412 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



that they should. I believe it is very possible for ns to make a nice 

 little profit on four or tlve acres of some crop and loose it on a i)air 

 of pigs or a dozen chickens or vice versa just because we don't know 

 the cost. 



Another thing this company does: At some certain time of the 

 year they take a complete inventory, so that they can tell to the cent 

 whether their operations for the year have been at a profit or loss. 

 What would it be worth to us now as fruit growers if we had done 

 tliis every year and should do this again on the first day of next 

 January and then set down and figure out just what we had made or 

 lost during the year that is past and then take our cost account and 

 tell just what crops we grew at a profit and which ones at a loss. 

 WTiat a guide to us in our future work. 



Another thing they do very extensively is advertising. It was 

 said a year or two ago, in the sale of automobiles for instance, on a 

 $2,000 machine, that absolutely |1,000 of that was spent for adver- 

 tising and jjlacing the machine on the market. Now I am not say- 

 ing that it v.'ould pay fruit growers to spend so large an amount 

 proportionately as this, but there are many little and cheap Avays 

 that we can use to call the attention of the public to the value of the 

 apple as a food. Just last week in conversation with a western 

 apple man he told me that it didn't make any difference where you 

 went or for what purpose in Spokane you heard the apple talked 

 about. Those western fellows are just filled up with it and we can 

 see the result of that kind of advertising in our eastern markets. 

 I heard another good authority say that if fruit growers would ad- 

 vertise and educate as extensively as the breakfast-food people did 

 that there wasn't enough apples grown in the United States to sup- 

 ply the population of Pennsylvania. Bear in mind that their pro- 

 duct has no value as a food in comparison with ours. 



Another thing it doesn't make any difference whether a mow- 

 ing machine is sold at home, in South America, Africa or Australia, 

 the identity of the manufacturer and the place of manufacture is 

 never lost sight of. The only place that this doesn't count in is 

 the junk heap where the price has fallen from about $45.00 to $2.00. 

 Friends, there is entirely too much of our product sold as junk. If 

 you are burning out a product that you are ashamed of, let it go as 

 junk, but if what you have for sale is as good as the average stamp 

 your reputation on to it, show the consumer that you are not 

 ashamed of it and you will be surprised what a lot of confidence 

 you can inspire in him and what a price he will pay for it. 



As illustrating that and another thought in advertising, we sell 

 a good many of our apples in our local market, and two years ago 

 Vie thought of putting a shipping tag on each of our baskets. It was 

 not addressed, simply put on the basket. The merchant asked what 

 we put those on for. and we said we wanted the basket back. He 

 said he would keep the baskets for us. but some other fellow might 

 find out where he was getting the apples and compete with him. I 

 told him if I found our baskets sitting out without our tag on them 

 we would quit him. That is advertising and identity. 



Another thing that the International Harvester Company does 

 when they have a machine ready to go out they never go out to a 

 fence corner and pick up some old piece of wood to make a case 



