DRIED FRUIT AND NUT ASSOCIATIONS. 481 



gained, in any new enterprise ; one of the newly-formed dry- 

 ing associations also prepared to work alone. The other three 

 associations in the end sold their fruit through the Exchange, 

 although they did not agree to for some time; and, in fact, the 

 effort to secure pledges in advance had to be given up, and 

 the stock was called in, and the buildings erected and equipped 

 without the certainty of a dollar's worth of business to come 

 to them; in the end, however, business did finally come, 

 aggregating sales, for the year, approaching a half a million 

 of dollars, the commission upon which fully paid all expenses 

 of the Exchange, including six per cent interest on paid-up 

 stock, and, except fur a loss by a bad debt, would have per- 

 mitted a small rebate. There were sold by the drying asso- 

 ciations outside the Exchange about $200,000 additional. The 

 business was conducted to the general satisfaction of the 

 growers, although the net results to growers selling through 

 the Exchange were no better than those obtained through 

 buyers and commission men, the information as to markets 

 obtained by the Exchange being freely given out for the 

 benefit of the public, thus practically controlling the price of 

 dried fruit in the valley. It was, however, universally con- 

 ceded that the existence of the Exchange and the drying 

 associations was of great value to the fruit-growers of the 

 district. 



The experience of 1893 disclosed two points of special 

 importance, the one decidedly favorable to cooperation, the 

 other perhaps debatable. The first related to financial man- 

 agement. The year 1893 w^as a year of commercial panic. 

 The banks of San Jose, although solvent and prosperous, were 

 in such danger of a "run " that they could not and did not lend 

 a dollar to the Exchange. One stockholder lent the Exchange 

 §1,000, which was advanced to those in need of money, and 

 with that exception the entire pack of the season was moved 

 without borrowing a dollar. Of course there was some hard- 

 ship; some growers desired money who could not get it until 

 their fruit was sold, but they got along somehow. In a short 

 time, as sales w^ere made, money accumuhited which was not 

 called for by the well-to-do orchardists, and this money was 

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