CITRUS GROWERS' EXCHANGES 73 



ruin the whole scheme. In other words, there must be some 

 machinery for coercion. This is arranged for in the rule 

 that permits expulsion, provided the intractable member's 

 equity in the organization is appraised and paid. However, 

 expulsions are so few that the rule is in reality a dead letter. 

 Members often leave because of dissatisfaction, but almost 

 never because of compulsion. 



Rule 4 merely provides that the association shall be an 

 integral part of the California Fruit Growers Exchange 

 and can best be treated in connection with the descriptions 

 of the district exchanges and central exchange. Rule 5 

 refers to holding stock in the Fruit Growers Supply Com- 

 pany, a corporation owned by the various associations and 

 whose function it is to furnish packing and orchard sup- 

 plies to members. The stock in that corporation is paid 

 for by withholding one cent or two cents a box on all boxes 

 shipped through the association. 



The power given to the board of directors to fix bound- 

 aries of the region within which acreage is eligible for 

 membership is of the utmost importance. Picture a citrus 

 area extending from the foot hills down into a broad valley. 

 All this territory may be naturally tributary to a single 

 town in which the packing house must be established and 

 through which the fruit must be shipped. The layman 

 would say that the logical procedure would be to erect and 

 equip one large efficient plant to handle the whole output 

 of the area. It is quite true that a large house can operate 

 at a less unit cost than a small one; yet, more likely than 

 not, instead of this one house will be found two houses or 

 more. Why? Recalling the great diversity in the pro- 

 ducing area will furnish the clue. Foot hill and valley 

 oranges are quite likely to differ in color and texture. More 

 important still, valley oranges are sometimes frosted when 

 upland fruit escapes. A house that sometimes ships frosted 



