72 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION, 



price which buyers must ^ay, suppose they don't choose to pay that 

 price, what are you going to do about it ? You have got to wait until 

 they will or until some one else does. That is as far as we can now go 

 in the progress of co-operation in California. I grant that it would be 

 possible, with complete control of an industry, to secure a high price 

 for a product, if the product is a necessary article of consumption and one 

 which could not be supplied by any other section; but those conditions 

 are almost impossible of attainment. The same results can be attained 

 by the other method, co-operation, that resting on the local association, 

 providing you obtain the same support. Many markets will pay a little 

 more than some other markets and it is possible to adjust prices to the 

 situation, for instance, to the competing foreign crop; as the season 

 advances that condition is more clearly developed and it is possible to 

 fix prices to meet that sort of competition. In the dried-fruit business 

 it is absolutely essential that your system of marketing must be elastic 

 enough to meet the competition of other fruits^ — the Eastern dried 

 apple and the Eastern fresh apple in the Eastern markets. The vary- 

 ing crop which prevails in the Eastern fruit markets is a great factor in 

 determining how extensive will be the consumption of California dried 

 fruits. We are practically of one mind to know" whether or not this is 

 a workable plan, whether we can go right at it this coming season and 

 gain a measure of success, which will be from the start far better than 

 no organization, then advance further, step by step, steadily moving 

 forward, until we have a fair prospect of obtaining complete success in 

 co-operative organization. Now, my friends, that really is the system 

 which controls all the great business organizations of this country. It 

 is, practically, the system w^hich my friend, Mr. Kearney, has alluded 

 to. It is the local association centralized, the functions of the local 

 association joined to the centralized association, formed by general 

 representatives of the whole. 



MR. KEARNEY. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say one or two 

 words, w^hich may help us along in this discussion. I gather from Mr. 

 Sprague's arguments that he deems it necessary to have one form of 

 organization for all our products. I believe, if he stops to consider the 

 matter carefully, that he will find that it may be better to deal with 

 the products as they are. It would be absurd, for instance, for the 

 orange-growers or the fresh-fruit growers to organize on the same lines 

 as the raisin-growers, for the reason that the product is totally different. 

 Fresh fruits, oranges, and such products must be sold when they are 

 picked, whatever the market is. Dried fruits and raisins can be carried. 

 Consequently our organizations do not call for exactly the same princi- 

 ples in their management. In dealing with the different classes of fruit 

 we may apply different principles under the general form of co-operation. 

 In organizing the raisin-growers I was, perhaps, instrumental in getting 



