BEGINNINGS IN CALIFORNIA 55 



on the market. That is, losses to the individual might be 

 great or gains large. For shippers as a whole there was 

 the probability of obtaining only reasonable profits. In 

 such a situation, the remedy against loss is obviously the 

 distribution of risk. For a grower to pick a large part of 

 his crop and entrust it to the vicissitudes of one market at 

 any given time was to court disaster, if the market hap- 

 pened to be unfavorable. But what else could he do? As 

 soon as buyers were unable to purchase all the crop and 

 thus assume the marketing risks, there was nothing left 

 but to ship through a California packer or commission 

 merchant, or consign to an Eastern commission firm. What 

 the grower wanted was to obtain the average price of fruit 

 for the entire season. Both the justice and the advisability 

 of this procedure appealed to him. He saw that if the fruit 

 of all growers could be pooled the total amount received 

 would certainly not be less than that from shipping by in- 

 dividual account, and would probably be more because of 

 more even distribution. He also saw that with the risks 

 distributed he could devote himself to producing good crops 

 rather than trying to forecast an advantageous time for 

 having his fruit reach the market. 



With at least the rudiments of the foregoing advantages 

 in mind, and prepared by a series of experiments in co- 

 operation, the growers met in 1895 and formed the South- 

 ern California Fruit Exchange. This organization was 

 completely cooperative in principle and comprehensive in 

 scope. From the first it increased steadily in power and 

 efficiency. Yet, as in so many cases, the growers were 

 unable to stand prosperity, and in 1903 the Southern Cali- 

 fornia Fruit Exchange combined with the principal non- 

 exchange shipping interests under the name of the 

 California Fruit Agency. About this organization it is ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to gain accurate information. There was 



