103 



land. Maine. 1 had a few minutes to wait there. You 

 remember there was a .big crop of apples that year and the 

 New England men had hard work to sell their apples, yet 

 right at the door was one good market. I went out to sev- 

 eral fruit stands but I could not find a New England apple, 

 nothing but Avestern box apples offered for sale. I got on 

 the train then to go to Bangor on the Maine Central and a 

 newsboy eanie down througli the train and he was singing, 

 "Nice, sweet ]\laine ]\IcIntosh apples." I thought to myself 

 here is nn^ man. "How much are they?'' "Three for ten." 

 "All right." I said, "give me three.'' I put my hand in 

 my pocket and I gave him the smallest bill I had, but. the 

 smallest bill I had was big enough so he could not change 

 it. We kind of chewed the thing over and it looked as 

 though I wasn't to get my apples. The boy says, "What 

 are you going to do with the magazine?" I had been read- 

 ing a magazine on the train. He said "I will trade you 

 three apples for the magazine." I said "You give me the 

 apples and you can have the magazine Avhen I get to Ban- 

 gor." They were marked and stenciled and wrapped with 

 tissue paper, "Oxford Bears." three perfect ^Mcintosh ap- 

 ples, delicious show apples. 



Why could I get New p]ngland apples after I got up 

 there? Here Avas an association which was doing business 

 enough so that they could contract with the Maine Central 

 L'ailroad and everyone of those apples was of a grade the 

 Eailroad knew they could sell to the service. That is why. 

 One man unless he was big enough could not handle such a 

 jiropositioii as that. There is an absolute illustration of 

 the value of co-operation. Now, there are tremendous 

 possibilities for these apple associations. They are not go- 

 ing to start in to be great big associations right from the 

 start but by sticking to it under adverse conditions I feel 

 they are sure to bring success and that they are going to be 

 a big help to our New England apple industry. (Applause.) 



THE CHAIRMAN: Any questions to ask Mr. Put- 

 nam? 



