8 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



In regard to prunes, the result is uncertain and will remain so until 

 all dissensions among growers are harmonized. 



We are in the raisin district, and during the sessions of this Conven- 

 tion we will hear all about the prosperity in raisin-growing. 



The program as presented is a very elaborate one. The papers 

 promised will no doubt discuss in the most able manner every phase of 

 the fruit question, so that it would be out of place in the opening 

 address to take up any special part that others have been invited to 

 discuss. 



The Panama Canal. — It is greatly regretted that the treaty which 

 was made was not confirmed by the Colombian government, so that 

 this gigantic work could have been commenced and the canal built 

 without unnecessary delay. It is gratifying, however, to read the fol- 

 lowing from President Roosevelt's message to Congress: "If they will 

 come to an agreement with us in a straightforward fashion we shall in 

 turn act not only with justice but with generosity, but if they fail to 

 come to such an agreement with us we must forthwith take the matter 

 into our hands." [Since the above was written, the Panama govern- 

 ment has signed the treaty and it is now before the United States 

 Senate.] 



The advantages of an interoceanic canal to the fruit-growers of Cali- 

 fornia have been discussed by Edward Berwick at several of our ses- 

 sions. At the Los Angeles Convention, held in May of this year, the 

 question of a cross-continent double-track railroad, to be built and 

 operated by the Government, was considered and thought to be of much 

 greater importance than the canal. The President was memorialized 

 regarding such an undertaking. (See official report of the Twenty- 

 eighth Fruit-Growers' Convention, page 181.) The feasibility of such 

 an undertaking and its importance to the advancement and prosperity 

 of the great body of the American people were ably discussed in a 

 paper presented by F. E. Kellogg, to be found in the Eighth Biennial 

 Report, page 319. 



New York Obelisk. — The removal of Cleopatra's Needle (known as 

 the New York obelisk) to California, as mentioned at two former con- 

 ventions, has claimed a continuance of my efforts, but without the 

 least apparent success. In correspondence from the Park Commission- 

 ers of New York, they declare that the obelisk is not scaling off; that 

 no such proposition as removal would be entertained; that if it was a 

 fact that the obelisk was undergoing disintegration, they would build 

 over it a glass house and protect it. Since the date of the said letter, I 

 have seen it reported that the obelisk is scaling off. No effort has been 

 made to protect it. This ancient relic of a former civilization should 

 claim the attention of every intelligent citizen. 



