THE CENTRAL EXCHANGE 143 



Selfishness on the part of certain associations or indi- 

 viduals is another thing that receives scant shrift at these 

 meetings. No grower or manager could attend many of 

 the sessions of the Exchange and hear the necessity of 

 comprehensiveness in marketing, both as to time and place, 

 constantly emphasized and then return to his locality and 

 feel justified in looking solely to his own advantage with 

 no thought for the welfare of the industry as a whole. As 

 the condition of the fruit market and other markets and 

 the general business situation all over this country and 

 Canada are discussed from week to week it is brought home 

 that the citrus industry is not a solitary entity but a part 

 of a complicated economic situation and that business suc- 

 cess can be obtained only by making the proper adjustments 

 to this situation. It comes as a sobering thought to many 

 a grower that he cannot honorably try to select the crest 

 of the fruit season for all his own shipments, because if 

 everyone adopted a similar policy the industry as a whole 

 could not hope to prosper. Regular distribution on a mer- 

 chandizing basis with the willingness to bear a part of the 

 burden as the only legitimate claim to a share of the re- 

 ward is a principle that finally becomes part of the creed 

 of the association manager. Hence, when he hears at the 

 board meeting that the general market conditions demand 

 that a certain percentage of the crop be sent forward each 

 month if the season as a whole is to be a success, and he 

 knows that his own house has refused to assume its just 

 proportion of the responsibility, his complacency is likely 

 to be perturbed. He goes back to his board of directors 

 and says that in his judgment the time is ripe for increasing 

 the shipments of the association. 



Nor can too much emphasis be laid on the advantage 

 that a large body of men interested in the same problems 

 derives from such conferences toward solving these prob- 



