BENEFITS OF COOPERATION 173 



commissions. He is not going to put forth special efforts 

 to sell the peaches of one district rather than the pears of 

 another, for he handles both. But the Exchange agent 

 handles nothing but citrus fruits ; he can talk oranges with- 

 out having to consider how his remarks will react on a 

 consignment of apples from some other client. He is on 

 salary, the welfare of the growers is his welfare, and his 

 reputation and advancement hinge exclusively on his ability 

 to sell citrus fruits. There has been some desultory talk 

 in California to the effect that great savings in marketing 

 could be made if the citrus growers and deciduous growers 

 and vegetable growers would combine and let the same 

 agents handle all kinds of California products. 



Such a policy seems subversive of all the marketing ef- 

 ficiency that the citrus growers have so painfully developed. 

 Is it conceivable that a salaried agent could please two sets 

 of producers with competing crops ? If the Valencia mar- 

 ket happened to be high while the deciduous market was 

 low, as occurred in the summer of 191 5, how could an 

 agent escape the accusation of favoring the citrus growers ? 

 This combination of producers might be feasible if the 

 agents worked on commission, but the commission system 

 has proved itself a miserable failure in working out a scien- 

 tific system of food distribution. Marketing efficiency de- 

 mands singleness of interest on the part of the agent; in 

 other words, that the agent be given some real incentive 

 and then that he be held strictly accountable for satisfactory 

 service. That the method of exclusive salaried agents pro- 

 motes efficient salesmanship is evidenced by the fact that 

 Exchange shipments have increased some 1600 per cent, in 

 the past twenty years. 



All of the Exchange agents keep in close touch with their 

 respective division managers, reporting daily all their own 

 sales and so far as possible keeping informed about the 



