512 CALIFORNIA FRUIT SOCIETIES. 



tage in the movement for not joining and assisting in it; no 

 one should be forced into a business transaction against his 

 convictions; but there were apparently no such persons 

 among the orange-growers; all knew, and usually acknowl- 

 edged, that nothing else would prevent a general bankruptcy 

 among the orange-growers who were in debt, and loss and 

 trouble to all others, and I refer to those who believed this 

 and yet would not cooperate. 



In the end more than seventy-five per cent of the growers 

 signed contracts for their fruit, and by November the organiza- 

 tion was practically complete and the Executive Board se- 

 lected. Representatives were sent east to lay their plans before 

 the trade, and a competent general eastern agent appointed. 

 With a less amount of friction than was to be expected in a 

 new^ organization of the kind, the business of the season of 

 1894 was managed to the general satisfaction of those con- 

 cerned. The Exchanges did not do all they hoped to do, but 

 they did so manage the business as to bring the growers better 

 returns than they had received for years, and on the whole 

 such as they could live by. One immediate result was the 

 reappearance of the local cash buyer, an unfailing evidence of 

 a stiffening in the market. The unhoped-for opportunity to 

 sell for cash at home proved too much for the good faith of a 

 few, and in defiance of their written contract, they sold their 

 fruit to go into competition with the Exchanges; suits w^ere 

 promptly brought, and the court sustained the contracts. 

 Much was learned as to the best method of conducting the 

 business, but it was with reference to detail, and did not 

 involve the principle of the organization, which remained 

 unchanged. At the close of the season the canvass for con- 

 tracts for 1895 promptly began, and about ninety per cent of the 

 product secured, and the business of that year was transacted 

 to the general satisfaction of the membership. Some changes 

 of methods and organization were made, as shown by experi- 

 ence to be desirable. The Executive Board found it neces- 

 sary to incorporate in order to do business legally, and did 

 so, under the name of the "Southern California Fruit Ex- 

 changes," with a permanent office in Los Angeles. The stock 



