54 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



common to others. Some of them believed that if they could keep on 

 with prevailing methods for a short time they could force their com- 

 petitors out of business and then would have the field entirely to them- 

 selves, while all the time they would likely be losing money for all 

 concerned. 



The present general plan of operation of the California Fruit Dis- 

 tributors is as follows: They do not purchase or own a pound of fruit 

 themselves, but simply act as a clearing-house or agency for the different 

 growers, shippers, and associations working through them, who make 

 their own carload shipments. When a car is loaded the bill of lading 

 is indorsed over to the California Fruit Distributors and is sent, together 

 with the manifest and all pertinent information regarding contents 

 thereof, to the company's headquarters in Sacramento. The car is then 

 disposed of for the account of the party loading the same. Once the bill 

 of lading and manifest of contents of car are received, the management 

 aims to place the fruit in the best possible market for that fruit, taking 

 into consideration the variety, its degree of ripeness, and general qual- 

 ity, and using their knowledge of the needs, requirements, and local or 

 domestic supplies of the different markets, together with previous ship- 

 ments as a basis of action. 



Not only have they complete and accurate information of all ship- 

 ments previously forwarded, as they make all sales, diversions, and 

 apportionments, but they also receive daily from all leading centers 

 telegraphic information stating present condition, prospective demands, 

 amount and variety of local supplies, and all other matters pertinent 

 and necessary to the most intelligent distribution of the fruit. 



They immediately stopped all private consignments to outside points 

 and determined that all fruits not sent to the East to be sold at auction 

 should be sold on what is known as the "f. o. b. California plan"; {. e., 

 that a minimum price for the product should be fixed in California, and 

 a draft for the value of the car be drawn on the bill of lading and 

 manifest, payable before delivery of the car, and that under no circum- 

 stances would the price agreed upon be reduced on any shipments 

 leaving California on the same day, whether sold before going or sold 

 en route; the idea being that shippers when sending their fruit to out- 

 side points should know just exactly what they are going to receive for 

 their product, and that dealers, if they bought the fruit, would be 

 interested in maintaining prices rather than cutting them; further, that 

 those who purchased the fruit, as long as they had to purchase, would 

 know that their competitors could not buy at a lower price than that 

 at which they could purchase, as it was believed that if buyers could 

 be guaranteed against a decline the business would be energized and 

 stimulated and a greater distribution of products in the outside markets 

 be had, all of which has proven to be the case. 



