A POLICY FOR FRUIT-GROWERS. 



COMBINATION IS THE PRICE OF THEIR PROSPERITY. 



THE most imp9rtant single industry which has 

 grown up under modern irrigation in the West 

 is fruit-growing. In this term is included the produc- 

 tion of all the citrus and all the deciduous fruits, as 

 well as the fruits of the vine. No other industry has 

 given such an impulse to the settlement of irrigated 

 lands. A fruit farm is invested with a certain charm 

 which appeals powerfully to the imagination of those 

 who have not been bred to the soil. Fruit growing 

 in the West seems to represent the exact reverse of 

 farming as it is known in the East. The one stands 

 for a life of comparative ease, and the other for a con- 

 tinual round of the hardest sort of manual labor. 

 This is the explanation of the fact that a very large 

 proportion of those who have made homes in the irri- 

 gated West have planted trees and vines. 



THE BUSINESS HAS BEEN PROFITABLE. 



Fruit-growing has been a source of phenomenal 

 profit in the past few years, especially in California. 

 There have been a few instances in each community 

 where growers, owing to peculiar skill and intelli- 

 gence, have realized very extraordinary profits, and 

 while the profit of the average grower has been quite 

 satisfactory, the possibilities of the business have 

 been generally estimated on the basis of the very 

 highest results enjoyed. This has been an important 

 factor in stimulating the sale of lands and the plant- 

 ing of new orchards. 



THE DECLINE OF PRICES. 



It is a well-known fact that the profits of the fruit 

 industry have sustained a decline during the past two 

 or three years. This has been true of every product 

 in the list, from raisins to oranges. The point has not 

 yet been reached where no profit is realized, and there 

 are those in every community who still obtain very 

 fair prices, but it may be said of the industry as a 

 whole that the tendency has of late been steadily in 

 the direction of lower quotations, and that the depres- 

 sion is such as to cause some solicitude about the 

 future of the business. The most natural comment 

 upon this situation would be that when every com- 

 munity and every industry, not only in the United 

 States, but throughout the world, is depressed, the 

 producers of fruit could not fairly expect to be exempt 

 from at least a share of the evils of the times. This 

 is certainly a reasonable view, but it is none the less 

 incumbent upon those who have invested in the busi- 

 ness, and who look to it for their support, to make a 



careful study of existing conditions, in order to ascer- 

 tain in what measure the falling prices are due to the 

 general depression, and in what measure to other 

 causes which it may be in their power to remedy. 



COMBINATION AMONG THE GROWERS. 



The most interesting movement on foot in the 

 West to-day outside of the great movement for the 

 reclamation of the new areas of arid land, is the pro- 

 jected organization among the fruit growers of Cali- 

 fornia. They have studied the situation and come to 

 the conclusion that they are being imposed upon by 

 commission houses, who have organized a system 

 which amounts to a conspiracy to rob the producers. 

 This is a matter of very vital interest to readers of 

 THE AGE throughout the West. Holding this view of 

 the case, THE AGE has been at some pains and 

 expense to make an investigation. To present the 

 matter intelligently as it appears upon careful study, 

 and to enable the reader to take broad views of the 

 future of the industry as it affects Western America 

 as a whole, requires us to go briefly into the history of 

 the rise and progress of fruit-growing as a distinctive 

 business. 



I. RISE OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



The modern fruit industry was the outgrowth of 

 what may be called the second era in the settlement 

 of California. After the subsidence of the mining 

 boom, which gave the first great impulse to the settle- 

 ment of the Pacific coast, attention was turned to the 

 cultivation of the soil, and the wonderful capabilities 

 for the production of all the fruits of the tree and vine 

 were quickly discovered. Intelligence and enter- 

 prise were brought to bear upon the business, and this 

 resulted in the rapid development of the best methods 

 of cultivation, of preparation for the market, and of 

 facilities for profitable shipment. The business was 

 first developed on a large scale in the beautiful Santa 

 Clara valley, which soon became famous for its 

 prunes. About the same time the Sacramento valley 

 entered extensively upon the cultivation of the 

 peach, which immediately became a very profitable 

 crop. The next distinct phase of the industry was 

 manifested at Fresno, in the heart of the San Joaquin 

 valley where attention was largely devoted to raisins. 

 Colonies sprung up almost like magic and the Fresno 

 raisin became a well-known article of commerce, 

 yielding high prices and handsome profits to the 

 planters. This development assumed importance 



