10 April, 1918. J Htandardizcd Packing and Grading of Fruit. ^37 



attuek iind defence are subject to certain fixed or standard rnles ■which 

 experience has proved to be the most efficient. 



It does not require a stretch of imagination to realize the chaos which 

 would exist, and the loss of time, material, and energy which would 

 result if the guns, ammunition, and other equipment of a modern army 

 were not turned out to standard patterns. The value of standardization 

 in the direction of producing a maximum of result in a given period has 

 been fully emphasized by the present needs of the Allies for maintaining 

 tbe wastage in shipping toimage caused by the submarine campaign of 

 our enemies. This has resulted in the building of ships to standard pat- 

 terns, as it has been found that therein lies the only hoipe by which the 

 menace may be effectively met. 



At first sight the pertinence of the foregoing remarks to the subject- 

 matter of this article may not seem apparent, but the comparisons have 

 been drawn to emphasize the utility of the principle of standardization 

 as applied to a wide range of industry. It has been found that wherever 

 it has been adopted it begets (a) efficiency; (&) economy in effort, tinil, 

 and material; and (c) confidence between the manufacturer or producer 

 and the seller and purchaser of goods. ; 



The experience gained since the adoption of standardized method^ of 

 grading and packing fruit in the United States and Canada, the Itwjo 

 largest fruit-growing countries in the world, has shown that these 

 methods are a sine qua non for building up a large fruit industry on suc- 

 cessful lines. A perusal of the Proceedings of the 50th Californian anci 

 State Fruit Growers Convention, held at Sacramento, 21st to 23r«l 

 November, 1917, shows that all the delegates who delivered addresses oh 

 this subject pyid high tributes to the beneficial results which had accrued 

 to the fruit industry in California and other parts of America by the 

 adoption of standardized packing and grading. N'ot a single dissentienit 

 voice was raised against the principle generally, nor against the oper^d- 

 tion of the Fresh Fruit Standardization Law, which was passed in 191S 

 to give legal effect to the standard packs which had already been volunf 

 tarily adopted for many years by most of the co-operative and other 

 fruit-growing and fruit-distributing concerns of California. 



Space will not permit a reprint of all the statements in full which 

 were made by the various speakers at the Convention, but a few extracts 

 will suffice to show how standardized packing is viewed in California. 

 Mr. F. B. McKevitt, President, California Fruit Distributors : — 



" iStandardizafion, while it is new in a legal sense, is not a new thing 

 by any means. Standardization has been practised by the Californian 

 growers since they began to send their fruit to the East — not all, but all 

 those who have made the greatest success. In order to make a demand for 

 fruit it is necessary to have good fruit, and standardization means nothing 

 more or less than the packing of good fruit. It seems to me that 

 standardization is simply a' synonym for common honesty. . . . 

 Standardization is nothing more or less than the selfish proposition 

 of giving the grower more money for his fruit, as well as giving to the 

 consumer more fruit for his money. Therefore it is a splendid thing all 

 along the line." 



Mr. E. O. McCormick, vice-president. Southern Pacific Railway 

 Company : — 



" It is the pack that sells, whether it is the inner seal, the habisco wafer, 

 or the American cracker, or the tobacco pouch, or the orange or lemon with 

 the brand which we have made known, or your wonderful grapes, or the way 

 j'ou pack your cherries. It is the honest pack to-day that sells." 



