CHATTER. III. 



THE CALIFORNIA FRUIT UNION. 



THE first branch of the fruit business to suffer from bad 

 methods in marketing was the eastern trade in fresh 

 deciduous fruits. This was because the limit of pos- 

 sible customers — that is, those who could pay over eight cents 

 a pound for table fruits — was the easiest to reach, and also on 

 account of the great risk of loss involved in shipping delicate 

 fruits so long a distance. It is essential to this trade that the 

 collection of even car-loads be assured at the various shipping 

 stations each day, as the fruit can not, without loss, be detained 

 for car-loads to accumulate. At the beginning of the season 

 very few, even of the largest growers, are able to fill a car on 

 any one day, and the great majority of growers are never able 

 to do so. The large shippers, who were the pioneers in this 

 trade, naturally united for this purpose as they had occasion, 

 and as the local buyers grew less disposed to risk their money, 

 local organizations of small growers were gradually formed 

 for this purpose. There was, however, no further concert in 

 shipping, and it frequently occurred that an eastern market 

 which could very well take care of one car-load once or twice 

 a week would receive several car-loads from different shippers, 

 with the necessary result of serious loss to all, while other 

 markets that would gladly have taken part of the surplus 

 were left bare. The plan was, therefore, conceived of uniting 

 all the growers of the state in one organization, which should 

 receive all fresh fruit offered for the eastern trade, distribute 

 the shipments according to the ascertained capacity of the 

 several markets, arrange for its sale through commission 

 houses of recognized standing, and under heavy bonds to the 

 association, and collect and distribute the proceeds, charging 

 therefore the actual cost of the service, and no more. 



For the preparation of this plan several large conventions 



(452) 



