148 COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



a box when the fruit is handled by the associations, and 

 independent packers and shippers are compelled to render 

 the service for about the same price or run the risk of 

 alienating their customers. This tremendous saving is 

 chiefly ascribable to four causes: (i) the purchasing of 

 packing supplies at large discounts through a cooperative 

 supply company; (2) the introduction of efficient machinery 

 which makes a large part of the work around the packing 

 house automatic; (3) the regularization of the packing 

 season by giving the manager control over deliveries so 

 that the plant may operate steadily; (4) the elimination 

 of the profits of packing. Since 1894, the year in which 

 the Southern California Fruit Exchange was organized, 

 through 19 1 6, the citrus shipments for the entire industry 

 have approximated 228,000,000 boxes. Let us assume a 

 saving in packing of fifteen cents a box; the total gain to 

 the growers would be $34,200,000. Of course these figures 

 only pretend to be illustrative, but they show how a reduc- 

 tion in cost of a few cents on each box grows to large 

 figures within a short time. 



In the matter of railroad rates the individual shipper is 

 at a hopeless disadvantage. He has to accept, without 

 question, the kind of service and the rates which the rail- 

 roads offer. To be sure, he may refuse to ship and thus 

 escape an onerous rate, but there is never any thought of 

 trying to force the railroads to grant a better one. An 

 organized industry has a much stronger motive for seeking 

 transportation concessions, for its shipments are massed, 

 instead of being scattered out until the saving to any indi- 

 vidual becomes almost negligible. It also has the financial 

 power to back its demands and take the necessary legal 

 steps for putting to the test its contention of unreasonable 

 rates or inadequate service. Formerly the freight rate on 

 oranges to the most important markets was $1.25 a hundred 



