TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



95 



It is true that disease may decrease the yield of the old vineyards, 

 and may even destroy some of the new ones, but still there will ere long 

 be a heavy additional tonnage to be taken care of. This should not 

 come upon us unawares. We should prepare for it thoughtfully and 

 scientifically; not by blaming the raisin directors because they can not 

 accomplish impossibilities, nor by execrating the wine men because they 

 are obliged to be conservative with the capital intrusted to them, for 

 were they not so the alternative would soon present itself of no capital 

 being offered them to carry on their business; not, in a word, by all the 

 time hunting up some other fellow upon Avhom to lay the blame for 

 conditions for which nature alone is responsible, in generously making the 

 vines to grow and the soil to produce, but by all getting together and 

 talking, planning, thinking, and dreaming over a business-like solution 

 of the problem. 



It is not difficult for the ordinary man to be prosperous in times 

 when consumption takes care of production, but it takes a cool and wise 

 head not to get lost in times when the yield exceeds the demand. We 

 may hope that such an eventuality will not arise, that something may 

 happen within the next two or three years, either by increased con- 

 sumption or by some new conditions which at the present moment we 

 do not foresee, to prevent it. But if it does occur we must be prepared 

 for it by alternatives which will enable us, by some concerted action, to 

 get rid of the surplus and retain the value of what the market will take 

 at remunerative prices. 



Many propositions have been advanced; some impractical, others, 

 perhaps, more practical, of which the following are examples : 



Shall a portion of the grapes be contributed in equitable proportions 

 to be made into concentrated must for shipment abroad and to be sold 

 for w^hat it will bring? 



Shall a portion be made into wines for export to foreign countries for 

 joint account, and sold at the best obtainable figure? 



Shall new fields be exploited in unfermented grape juice, for which 

 quite a considerable demand has been created by Eastern growers, or, 

 as has been suggested, in the manufacture of fruit syrup to take the 

 place of maple and glucose syrups at present used for table purposes? 



Shall an attempt be made to educate the temperance people that the 

 truest solution of their problem is to promote the use of light California 

 wines as a means of checking drunkenness, and through the correct 

 interpretation of their chosen name, namely, "temperance," to use the 

 gifts which God has bestowed upon us? 



Drunkenness is never prevalent, in fact is almost unknown, in coun- 

 tries where light wines alone form the staple beverage; it is only where 

 the drinking of the stronger forms of liquor is practiced, that the abuses 

 abound which these honest and well-intentioned people so vigorously 

 deprecate and endeavor to allay. 



