CUNDITKINS LEADTXCf To < )i;( i A N IZATK »X. 451 



there was a gradually accumulating series of disappointments 

 to those who liad so lately, and with such high hopes, em- 

 barked in what they expected to find a doliglitful and exceed- 

 ingly profitable occupation. First it was discovered that the 

 annual dividends would be less than antici])ated; then tluit 

 for a time they would be very small indeed; then that they 

 must employ cheaper help and less of it; then that they must 

 find the interest on the mortgage from some source other than 

 the orchard; finally, that the orchard never would pay the 

 interest on the mortgage, and that no sale of the property 

 could be made except at an enormous sacrifice. 



While the orchardist and the vineyardist were discovering 

 these things, the merchant was learning that expenditures 

 were being curtailed, and accounts no longer paid at maturity; 

 and bankers and capitalists were ascertaining that the invest- 

 ments in orchards and vineyards in the state had reached 

 such a figure that the serious loss which was threatened upon 

 them was certain to disturb all values. It was seen that, while 

 the industry in the end would right itself through the merci- 

 less process of the survival of tlie fittest, the operation would 

 involve widespread distress and failure, not only among those 

 actually engaged in the industry, but upon all the business 

 interests of the state, which were inextricably involved with 

 and dependent upon the paying and purchasing power of tlie 

 orchardists and vineyardists. Under these circumstances, 

 and since it was evident that, with continued competition 

 under the ordinary laws of trade, serious disaster affecting all 

 interests in the state was imminent, the fruit industry of 

 California was ripe for cooperative effort. 



