TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS CONVENTION. 



25 



say so, because I took this office with considerable hesitancy. It is an 

 up-hill proposition to buck against the powers that be, and that is what 

 this thing means. I am glad to say that when I was made president 

 of the league I had some success in enlisting under me as vice-presidents 

 some of the leading men of the State. Our worthy President here 

 kindly undertook to be one. Governor Pardee another. Dr. AVheeler 

 of Berkeley another. Dr. Jordan of Stanford, Mayor Schmitz of San 

 Francisco, and various leading men of prominence of the State of Cali- 

 fornia, so I trust to that extent I did your mandate to your satisfaction. 

 I am going to ask you all to come in and help, and this is a fruit- 

 growers' movement. I don't want to have you say: "Oh. it is a good 

 thing, it will come." I never heard of a fruit-grower acting on that 

 principle in his own business. He never expects an orchard to "come" 

 unless he plants it. Years ago I heard benevolence " defined some- 

 thing this way: Benevolence is a consultation between Brown and 

 Jones to discover what Smith ought to do to help Robinson. Xow if 

 you know what the next fellow ought to do to help this thing along, I 

 hope you know primarily what you ought to do. If you think this 

 cause is worth any trouble at all and worth my efforts, I want you to 

 sustain me by adding your name to the association, if it does cost you 

 one dollar to do it. That is our membership fee, because, although I 

 agreed to be the president of the league, I did not agree to carry on the 

 duties and meet the requirements of the position at my personal 

 expense, and when you start out to fight battles you have got to have 

 '* the sinews of war.'' Since last May I have given daily, or almost 

 daily, from one to three hours of my time, and from one to twenty-four 

 hours of my best brain-power to help this movement along. I found 

 out certain things that nobody appears to have known, or, if they did, 

 they kept them very quietly to themselves. Xow, as you know, the 

 fruit-growers" great trouble in life for years past has been the transpor- 

 tation problem. It has sometimes taken the great bulk of your year's 

 receipts and has at times landed you in markets entirely unprofitable, 

 but you had to pay the freight. It mattered not how long your prod- 

 ucts were delayed in transit, you had to pay the freight, all the same. 

 The loss was yours. Xow in Los Angeles all concurred in the belief 

 that there was one method of helping us in this transportation question; 

 there was one factor found available in other lands that we in this land 

 have neglected. Germany has found it possible to ship 150.000.000 

 packages annually by parcels post at a trifling cost and to make money 

 on the operation. Xow the postoffice is a branch of what we call ""our 

 public service.'' Those are three common, but exceedingly important, 

 words. Service " implies a master to be served. There must be a 

 master to direct the service, if he would be well served. The word 



