38 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



This reduction comes from the profit column of the growers, for it 

 costs more to grow the grapes now, on account of the increase in the 

 cost of labor and living expenses, etc. 



The heavy reduction in the value of wine grapes was wholly unex- 

 pected, and came as a great surprise to the growers and others who 

 were, through newspaper reports and boom literature, led to believe that 

 no safer or better way of investing their means could be suggested than 

 to plant vineyards, and yet, in less than one year, at one stroke, from 

 fifty to seventy-five per cent of their former profits were taken from 

 them. The slump in wine-grape values will greatly militate against 

 the prosperity of the State in the near future. 



The varied conditions that have existed regarding the wine-grape 

 interests in California apply with even greater force to all lines of 

 horticultural interests. 



The trouble with all of them is, there is no stability in any of them; 

 no one can tell, except those who are handling the fruit products of the 

 State, what one. year will bring forth regarding values, because as 

 things are now the growers, at least ninety per cent of them, are wholly 

 eliminated from having a voice in the disposition of their products. 

 The growers are compelled to deliver their shipments, at their own 

 expense, at the car door, and there their rights end. They have no 

 right to say where it shall go, or into whose hands it shall be delivered 

 to sell. In fact, at the car door they are compelled to surrender all 

 right of control. 



Under such conditions, is it any wonder that some become prosperous 

 and rich, in some instances millionaires, at the expense of the growers? 



The question, the one all important to the fruit-growers of California, 

 the upbuilding of the State, and the prosperity of its people, is, What 

 can be done, if anything, and by whom, that will better the existing 

 condition in regard to the transportation and marketing of fruit ship- 

 ments East? 



This is not a difficult question to answer. It is so plain and simple 

 that with a few moments' consideration, anybody with the slightest 

 conception of business affairs should be able to answer it. 



At this time, and until other transcontinental roads come into the 

 State, the only source from which relief can. come to the fruit-growers 

 of California is the Southern Pacific Company, and if that company 

 can not — for any reason such as lack of facilities for giving a better 

 time service, and a good deal better service, too, than has been given in 

 the past three years, and a lower transportation rate, including refrig- 

 eration and the elimination of all private car lines from the service — 

 give relief, then the fact should be made known, so that efforts could be 

 made in other directions to better the condition of the fruit-grower of 

 the State. 



