522 CALIFORNIA FRUIT SOCIETIES. 



products. It is an effective Trust so long as it controls the 

 output. 



As soon as it became evident that the corporation would 

 from the first have ample credit, and within a few years a 

 large cash capital, its position was assured. The established 

 wine-merchants, with their wide-spread business connections^ 

 were an important factor in the trade which there was no dis- 

 position to antagonize. The Wine-maker's Corporation, own- 

 ing the wines, and fully equipped with the means for effective 

 distribution, had yet no desire to engage in that branch of the 

 business, preferring to leave that to others, so long as they as 

 wine-makers were assured living rates for their products. But 

 being known to be strong, the corporation was not called to 

 exert its strength, but was able to promptly dispose of its 

 wines to the California Wine Association and others, at better 

 rates than that corporation refused to give when they were 

 offered practical control. The prices were at once advanced to 

 living rates, and the subscribers to the stock of the Wine- 

 maker's Corporation, after paying for one-tenth of their stock 

 the first year, had coming to them in cash far more than they 

 had been accustomed to receive. The wine business of Cali- 

 fornia seemed firmly settled on a sound financial basis, and 

 the Wine-maker's Corporation gave more promise of stability 

 than any other cooperative enterprise of its character. Mean- 

 time there was little talk, no friction, and the regular channels 

 of trade were not disturbed. The vineyardists who were not 

 wine-makers, it is true, liad no protection, and were more or 

 less at the mercy of the wine-makers, to whom they must sell; 

 but they could not help sharing in the increased prosperity of 

 the business, and that they themselves had no actual contrib- 

 utary and controlling part in it, was due simply to the fact 

 that the majority wore out the patience of the organizers by 

 their endless talk, criticism, suspicion, and delay. 



No cooperative enterprise of this kind must expect plain 

 sailing. Trouble is sure to come, the outcome of which will 

 depend partly upon the circumstances of the case, and partly 

 upon the mental caliber of the cooperators, which is quite sure 

 to bo fairly represented in the board of directors. After one 



