62 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



are members must gather in the vast assembly that shall direct its 

 affairs. 



Greece fell a prey to the barbarian hordes, because not yet had been 

 developed the idea of representative democracy which would enable 

 her various cities to unite in making laws and provide for their admin- 

 istration. 



This developed form of political co-operation reached its highest 

 efficiency in our own city, county, state, and national governments — a 

 truly representative democracy. 



The difficulty of securing a quorum with a membership so widely 

 scattered has been a most serious cause of weakness. Add to this the 

 fact that in the various widely separated groups of growers there are 

 no organic influences at work to promote harmony of feeling and of 

 action, and there is no way for such groups to participate in the direction 

 of the work save at the great yearly assembly — the annual meeting. 

 There is, therefore, no feeling of direct responsibility for the conduct of 

 affairs. This is a serious element of weakness. These conditions nat- 

 urally give rise to the question of the permanence of the organization — 

 a doubt most injurious to the influence of the organization among 

 Eastern buyers, which is emphasized by the struggle necessary to secure 

 the' renewal of contracts after their expiration. 



The second fundamental characteristic of this form of co-operation is 

 that it early establishes a price for its products, Avhich it pledges itself 

 to maintain throughout the season. It is a negative attitude, "We 

 will not sell except at our price." A fine bluff, which has failed more 

 often than it has succeeded. Unless nearly the whole product is con- 

 trolled by such a combination its efforts to maintain a minimum price 

 must necessarily fail. Success is chiefly dependent upon the confidence 

 which the organization inspires in the Eastern buyers. This once lost 

 is hard to restore. It is now lost. When, therefore, the grower has 

 lost confidence in this method of organization, and the Eastern trade is 

 also in the same state of mind, it would seem wise to cease to look to 

 this form of organization for future co-operative work in California. 



The other method, that of representative democracy, meets our 

 industrial as well as our political needs. It has a record of continuous 

 success. For fifty-nine years Rochdale co-operation has steadity ad- 

 vanced in England until it is by far the most potent commercial force 

 in England. In this country, too, wherever the method has been 

 adopted in full — that is, where the local organizations have centralized 

 in a buying agency — it has succeeded. The same form of organization 

 has an unbroken record of success in the fruit exchanges of California. 



The Southern California Fruit Exchange was the first to demonstrate 

 the value of this method of co-operation among citrus fruit-growers. 

 From a small beginning they grew into a business of $7,000,000 per 

 year, and then to secure more complete efficiency they arranged to 



