TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



105 



MR. JACOBS. Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that this discussion 

 on the raisin situation is very much in line with the discussion that 

 has been held in previous years in previous FruiJ-Growers' Conventions, 

 with the exception that for a number of years the Raisin-Growers' 

 Association occupied a unique position. They were progressing favor- 

 ably and were prosperous. The fruit men, who had a co-operative 

 organization, did not stand together, and it resulted in disaster to the 

 growers, from which they have suffered for a long time. Now, I, person- 

 ally — although not handling raisins — am one of those who handled 

 raisins when the industry was in its infancy, at the time Mr. White 

 has mentioned. In fact, I believe we handled part of Mr. White's 

 raisins at one time. 



MR. WHITE. That is right. 



MR. JACOBS. I am not an alarmist, as I don't believe that any of 

 California's products are over-produced. I contend that the result is 

 not caused by overproduction, but that it is the result of the methods 

 of handling the business. In the past few months I made a trip 

 through the East and studied conditions existing not only in my 

 own line of business, but also in the raisin business and in that of other 

 California products. Mr. White has stated here that in 1893 there 

 were 103,000,000 pounds of raisins produced, and subsequent to that 

 time the industry met with disaster, until the Raisin-Growers' Associa- 

 tion was formed. That association was a necessity to the growers. It 

 was absolutely necessary for their self-preservation to form a co-opera- 

 tive organization, and after it was formed, with the exception of one or 

 two years, they were very successful. In 1898 there were only 80,000,- 

 000 pounds produced, but in 1903, this year, I believe Mr. White said 

 110,000,000 pounds? 



MR. WHITE. This year, 110,000,000 pounds. 



MR. JACOBS. There is nothing allowed for the increase of popula- 

 tion in this country in ten years, and yet there is only an increase, up 

 to the present time, of 7,000,000 pounds of raisins since 1893, when the 

 country was in the throes of a financial panic, and you all know what 

 the word "panic" means. Now, the raisin men of Fresno, just because 

 they have not sold in three months more than fifty per cent of their 

 product, are willing to spread the report abroad that there is already 

 an overproduction; but if they will stop to consider a moment, they 

 will realize that perhaps they are wrong. From conversations with 

 many leading houses in the East, I have come to the conclusion that 

 perhaps there was a mistake made in the methods of marketing the 

 product, and if they have made a mistake in the methods, it behooves 

 the growers of this county to let those same directors work out their 

 own salvation, and they will do it, because they have still nine months 

 to go on. But the conditions existing now are these — and they exist in 



