DEVELOPMENT OF FRUIT EXCHANGE IDEA. 



BY FRANK S. CHAPIN. 



A S California fruit came into market 

 ^^ so much faster than facilities for its 

 disposal developed, especially in times 

 when the mass of consumers were down 

 to bed rock and cutting off all luxuries, 

 the growers took it into their own hands. 

 Some of them are in the position of 

 the boy kicked in the face by a mule 

 w r ho asked his father if he thought he 

 would ever be as pretty again. u No, 

 my son, but you'll know more." 



Now some of them know that it is as 

 much of a trade to sell good's as to pro- 

 duce them; that there is as much advant- 

 age in curing fruit on a large scale with 

 every facility as the creamery has over 

 the farm dairy and that the plan by 

 which you can reach the retailer most 

 directly and make the deal most interest- 

 ing for him is the best. 



They have found that prunes yield all 

 the way from 25 per cent to 45 per cent 

 of their fresh weight and other fruits in 

 proportion and that flavors vary as much 

 or more than yields. So it is even harder 

 than in the ordinary business to agree 

 upon a just basis of credits. 



The banks advancing money on fruit 

 in warehouses, cured and graded, have 

 not been pleased owing to the policy of 

 exchanges of holding too long on declin- 

 ing markets. Under such considerations 

 "The Visalia Exchange 11 has adopted 

 the policy of storing each man's crop 

 separately in their warehouse and grad- 

 ing and packing to suit order of buyer 

 as goods are shipped. 



Whenever a customer wants to draw 

 an advance he consigns the goods to 

 some commission house, forwarding 

 sample and authorizing them to act as 

 his agent in disposing of same. When- 

 ever they secure an offer it is submitted 

 for acceptance and goods are sold from 

 sample i. o. b. 



The house acts as producer's agent in 

 guaranteeing goods up to sample and 



has such arrangements for arbitration 

 that trouble seldom occurs. 



Houses are disposed to encourage the 

 trade in ordering goods packed under 

 their own brands and then crowding 

 their sale as specialties. When a traveling 

 man is able to show a customer samples 

 of nearly all the stock in the market 

 and to furnish same in any style of pack- 

 age he is in very different position from 

 a huckster along the water front whose 

 store is crowded with dirty sacks of fruit 

 that the worms are destroying, and there 

 are so many more sellers than buyers 

 that he is glad to have it out of his way 

 at any price. 



The time is coming when it will seem 

 as important to send cured fruit in pack- 

 ages that will reach the consumer with 

 recipes for cooking as it is to pack oat- 

 meal or baking powder in that way. 



In co-operative drying plants it has 

 been found hard to avoid such favoritism 

 as made the work too expensive. 



It has been suggested that after the 

 neighborhood has equipped the plant 

 they let the work of curing to the lowest 

 responsible bidder with as careful specifi- 

 cations as they would make for a bridge 

 or a house. He might hire the same 

 people but they would not have the 

 same pull and could be controlled. 



As the amount of money that its net 

 proceeds pays interest or fixes land 

 value and determines rate of develop- 

 ment, questions like the above have a 

 deep interest for all engaged in develop- 

 ing the arid west. 



We summarize: Neighborhood cur- 

 ing plants; curing done by contract; 

 crops stored separately at warehouse; 

 advances made by commission house; 

 sales made by houses employing travelers 

 to interview retailers; goods packed to 

 order; dealers encouraged to order priv- 

 ate brands and push sale of specialties; 

 advertise merits of goods and methods of 

 cooking on each package. 



