Page 10 



BETTER FRUIT 



May 



make too little profit on his products 

 as too niucti. It is a regretable fact 

 tliat wlicreas the retailers in North- 

 western fruits have perhaps been 

 charging too great profits the direct 

 customers of the growers out here, that 

 is the wholesaler dealers, have in the 

 past five years made too little profit. 

 The consequence is that they become 

 harder and harder to interest each 

 year. This whole question of the equi- 

 ties and the balances in the commercial 

 rehitions of producer, jobber and re- 

 tailer is one which is worthy of mighty 

 serious study." 



Mr. Gwin is so well known by the 

 fruitgrowers of the Northwest and the 

 trade in general any personal remarks 

 on the part of the editor would be 



B. A. PERHAM 



Sales Manager for the North Pacific Fruit 



Distributors, with headquarters at 



Spokane, Washington. 



faint praise. Mr. Gwin, in addition to 

 having experience and training with 

 two very large commercial companies. 

 The H-0 Company and Arbuckle Bros., 

 has had eight year.s' experience in sell- 

 ing green fruits, being connected with 

 some of the largest institutions in the 

 United Stales in this line, viz.. The 

 California Vegetable Union, Crutchfield 

 & Woolfolk and the Northwestern 

 Fruit Exchange. Mr. Gwin is regarded 

 by all who know him well as being a 

 man of splendid ability, a good or- 

 ganizer, an expert on system and ac- 

 counting and has the highest ability as 

 salesman and sales-manager. It was 

 in recognition of these qualities, which 

 he possesses to the fullest extent, that 

 he was selected as general manager of 

 the Northwestern Fruit Exchange. 



MR. H. M. GILBERT was born near 

 Geneseo, Henry County, Illinois, 

 on a stock farm, October 22, 1862 — 52 

 years old. Graduated from six-years' 

 classical course at Knox College, Gales- 

 burg, Illinois, in 1885, with an A. B. 

 degree. His wife also graduated in the 

 same class. Mr. Gilbert was honored 



with an A. M. degree a few years later. 

 Came to North Yakima, Washington, in 

 the fall of 1897. Planted his home 

 orchard in 1898. 



Organized Richey & Gilbert Com- 

 pany in 1900, of which he has been 

 president and manager continuously 

 and made it a large and efficient mar- 

 keting agency. Mr. Gilbert has ac- 

 cepted the position of general manager 

 of a new selling agency, the Yakima 

 Fruit Sellers. This company combines 

 the selling forces of the Yakima County 

 Horticultural Union, Yakima Fruit 

 Growers' Exchange and Richey &. Gil- 

 bert Company, which together shipped 

 nearly 2,500 cars of fruit last season. 



Main interest is that of a grower, 

 having nearly 400 acres of apple or- 

 chards. Is president of Tieton Water 

 Users' Association, a government pro- 

 ject, irrigating 34,500 acres near North 

 Yakima. President of Central Bank, 

 Toppenish. Did some good advertising 

 in the Orient for boxed apples in a trip 

 around the world in 1913 with his wife 

 and family of seven children. Believes 

 positively in the Growers' Council 

 movement and in an efficient, econom- 

 ical arrangement on a reciprocal basis 

 to harmonize the marketing of fruit in 

 the Northwest. 



MR. FRED EBERLE, whose photo- 

 graph appears in this issue, is a 

 native of Missouri and was born in 

 that state thirty-eight years ago. His 

 education was obtained in the high 

 schools of Wathena, Kansas, and at the 

 University at St. Joseph, Missouri. He 

 began his business career with the firm 

 of John A. C. Gordon of Wathena, who 

 was at that time an extensive shipper 

 ■ of Northeastern Kansas fruit, no doubt 

 ^acquiring at that time a taste for that 

 line of business, which has made him 

 so successful at the present time. Mr. 

 Eberle is considered one of the best 

 posted and efficient sales-managers of 

 the Northwest, having had experience 

 for years as traveling salesman. He 

 has a large acquaintance among the 

 trade and this acquaintance is of great 

 value to him in his present position. 

 He has been with the Yakima County 

 Horticultural Union for five years, four 

 years as salesman on the road and the 

 past season as assistant manager, and 

 has naturally had considerable influ- 

 ence in shaping the policies of the 

 Union. Beginning with April 1st of 

 this year, he takes up the duties of 

 sales-manager for the Horticultural 

 Union and assistant manager for the 

 Yakima Fruit Sellers, who will handle 

 about 3,000 cars the present season. As 

 a man, Mr. Eberle has a friend in every 

 acquaintance and inspires confidence 

 with both grower and shipper alike by 

 his alert and businesslike methods and 

 well-balanced judgment. 



MR. H. F. DAVIDSON was born on 

 his grandfather's farm in Knox 

 County, Ohio, near Mt. Vernon, July 20, 

 1868, and is now nearly 47 years of age. 

 His father, Charles Davidson, was a 

 carriage manufacturer near Lima, Ohio. 

 Mr. Davidson spent his early bovhood 



days in Lima, where he attended 

 school. In 1882 his father moved to 

 Canton, Illinois, with the family. Mr. 

 Davidson continued his school work, 

 later taking a commercial course in a 

 private school, afterwards attending 

 the Indiana Normal School at Val- 

 paraiso, and after graduation teaching 

 school for several terms in the State 

 of Illinois. In 1890 Mr. Davidson came 

 to Oregon, settling in Hood River. In 

 1891 he became active in developing the 

 irrigation system on the west side, now 

 known as the "Farmers' Irrigation 

 Co." Mr. Davidson was one of the 

 original incorporators and the first 

 manager of the Hood River Fruit 

 Growers' Union, which was organized 

 in 1893, being the first co-operative 



II. r. DAVIDSON 

 President and Manager of the Davidson Fruit 

 Company of Hood River, now combined with 

 the Apple Growers' Association of Hood River. 

 Mr. Davidson was for two years president of 

 the North Pacific Fruit Distributors. He is 

 president of The Fruit Sellers and Board of 

 Control and w ill have an ofUcial position w ith 

 the Apple Growers' Association of Hood River 

 for the coming season. 



fruitgrowers' association formed in the 

 Northwest, afterwards merged with 

 the Hood River Apple Growers' Union, 

 which is now included in the Apple 

 Growers' Association of Hood River. 

 In 1907 Mr. Davidson resigned as man- 

 ager of the Hood River Fruit Growers' 

 Union, incorporating the Davidson 

 Fruit Company, which continued to be 

 a prominent factor in fruit growing 

 and shipping for many years. In the 

 year 1912 Mr. Davidson, becoming con- 

 vinced that the future prosperity of the 

 fruitgrower, he being a fruitgrower 

 owning a large acreage, depended upon 

 co-operative work and that better 

 prices could be obtained through co- 

 operation, there being a numljer of 

 competing individual shipping con- 

 cerns, so therefore he merged the 

 Davidson Fruit Company with the 

 Hood River Apple Growers' Union, 

 forming the Hood River Apple Grow- 

 ers' Association, the latter buying out 



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