322 .75 40,468 .54 



1913 97,899 1.58 58,013 1.31 



1914 100,007 .79 57,616 .64 



5 years 380,011 $1.11 173,263 $0.90 



Choice General 



1910 11,576 $0.85 52,515 .$1.20 



1911 15.486 .93 60,496 1.39 



1912 :i9,764 .61 193,554 .68 



1913 26,388 .83 182.250 1.38 



1914 ,31,544 .46 189,167 .69 



5 years 124,708 30.68 677,982 $0.97i 



It will be noted that the average of 

 the yearly averages is .$1.06, whereas 

 the average on the total tonnage of 

 677,982 boxes is 97% cents. This seem- 

 ing discrepancy is explained by the fact 

 that the shipments in 1910 and 1911, 

 when prices were good, were about a 

 third of the tonnaae in the poor years, 

 1912 and 1914. Manifestly, if the ton- 

 nage had been the same in all five vears, 

 the average to Ihe Union would have 

 been HM per box, or Jfl.Ol net to the 

 grower. As a matter of fact, some 

 members of the Union have actually re- 

 ceived more than an avcrat^e of one 

 dollar because the\ had exceptionally 

 good varieties and grades. The reason 

 for the superior average of Rogue River 

 is that most of its apple tonnaae con- 

 sists of Yellow Newtown Pippins and 

 Spitzenbergs, varieties which command 

 good prices, whereas Cashmere has 

 also a big volume of varieties like Ben 

 Davis, Black Twig, .Jonathan, Stayman 

 and Gano, very prolific and profitable, 

 but showing a low net average per box. 



The following gives total tonnage and 

 grand average per box for five years on 

 Spitzenbergs and Newtowns from the 

 two districts: 



Vuriely Cashmere Hngue River 



Si)itzeiil)ergs. 153,725 $1.10 64,507 $1.07 



Y. N. Pippins 20,704 1.17 165,450 1.19 



.Statistics have been collected which 

 show average annual yield of .')00 boxes 

 per acre in the Cashmere district. 

 Trees above six years of age which do 

 not yield this ecpiivalent are regarded 

 as defective. Scores of orchards have a 

 record of better than 800 boxes for 

 many seasons. Ojjinions dilfer on cost 

 of production. Some claim the expense 

 is less than oO cents per box, while 

 others say 65 cents. It dei)ends on 

 widely varying conditions. Growers 

 generally say they can pay themselves 

 a good salary, provide comfortable 

 homes for their families and realize 12 

 per cent on their investment if prices 

 will average a d(dlar per box. 



