ECONOMICS OF FRUIT MERCHANDISING 
securities (land values) until there has 
come the inevitable period of reaction and 
readjustment, and the “morning after’ 
headache which follows a speculative de- 
bauch. 
Up to this time, it may conservatively 
be said that our investments have main- 
ly a speculative value; we are right now 
at the period of our development when 
these values must be shown to be in- 
trinsic or else readjusted downward. 
Their conversion from speculative to in- 
trinsic character depends upon our abil- 
ity to demonstrate a sustained average 
earning power for a period of three to 
five years, in correct proportion to the in- 
vestment. In the most favored districts, 
scientific management, applied to every 
phase of the business from nursery stock 
to consumer, is the only thing which can 
accomplish this. In the less favored dis- 
tricts, where production is less generous 
and regular, where overhead charges are 
necessarily higher, readjustment of values 
seems inevitable, and in some cases re- 
version of the land to more suitable crops. 
Too Many and Inferior Varieties 
Attendant upon this first evil, followed 
closely a second and almost equally detri- 
mental one, namely, the extensive plant- 
ing of inferior varieties. These plantings 
are now for the most part in bearing, 
and the product is going into the markets 
in violation of every economic law, and 
at the peril of our cherished reputation. 
For, it must be remembered, this reputa- 
tion was originally founded on strictly 
high-class varieties, and eternal vigilance 
is the price of its maintenance. Some 
idea of the extent to which this inferior 
variety matter figures in our market prob- 
lem is had from the following quotation 
from a Washington newspaper of recent 
issue. It refers to the holdings of a 
single association, of a single district 
(and one of the best in the Northwest) 
in a single storage center: 
“There is now in storage in one of the 
Eastern market centers 100,000 boxes 
of association apples, of which the num- 
ber of varieties is 79. Most of this fruit 
is of inferior varieties, and should not be 
grown here. We should reduce our vari- 
13805 
eties to ten at most; not to exceed six 
or eight, as a matter ot fact” 
The foregoing pronouncement is abso- 
lutely correct. The aggregate of these in- 
ferior varieties becomes appalling. The 
future holds absolutely no hope for com- 
mon varieties. It is worse than “ship- 
ping coals to Newcastle” to ship them to 
the East, where they can be produced at 
far less cost, and of equally good and 
sometimes better quality. The sooner we 
in the Northwest eliminate them, the bet- 
ter, for meanwhile they are a positive 
detriment to our industry. 
Weaknesses of Co-operative Marketing 
The third count in our self-indictment 
is voiced in the following quotation from 
Report No. 98, United States Department 
of Agriculture, on “Systems of Marketing 
Farm Products”: 
“Certain weaknesses have appeared in 
co-operative marketing as in co-operation 
tor other purposes. The business cannot 
thrive under an incompetent manager; 
the board of directors must not nag the 
manager and require him to accomplish 
results without the power to do so; de- 
ficient capital is fatal, and credit in buy- 
ing and selling is often so. A common 
weakness of these associations is found 
in desertions by members; instead of sell- 
ing all their products through the asso- 
ciations, they sell some of them through 
other channels. If a competitor offers 
to a member a higher price than he gets 
through his association, he sells to the 
competitor. Sometimes the business of 
the association is too small, so that the 
percentage of receipts that must be de- 
voted to expenses is fatally high. A weak 
spot in co-operation, frequently observed 
years ago, was the fact that some of the 
operators looked upon co-operation more 
as a means of social reform than of 
economic benefit. Social theories and en- 
thusiasm are usually detrimental to suc- 
cess.”’ 
Extravagance in administration on the 
one hand, false economy on the other 
hand, loose systems of finance, accounting 
and warehouse administration, all contri- 
bute to the leaks that, unless stopped, 
are fatal to any business, as well as de- 
