Page 22 



BETTER FRUIT 



May 



BETTER FRUIT 



HOOD RIVER, OREGON 



Offldai Organ of The Northwest Fruit Growers' AsBodation 

 A Monthb' Illustrated Magazine Published In the 

 Interest of Modern Fruit Gromng and Marketing 



All Communications Should Be Addressed and Remittances 

 Made Payable to 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



E. H. SHEPAKD, Editor and PubllBher 

 H. E. VAN DEilAN. CoDtributine Editor 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 

 OREGON 



C I. Lewis. Horticvilturlat Corvallis 



H. S- Jackson, Pathologist Coirallis 



H. F, Wilson. Entomologist Corrallls 



WASHINGTON 



Dr. A. L. Melander. Entomologist Pullman 



O. M. Morris. Horticulturist Pullman 



COLORADO 



C. P. Gillette. Director and Entomologist Fort Collins 



E. B. House, Chief of Department of Civil and Irrigation 



Engineering. SWte Agricultural College Port Collins 



E, P. Taylor, Horticulturist Grand Junction 



IDAHO 



W. H. Wicks, Horticulturist Moscow 



W. S. Thornber, Horticulturist Lewiston 



UTAH 



Dr. E. D. Ball. Director and Entomologist Logan 



MONTANA 



O, B. Whipplo. Horticulturist Bozeman 



CALITORNIA 



C- W. Woodworth. Entomologist Berkeley 



W, H. Volck. Entomologist Watsonville 



Leon D. Batchelor. Horticulturist Riverside 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

 R. M. Winslow, Provincial Horticulturist Victoria 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: 



In the United States, $1.00 per year In advance 



Canada and foreign, including postage. $1.50 



ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION 



Entered as second-class matter December 27, 1906, at the 



Postofflce at Hood River. Oregon, under Act 



of Congress of March 3. 1879. 



The Consumers' Dollar. — The article 

 on thi.s subject by Mr. G. Harold 

 Powell, manager of the California 

 Fruit Growers' Exchange, should be 

 read by every fruitgrower of the 

 Northwest. Mr. Powell is known by 

 the fruitgrowers all over the United 

 States, having at one time been chief 

 executive in the Department of Horti- 

 culture, Wa.shington, D. C. United 

 States Government. He is manager of 

 the California Fruit Growers' Ex- 

 change, located at Los Angeles, wbich 

 handles more cars of fruit than any 

 other association. Mr, Powell receives 

 a higher salary than any other man en- 

 gaged in marketing fruit on a co-oper- 

 ative basis. WTiile the article refers to 

 the consumers' dollar in connection 

 with the orange business, it is valuable 

 for comparison and gives some infor- 

 mation that may be utilized to ad- 

 vantage by the fruitgrowers producing 

 every other kind of fruit. In the per- 

 centage table as compiled by Mr. 

 Powell the orange grower gets 26"/in 

 per cent after deducting the cost of 

 picking and hauling to the packing 

 house, which is 10% cents per box. 

 The percentage net to the grower also 

 is made after deducting the cost of 

 packing, which is 32Mo cents per box. 

 Mr. H. M. Gilbert of North Yakima de- 

 livered an address before the Washing- 

 ton State Horticultural Societv meeting 

 in North Yakima in January, 1913, 

 which was published in the April edi- 

 tion of "Better Fruit" of that year. It 

 is one of the ablest articles that has 

 ever been written in reference to the 

 "Con.sumers' Dollar" on deciduous 

 fruits, and is condensed herewith, with 

 the editor's apology for .so doing, as 

 lack of space necessitates it: "Mr. 

 Shepard stole most of my thunder yes- 



terday in what 1 consider the most 

 comprehensive paper we have ever had 

 on marketing before the state associa- 

 tion as long as 1 have been connected 

 with it." (Mr, Shepard's address was 

 published in full in the March edition, 

 1913.) Mr. Gilbert said: "I started two 

 years ago to make a rigid investigation 

 about prices paid by the consumer and 

 prices received by the grower and what 

 the man in between secured. 1 believe 

 my conclusions are conservative and 1 

 think they are reliable as they are the 

 result of about ,500 actual investiga- 

 tions made in a large number of mar- 

 kets in the dilferent states. I find that 

 where the consumer paid $3 per box 

 for apples the grower has been getting 

 80 cents; where the consumer paid 

 .'?2.25 for medium grades the grower re- 

 ceived about 00 cents. The following 

 tables illustrate the percentages, etc.: 



Retailer scUs best grades at ?3,00 



Grower gets 80 26%% 



Shi])per, association or grower's 



agent gets 10 31^% 



Railroad gets 50 16%% 



Rrokerage and commissions, re- 

 ceiving end 25 8%% 



Retailer gets 1,35 45 % 



100 % 

 Consumer pays $3.00, or 375% on what the 



grower gets; shipper gets 12}%, railroad 621%, 



commission 31J%, retailer 375% of price the 



grower receives. 



