296 MODERN FRUIT MARKETING 
big markets of the East and in Europe. In some cases 
these agents were salaried men in the pay of the asso- 
ciation, in other cases they were general produce handlers 
who were willing to accept the exclusive agency for the 
association for a given territory. In a few cases they 
simply affiliated with some other exchange already hav- 
ing an established territory. In this manner 76 agents 
were established the first year in the various Eastern 
markets to look after the interests of the association. 
It then became necessary to provide money to carry 
on the business of selling until returns began to come in. 
Banks were asked to make loans. They responded loy- 
ally and, in the two years, 1913 and 1914, loaned over 
$1,000,000 for the handling of the business and for ad- 
vances to the growers through the sub-exchanges. These 
loans were all returned at the close of the season, being 
paid out of the charges on each package for selling the 
fruit. Gradually a surplus working capital is being ac- 
cumulated which, in time, will place the distributors on 
a permanent cash basis. 
The cost of selling was to be provided for by a flat 
tax on each package sold. For the first year this was 
started on the basis of 5 cents a box for apples, 4 cents 
a box for pears, 214 cents per crate for prunes and 114 
cents per box for peaches. The surplus over and above 
the actual cost of selling was held as a contingent fund 
against the beginning of the next year’s operations. 
The next thing to arrange for was to get a forecast of 
the amount of fruit to be sold, the varieties, grades, ete. 
The methods of collecting this data has been described 
in a previous chapter. The important point, however, 
was to have this information available several weeks be- 
