Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 207 



practices caused the downfall of the firm, and as it stood 

 high in fruit-handling circles, its dishonesty caused the 

 producers to distrust firms of similar standing. The 

 practice of receiving a brokerage from the jobber as well 

 as from the owner of the fruit for whom the broker acts, 

 is another practice which acts to the detriment of the 

 producer by lowering the price which he might have re- 

 ceived for his product. 



One of the most serious conditions that the producer 

 has to meet is the frequent agreement among buyers to 

 fix a maximum price to be paid for the fruit. This is not 

 an uncommon practice among those who buy fruit in the 

 orchards or at a shipping station. Under these conditions 

 all of the fruit is sold at a low price, and the grower with 

 unusually fine fruit is offered the same price as the grower 

 having fruit of medium quality. This practice among 

 buyers is one of the leading factors that has caused the 

 formation of the cooperative fruit-growers' associations 

 throughout the United States. In other instances the 

 buyers divide the territory among themselves and pay 

 similar prices to the growers in each territory. When 

 these conditions exist, competition is eliminated, trade is 

 unnaturally restrained, and the producer must either take 

 the price offered by the broker, consign his fruit to a firm 

 which may also be a buyer of the same product, hold it for 

 better market conditions later in the season, or else unite 

 with other producers to protect his interests. The pro- 

 ducer's condition is still further complicated by the jobbers 

 when they contract for all the space in storage plants in 

 the large cities, and further still when the warehouseman, 

 either directly or indirectly, becomes a jobber in the prod- 



