FROM PRODUCER TO COxXSUMER 159 



export departments receive the produce from the 

 farmer at the railroad station and take it to the 

 State-owned terminals on the seaboard, where it is 

 either sold for domestic use or is exported to Eng- 

 land, and an accounting rendered to the farmer. 



Such a system of marketing has also been worked 

 out by the citron-growers, orchard-owners, grape- 

 growers, and wine men of California. They have 

 formed co-operative market associations which col- 

 lect, pack, and ship the produce of all the members 

 to the Eastern markets. They have agents or con- 

 signees in the cities who receive and sell the com- 

 bined shipments and account to the central agency 

 in California for the sales, which agency in turn 

 settles with the individual members.^ This, too, is 



^ The California Fruit Growers' Exchange, a co-operative society, 

 has been in existence twenty-one years. It handled $50,000,000 

 worth of perishable fruits in 1916 at a cost of 1.78 per cent, for bring- 

 ing its products to the wholesaler in eastern markets. It makes 

 deliveries to 2,500 wholesalers. It maintains agents all over the 

 country who handle the products of the exchange and dispose of 

 shipments either at auction or by private sale. There are no divi- 

 dends and no profits. The organization is managed by the fruit- 

 growers, and has cut out all middlemen except the local wholesaler 

 and the retailer. In 1916 the exchange forwarded 12,000,101 

 boxes of oranges, lemons, and grapefruit, or 67 per cent, of the total 

 citrus fruits shipped from California. As a result of its activities 

 the citrus-fruit growers have greatly increased their returns from 

 the crop. In addition, losses from bad debts and all other causes 

 totalled only $102.73 in the year 1916. It cost them 5.65 cents per 

 box, or 1.78 per cent, on the delivery value of the fruit. It presented 

 and collected from the railroads claims amounting to $111,557. It 

 has accumulated a balance of $159,064, available for refund to its 

 members. The exchange is nation-wide in its activities. It in- 

 cludes a total of 162 shipping associations, and maintains 77 sales 

 offices. About 8,000 members are served by it on a co-operative, 

 non-profit basis at a negligible cost. 



