516 CALIFORNIA FKUIT SOCIETIES. 



" I may say that our cost for marketing last year on a more than three mil- 

 lions of dollars gross sales was approximately three and a half per cent, 

 covering all expenses and charges of every kind from the time the fruit was 

 put into our hands until the proceeds were returned to the shippers. 



"Our business is not so large this year as last, because the crop is much 

 lighter. 



" It is certainly believed by the citrus fruit-growers generally, and I think, 

 that the Exchange is here to stay. Its system is correct, and we can certainly 

 operate more cheaply and with better results than under any other method that 

 has been tried so tar. 



" We have repeatedly publicly challenged a comparison of figures either as 

 to net results or operating expenses — the first might apply to all shippers, and 

 the second, of course, could only legitimately and fairly apply to associations 

 that are operating on a cooperative basis — but so far our challenge has not been 

 answered. I am, very truly, 



"A. H. Naftzger." 



