A POLICY FOR FRVtT-GROWERS. 



substituted by a system of popular control by the 

 producers themselves it is absolutely necessary that 

 all fruit-growers, or substantially all should be in 

 the organization. And they must be in it to stay 

 through thick and thin, through difficulties and 

 dangers until final success is achieved. A fruit crop 

 is of no value without a market. The commission 

 men control the market and that gives them their 

 strong grip on thfe situation. But control of the mar- 

 ket is worth nothing without a fruit crop. The growers 

 control the crop and are therefore in a position to 

 obtain control of the market if they will stand to- 

 gether in a compact and unwavering organization. 

 Strong local unions are the key to the situation. This 

 is where success will be won and this is where the 

 danger of failure is to be provided against. 



Another danger is that cheap men will get control 

 of affairs. The growers should beware of the chronic 

 office-seekers who always try to get to the front when- 

 ever honors and salaries are to be distributed. Hon- 

 est and capable management is vital, and ability can- 

 not be had for nothing. It is another of the proverbial 

 weaknesses of cooperative effort that it is generally 

 attempted to employ men for important positions at 

 small salaries. First-class ability cannot be had on 

 such terms, and nothing less than first-class ability 

 will accomplish the desired results. Loyalty to the 



organization, good management, patience in waiting 

 for results these things will be the price of success. 



JOIN THE UNIONS. 



But first of all, in order to lay the foundation of 

 success, it is absolutely essential that all the growers 

 should stand together. The man who will not join 

 the movement is nothing less than a traitor to his 

 business and his neighbors. He is a menace alike to his 

 own and his brother's prosperity. He is an ally of the 

 enemy. It is reasonable and right that the strongest 

 pressure should be brought to bear to unite the grow- 

 ers in a solid compact, the aim of which is to foster 

 the common good. No grower can be exempt from 

 the benefits obtained, and none should shirk his share 

 of the responsibility. 



ARID AMERICA IS WITH THEM. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE assures the men of Cali- 

 fornia that the people of Arid America are heartily 

 with them in their effort to improve the conditions of 

 the fruit industry. It is but a question of time when 

 every other State and Territory will meet the same 

 problems. They will suffer from the same evils, or 

 prosper with the removal of those evils. The Cali- 

 fornians are fighting for the West when they are 

 fighting to put their business on the solid basis of 

 prosperity for the men who made that business 

 possible. 



A SUCCESSFUL FLORIDA COLONY. 



THE spirit of colonial settlement upon a fixed and 

 prearranged plan has reached Florida, and the 

 new colony at Avon Park is reported to be in a highly 

 flourishing condition. The negro question and the 

 liquor question have both been settled already by not 

 having either the negro or liquor in the colony. A 

 select body of land owners have there come together, 

 not wholly upon cooperative lines, perhaps, yet with 

 a common ultimate purpose the founding of a 

 colony settlement in the pineapple region of Florida 

 which shall comprise many of the attainable features 

 which make life agreeable and worth the living, even 

 in a new and undeveloped region. A good school 

 and a union church are attractive features of the 

 new settlement. No loafers or dissipated persons are 

 allowed to gain a foothold, and industry, sobriety and 

 good citizenship characterize the entire colony. The 

 main industry is to be the production of pineapples, 

 supplemented by such manufacturing and kindred 

 industries as shall be found from time to time to pro- 

 mote the welfare of the colonists. 



Such colonial settlements as that established at 



Avon Park are quite common in California and some 

 other parts of the arid belt, and it is safe to say that 

 nowhere in the world are found more prosperous and 

 progressive communities. The isolation of ordinary 

 farm life and the frightful congestion of the city are 

 both avoided by the system of colonial settlements 

 which is so fully recognized now as an essential 

 feature in the development of the arid region. With 

 the growing intelligence of the people and a due 

 recognition of the interdependence of one upon an- 

 other, such cooperative communities will greatly 

 multiply, especially in those regions of the irrigable 

 west where water power may be easily utilized for 

 electric lighting, transportation and manufacturing 

 purposes. No part of the world is better adapted to 

 such settlements of educated and refined people than 

 the arid region of the United States; and the day is 

 not far distant when these centers of the most agree- 

 able and highest types of civilized life on this conti- 

 nent will attract the attention of the world's foremost 

 thinkers, as solving, in a great degree, one of the 

 most complex problems of the century. 



