226 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 



big markets of the East and in Europe. In some cases 

 these agents were salaried men in the pay of the asso- 

 ciation, in other cases they were general produce handlers 

 who were willing to accept the exclusive agency for the 

 association for a given territory. In a few cases they 

 simply affiliated with some other exchange already hav- 

 ing an established territory. In this manner 76 agents 

 were established the first year in the various Eastern 

 markets to look after the interests of the association. 



It then became necessary to provide money to carry 

 on the business of selling until returns began to come in. 

 Banks were asked to make loans. They responded loy- 

 ally and, in the two years, 1913 and 1914, loaned over 

 $1,000,000 for the handling of the business and for ad- 

 vances to the growers through the sub-exchanges. These 

 loans were all returned at the close of the season, being 

 paid out of the charges on each package for selling the 

 fruit. Gradually a surplus working capital is being ac- 

 cumulated which, in time, will place the distributors on 

 a permanent cash basis. 



The cost of selling was to be provided for by a flat 

 tax on each package sold. For the first year this was 

 started on the basis of 5 cents a box for apples, 4 cents 

 a box for pears, 2y 2 cents per crate for prunes and l 1 /^ 

 cents per box for peaches. The surplus over and above 

 the actual cost of selling was held as a contingent fund 

 against the beginning of the next year's operations. 



The next thing to arrange for was to get a forecast of 

 the amount of fruit to be sold, the varieties, grades, etc. 

 The methods of collecting this data has been described 

 in a previous chapter. The important point, however, 

 was to have this information available several weeks be- 



