MARKETING 327 



would be provided with apples at a lower price than that charged 

 in large cities, because retailers there are under less expense. 



There can be no doubt that evenness of distribution, by which 

 all the lesser markets would be provided with their due share, with 

 the elimination of unnecessary middlemen, would result in vastly 

 increased consumption. Apples would then be within the means 

 of many more consumers than at present. The great bulk of the 

 apple crop should be consumed by the common people. 



The most efficient distribution can be secured only through cen- 

 tralization of distributive agencies. Great credit is due to those 

 few well-organized, well-managed, and successful shipping associa- 

 tions which have brought the grade and pack of Northwestern 

 apples up to their present high mark, so that they have won 

 supremacy in Eastern markets. But these heretofore efficient 

 organizations are no longer able to cope with the situation. Pro- 

 duction has outstripped their facilities. Output has overtaken the 

 outlet which they are able to provide. They must combine their 

 plants. The merging of facilities in one central selling agency 

 affords the only hope of escape from the chaos which confronts 

 the apple output of the near future. 



Apple-growing is a business. Why should we assume that this 

 business can succeed on other lines than business lines ? Manu- 

 facturers appreciate the advantage of combining their resources 

 and of centralizing their distributive efforts. Why should not apple 

 growers do the same ? 



New markets. It may be well here to emphasize the fact that 

 individual dealers do not as a rule develop new markets. This 

 development requires time and money, — both of which the fruit 

 merchant is loth to give, — and it must be admitted that an indi- 

 vidual merchant can seldom hope to reap an adequate reward for 

 a large outlay in the development of new markets. This work 

 properly belongs to the fruit-growers, with what aid and assistance 

 they can get from the consumers concerned. No better use can 

 be made of a surplus stock than to apply it to the development 

 of new markets. It is a common experience to find that after a 

 year of extraordinary production in fruit, and consequent low prices, 

 the demand in many quarters has increased. Market development 

 is the work of fruit-growers as a whole, and can be done by a 



