PRINCIPLES OF VALUE AND PRICE 467 



Standards of measure greatly vary in different states and communities. 

 Shipments of the same commodity may reach a market like New York 

 City on the same day from many different states, packed in almost 

 as many different styles or sizes of containers, according to the custom 

 or state law. Under such chaotic conditions proper prices can hardly 

 be determined and unnecessary annoyance and waste of values are the 

 natural result. 



The advertising feature affecting demand is of more importance 

 than many producers and dealers appreciate. The seasons for some 

 of our very best fruits are short and often they are half over before 

 a large part of the consuming public knows or realizes what fruits are 

 "in season." A great many retail dealers fail to buy or display a 

 variety of fruit until they begin to have call for it from the consumer. 

 Often this is the sole cause of slack demand and abnormally low prices 

 during the first part of the season. By advertising at the proper time 

 in ways that will attract the notice of retailers and consumers, the 

 demand is greatly increased. 



The stability of market, when possible to secure it, I believe, goes 

 farther toward encouraging the jobber and retailer to push sales and 

 take special interest in a fresh product than anything else. It is my 

 observation that the consumption of fresh fruit, perhaps more than 

 anything else, increases according to the degree the sale is pushed. 

 The rapidly increasing crops of fruits make it imperative that a 

 demand be created that is far beyond the natural call. There is a 

 vast difference between the sale of fruit which the dealer simply has 

 for sale for those who come to inquire for it than there is for the fruit 

 which the jobbers must dispose of by sending out salesmen- to solicit 

 orders from retailers, because, in addition, the salesman should inform 

 the retailer as to what is in the market and what is due to arrive soon, 

 and enthuse the retailer, in turn, to solicit the consumers' considera- 

 tion. 



The jobber and retailer are the natural acting salesmen for the 

 producer, and on these salesmen's efforts the growers' interest depends. 

 They are the necessary connecting links between the producer and 

 consumer. The interest they take in pushing the sale of fresh fruits 

 is naturally influenced by the certainty of their remuneration. The 

 smallest liability to loss and the greatest certainty of a moderate profit 

 interest them more quickly and certainly than the possibility of large 

 profits, coupled with the danger of serious losses. The frequency of 

 violently fluctuating values and heavy shrinkages make margins which 



