TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



39 



In speaking of the Southern Pacific Company, I wish to say that 

 there is no member of the Transportation Committee — and it is to be 

 hoped there is no member of this Convention — who is actuated by any 

 feeling of prejudice or desire to do or say anything for the purpose of 

 annoying the officials of the company. On the contrary, we desire to 

 be on the most cordial and friendly relations Avith the officials of the 

 company, for our only hope for relief is through them, and in duty to 

 ourselves and to them we realize the necessity for stating facts, plain, 

 simple facts, facts backed by indisputable evidence. 



We know that the greatest ignorance has prevailed in the minds of 

 all classes in regard to the cost of growing fruit in California. This is 

 explained in part by the fact that the cost of growing fruit has greatly 

 increased in the past few years. Formerly orchards were not menaced 

 by any insect pests or blights of any kind. Box material and supplies 

 of all kinds have advanced in price from 30 to 40 per cent. For 

 instance, crates that formerly cost 4-^ cents now cost the small growers 

 7 cents, and in carload lots 6^ cents. Labor is higher and the cost of 

 living is more. A good spraying outfit, something unknown in the 

 early history of California, costs from $380 to $475. Then the materials 

 for spraying, their mixture and application, are heavy items of expense 

 to the growers, and I might continue enumerating items of expense, 

 such as the thinning of the fruit on the trees, which must be carefully 

 and systematically done to make the work successful. 



Home consumption can not dispose of the fruit grown in this State 

 at any price, nor under any circumstances, and for this reason we have 

 to seek other markets for our fruit, and the only ones accessible are those 

 on the Atlantic slope, to be reached only over the lines of the Southern 

 Pacific Company and its connections. Therefore, we look to it for pro- 

 tection. 



That the Southern Pacific Company possesses the power to remedy 

 many of the existing evils which are now menacing the fruit industry of 

 California can not be gainsaid, unless it is under the influence of a 

 power greater than itself. We feel that the Southern Pacific Company 

 should do everything that it is possible for it to do, to protect and 

 foster the fruit industry of the State, for the reason that it has done all 

 in its powder to induce people to come here and invest their capital in 

 fruit-growing. 



The moment that a fruit tree or a table-grape-bearing vine is planted 

 in California it is mortgaged to the Southern Pacific Company, and it 

 also carries with it the land upon which it is planted, to which we are 

 not making any particular objection at this time; but we do, in the 

 most emphatic manner it is possible to conceive, object to having the 

 'mortgages transferred to any other interest, such as private car lines. 



Give to a private car line a monopoly of carrying the fruit products 



