CONSTITUTION OF THE EXCHANGES 89 



of groves already shipping through the association, or al- 

 lowing disgruntled members to return during any fruit year 

 is quite expedient. After a house has made its plans for 

 handling a given quantity of fruit and has bought supplies 

 accordingly, it is not fair to previous members to imperil 

 the efficiency of the organization by forcing a readjustment 

 through the inclusion of additional acreage. Then, too, if 

 joining at any time during the year were permitted a situa- 

 tion like the following might easily arise : A grower would 

 decide to look around and see what offers he could get for 

 his crop or how he would fare by consigning a car or two, 

 intending if the results should prove unfavorable to retreat 

 to the shelter of the association. Let us say that he has 

 procrastinated until the first part of March without selling 

 any fruit. By this time the associations have probably sent 

 forward 25 per cent, of their estimated crop, knowing that 

 even distribution for the greatest possible number of days 

 is the only way to sustain the market during the later 

 months. Moreover, though it is necessary to move part 

 of the crop in January and February, these months are apt 

 to show low prices. Would it, then, be just to let a man 

 who had refused to ship a portion of his fruit for the sake 

 of helping maintain the market gain by so doing, because 

 he had his whole output in reserve, over those who had 

 borne the brunt of the fight? 



The very fact that the applicant had any fruit at all to 

 handle, assuming that he had shipped as large a percentage 

 of his crop as the association, would inflict hardship on the 

 members by disturbing the equilibrium of the estimate of 

 the total amount of shipments on which so much depends. 

 If a house having 400 cars to ship had planned to ship 

 half its output by April i and then should admit a grower 

 who would furnish twenty cars, it would find itself not with 

 50 per cent, but with 55 per cent, of the original estimate 