Retailer sells medium grades at. ,$2.25 



Grow er gets 60 26%% 



Shipper, association or grower's 



agent gets 07 3i-n% 



Railroad gets 43 19%% 



Rrokerage and commissions, re- 

 ceiving end 25 1i%% 



Retailer gets 90 40 % 



100 % 

 Consumer pays .?2,25, or 375% of price the 

 grower gets. 



"Everybody knows the grower gets 

 too little and the consumer pays too 

 much: that it costs too much to get fruit 

 from the grower to the consumer, but 

 instead of squarely facing the facts and 

 finding a remedy by mixing brains with 

 our business the grower condemns the 

 local buyers, the commission men, the 

 association or shipping concerns, in 

 fact everybody except himself and the 

 retailer as the big trouble, ^^^lile the 

 railroads have given good service I be- 

 lieve that the service could be im- 

 proved, and in my opinion .50 cents per 

 box is too much to pay on peaches to 

 the Middle Western Cities from the 

 Northwest, I believe that the Panama 

 Canal will reduce the freight rate on 

 apples to Atlantic ports to a figure ap- 

 proximately about 25 cents per box.' 

 Mr. Gilbert stated: "That while the 

 railroads take 50 cents per box the re- 

 tailer takes SI. How can this be reme- 

 died? In the first place the retailer 

 must be persuaded to get rid of the 

 idea that Northwestern fruits are a 

 luxury to be sold to the rich by the 

 dozen. For years we have allowed our 

 apples to go to the speculator and the 

 speculator has resold them to other 

 speculators with a profit added, and 

 sometimes as much as seven profits 

 have been made by actual tracing. The 

 retailer has paid an exorbitant price 

 and therefore considers our fruit a 

 luxury. The old days for speculators 



are passed. The deal is too big and the 

 quantity and tonnage too great, but 

 with new adjustment will come lower 

 retail prices. The retailer must be per- 

 suaded that it is good business to 

 handle a greater number of boxes of 

 apples at a smaller profit and make 

 more money than to handle a few 

 boxes at a higher profit and make less. 

 There is the problem. Upon this prob- 

 lem the retailer must be educated. The 

 retailer controls the situation. The 

 grower cannot sell to the consumer; it 

 is impossible. The grower cannot 

 fight the retailer. What can be done? 

 We must join hands with the retailer; 

 we must study his problems; we must 

 show him our fruit is not a luxury, but 

 of real value as an every-day article of 

 diet. In good-sized cities the retailer is 

 frequently able to purchase in carlots. 

 By so doing be can secure his fruit at 

 much less cost than he can by obtain- 

 ing it by express in ten-box lots from 

 some large distributing center. Much 

 can be done along this line to increase 

 consumption. The retailer ought to be 

 educated as to what varieties of 

 peaches, pears and apples and other 

 fruits are best to eat in the different 

 months of the year. The retailer is not 

 mean or vicious. He is a man like the 

 rest of us, quick to catch an idea and 

 anxious to be shown. Mr. Shepard in 

 his remarks yesterday said and re- 

 iterated, 'There's a remedy.' So say I, 

 'There's a reason,' and a reason on 

 reason why the retailer charges such 

 large profits. No one can correct his 

 attitude as easily as the grower and his 

 shipping agents. Some of the pleasant- 

 est work I have done has been in 

 changing the attitude of reliable retail- 

 ers and wholesalers. There are thou- 

 sands of them; .get their attitude cor- 

 rected, treat them right and you will 

 find they are your best business 

 friends." 



Again the editor desires to call the 

 attention to the comparison of the per- 

 centage of the "Consumers' Dollars" 

 obtained by the orange grower com- 

 pared with the apple grower. The 

 orange grower's percentage of 26"4o per 

 cent is after deducting the expenses of 

 picking, packing and hauling; the per- 

 centage of the "Consumers' Dollars" on 

 apples, according to Mr. Gilbert's anal- 

 ysis, is 26% per cent without the cost 

 of picking and packing being deducted. 

 In the first instance, where the apples 

 are retailed at S3 to the consumer, at 

 least 30 cents should be deducted for 

 picking and packing (and they most 

 frequently cost 35 cents) from the con- 

 sumers' dollar, which would be 10 per 

 cent reduction in the iiercenlage the 

 growers get, reducing his percentage to 

 16% per cent of the consumers' dollar 

 as compared with 26-n per cent re- 

 ceived by the orange growers. ^^Tly? 

 That is the problem for the apple 

 grower to study and solve. In the 

 second analysis, where the consumer 

 pays •S2.25 and the grower gets 60 cents, 

 or 26% per cent, the price of picking 

 and packing being 30 cents and, as be- 

 fore stated, frequently 35 cents, it 

 would reduce the grower's price per 



