CITRUS GROWERS' EXCHANGE 77 



advantages and objections. Thus the meeting continues as 

 a kind of clearing house for ideas on the citrus marketing 

 problem. Views are classified, misunderstandings are ex- 

 plained, improvements are adopted. 



During the session given over to discussion and new 

 business there is sometimes a tendency for the more sub- 

 stantial members to have too little to say and for a few 

 noisy, irascible, relatively insignificant growers who are 

 very jealous of their rights and privileges in the association 

 to monopolize too much of the time. In one way, this situa- 

 tion is salutary, as the small grower feels that he is a man 

 of some consequence in the association, a good thing for 

 him and also for the association; on the other hand, the 

 house does not always have the advantage of listening to 

 the sounder business sense of the larger and more prosper- 

 ous of the growers. 



Finally, when all wounds have been staimched or else 

 pronounced incurable and when the general policy for the 

 succeeding year has been formulated, the meeting proceeds 

 to the election of directors. It is not necessary to argue 

 about the importance of selecting an efficient board. On 

 the wisdom of this election depends to a considerable degree 

 the prosperity of the whole community. Though the tenure 

 of office is but one year, and hence a full board must be 

 elected, there are always certain growers whose fitness for 

 the directorship is so obvious that their reelection is as- 

 sured. Nor must it be assumed that only the large owners 

 are desired as directors by practically the entire member- 

 ship. Frequently a man known for his intelligence and 

 progressiveness owns but a few acres of orchard and de- 

 votes most of his time to other pursuits, yet everybody 

 recognizes that his presence on the board would be valuable. 

 Often a man with small acreage is noted for producing un- 

 usually large or unusually fine crops of fruit ; he too is likely 



