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know of no one within its ranks who is not reliable, it would 

 be presuming too much for me to say so unqualifiedly. I 

 would say, however, and I do say emphatically, that if he 

 is known he is not tolerated. The emblem of the league 

 means much, it stands for the highest ideals of reliable mer- 

 chants, and the wrong acts of one must of necessity reflect 

 on all. For this reason the league tolerates no misdeamor. 

 It is a most active body and through its business manager 

 and various committees accomplishes much for the 

 I cnefit of shippers and members. I wish I had time to tell 

 you more about this league, but I must pass on. 



I have always contended that in the fruit and produce 

 business, more than in any other line, there are surprises 

 and situations that almost defy explanation. The wide va- 

 riance in our qualities and conditions lends itself to errors 

 in judgment. This is true not only of the salesman but of 

 the buyers as well. In our business we are also human. 

 We all make mistakes and, like everybody else, our hind- 

 sight is better than our foresight. One of the serious con- 

 ditions confronting not only the commission merchant but 

 the reliable shipper as well, is the imscrupulous shipper. 

 The salesman is embarrassed by him, the buyers are dissatis- 

 fied with the results that the acts of that man bring, and 

 those acts are reflected on the many, reflected dispropor- 

 tionately upon all shippers identically as the acts of impos- 

 tors reflect upon the reliable commission merchant. 



One of the chief topics of conversation today is the high 

 cost of living and the elimination of the middleman, and yet 

 it is years since wholesale prices have been so low. Take 

 potatoes, cabbages, onions, all root products, all along the 

 line they have been and are selling ridiculously cheap, barely 

 averaging 3-4 of a cent a pomid. Take apples, have they not 

 been cheap! Yet shippers Avrite, "Why are the wholesale 

 prices so low and the prices to the consumers so high?" 

 Friends, I wish I knew. It might be that there is a leak 

 somewhere between the producer and the consumer; tlieri; 

 must be. vfhen the producer gets but 1-3 on an average of 



