TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



81 



result would be satisfactory. But, alas! the "outside" growers are 

 among us, and they seem to be here to stay. The " outside " grower is 

 practically the only drawback to the successful operation of the^ Associa- 

 tion, and, from my observations, it is the outsider who is the menace 

 to the successful operation of co-operative organizations wherever these 

 associations have been attempted. To attempt to run an organization 

 of producers with from ten to twenty per cent on the outside, is like a 

 man trying to swim with a millstone around his neck. 



There has been an overproduction of raisins at different times during 

 the history of that industry, but at no time has the supply and the 

 demand been so far apart as they seem to be at the present time. In 

 1881 to 1883, there was an overproduction for the reason that our 

 market did not extend east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; but by 

 persistent advertising and by forwarding samples, etc., the trade in the 

 East was made to realize that the California product was fully equal to 

 the Spanish article, our market was extended, and the overproduction 

 vanished like chaff before the wind-storm. As prices were improved by 

 the opening of the Eastern market, planting again revived and raisin- 

 growers prospered until 1893-94, when again the supply was more than 

 equal to the demand. This condition of things, in conjunction with 

 the financial panic which swept over the entire face of the globe, was 

 the means of depressing prices to the extent that growers were com- 

 pelled to sell their crops for less than the cost of production. This 

 state of affairs continued until the California Raisin-Growers' Associa- 

 tion was organized, which was in 1898. From that time to date (with 

 the exception of one year) growers have prospered; but during this 

 period, planting has been more extensive than ever, and to-day we are 

 confronted with an overproduction which is more serious than ever, 

 and the only solution of the problem, as I see it, is either to seek 

 foreign markets for the surplus or to induce every grower in California 

 to join the Association. 



To attempt to compete with the foreign article in foreign markets, 

 with the enormous difference in the cost of labor against us and with 

 freights and import duties to pay, would be like attempting to make 

 water run up hill; yet it would be possible to dispose of our surplus in 

 this way if there were no outside growers to contend with; but the out- 

 siders (being from ten to twenty per cent of the whole) as the crop 

 increases in quantity will soon have enough raisins to supply the early 

 market, and if the Association would hold the umbrella for them until 

 they have sold out, this condition of things would have a tendency to 

 increase the number of outsiders, and the result would be that we would 

 have no association, and consequently no price. 



The Raisin-Growers' Association has done a great work in extending 

 our markets, and by advertising in different ways has made some progress 



6 — F-GC 



