478 CALIFORNIA FRUIT SOCIETIES. 



articles, selected nine persons to serve as directors, and pledged 

 subscriptions of stock to the amount of about $2,000 of the 

 $200,000 which was proposed as the capital to be raised. It 

 was intended to interest the local buyers in the movement, 

 and four of tlie nine directors were of that class. They were 

 bright men and always served the Exchange faithfully, giving 

 freely of their experience in perfecting the organization, and 

 subsequently in the conduct of the business, which, indeed, 

 without their help, would have been exceedingly awkward at 

 first, but the inveterate hostility of most growers towards all 

 the customers for their goods always made their presence on 

 the board of directors a sort of weakness, by exciting distrust 

 of the management. The organization thus formed is known 

 as the Santa Clara County Fruit Exchange, and is one of the 

 best known and most successful societies in the state. 



The directors incorporated, as directed, in May, and imme- 

 diately, through the press and by circulars, requested the 

 enthusiastic growers who directed the organization, to send in 

 their subscriptions for stock. Not a single dollar, not a single 

 subscription, ever came in as the result of this effort, except 

 one from an enthusiast in a distant count}^ who sent his 

 subscription for ten shares, and a check for $100 to pay for 

 them, although he could never hope to, and never did, receive 

 any advantage from the society except such information about 

 markets as it could give him. The thousand growers who 

 shook the rafters with their cheers at the first meeting 

 remained silent as the grave when the time came to supply 

 the money; and it was not from poverty, as they were mostly 

 prosperous and well-to-do. It very soon became evident that 

 the Exchange could not get ready for business that year, 

 which was the less needful as it was a year of short crops and 

 full prices, with no difficulty in selling at very profitable rates. 

 The directors, however, continued to meet regularly, studying 

 the business and perfecting plans, and endeavoring as they 

 could to obtain stock subscriptions. The press of the county 

 gave its columns freely to the movement, so that the subject 

 was for a time kept before the people, but in the last- of 

 October, at the end of the fruit season, not only had no prog- 



