694 
ports of lemons, and in refunding the 
duty to the importers on the same. The 
league determined that the federal sys- 
tem gave an advantage to the importer 
that was detrimental to the California 
citrus interests. It presented the matter 
to the secretary of the treasury, before 
whom it laid the data accumulated. A 
great deal of consideration has been given 
the question, and it is expected that the 
honorable secretary of the treasury will 
promulgate new regulations in the near 
future which will safeguard the interests 
of the government and protect the Cali- 
fornia industry from further unfair com- 
petition. 
Two months after congress advanced 
the duty on imports of lemons from one 
cent to one and one-half cents a pound, 
the railroads, through the Transcouti- 
nental Freight Bureau, attempted to ab: 
sorb part of the duty granted by congress 
by advancing the rate 15 cents per 100 
pounds. The league secured a temporary 
injunction through the Circuit Court of 
the United States for the Southern Dis- 
trict in California, restraining the rail- 
road from collecting the proposed in- 
crease in rates. The commission subse- 
quently found that the rate of $1.15 per 
100 pounds on lemons was unreasonable 
and that the rate ought not to exceed $1 
per 100 pounds. 
At the same time the league questioned 
the reasonableness of the increased rate 
on lemons, and at the same time the rea- 
sonableness of the rate $1.15 per 100 
pounds on oranges; and the reasonable- 
ness of the charges for refrigeration and 
pre-cooling charges, and the contentions 
of the growers were, in the main, sus- 
tained. 
The league is actively engaged in an 
effort to sustain the import duties on 
citrus fruits to meet the determined ef- 
forts of importers to reduce these duties. 
The league will use every effort to 
bring to the help of the grower special 
investigators from the state and federal 
governments to study the diseases, the 
insects, the soil problems, and other cul- 
tural, fruit handling and fruit transporta- 
tion problems that affect the industry. It 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
will maintain an agricultural reference 
library without expense to the grower, 
and will develop a bureau of information 
showing the international movement of 
citrus fruit and other fruits that have a 
relation to the industry. 
The league is the only organization that 
has been formed by an agricultural in- 
dustry in America, and probably in the 
world, to look after the general public 
policy questions that affect it. It repre- 
sents 90 per cent of the growers and 
shippers of the state. The organization 
is a vital part of the industry, formed to 
protect and advance its interests. 
The California Fruit Growers’ Exchange 
The greatest co-operative undertaking 
in fruit marketing in California is the 
California Fruit Growers’ Exchange, or- 
ganized in 1895 by the citrus fruit pro- 
ducers and systematically developed since 
that time until in scope, methods, mastery 
of the shipment and distribution, in de- 
velopment of markets and in reduced cost 
of placing the product therein, there is 
nothing comparable with it in the broad 
field of commercial agriculture. In March, 
1911, B. A. Woodford, general manager 
of the exchange, prepared a careful state- 
ment of the standing and accomplish- 
ments of the organization from which the 
following facts, significant to producers 
of all kinds of fruits, are compiled: 
Large and widely distributed citrus 
plantings began in Southern California 
about 1885, upon the basis of successful 
results attained in special localities dur- 
ing the previous decade. When these 
plantations came into bearing in consid- 
erable quantity, the ready market for cash 
at home that had existed for the fruit 
when the crop was small was found to be 
inadequate, and nearly 20 years ago, with 
an output of only 4,000 cars annually, 
the growers were unable to dispose of the 
entire crop under old methods at fair 
prices. Through the experience gained 
in their co-operative water companies, 
they found it comparatively easy to unite 
in establishing common packing houses in 
the various producing sections, which 
they themselves owned and controlled. 
These houses were conducted at actual 
