114 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



for the use of mankind, I don't believe that there was ever any great 

 work accomplished, except it Avas done under the stress of necessity. I 

 don't believe that it is possible, in the administration of human affairs, 

 to sit back and wait until you have an open road in any industry. It 

 is a fact, and I am not ashamed to say it — in fact, it is to me a source 

 of intense pride — that the deciduous fruit crop of northern and central 

 California this year was marketed in a manner and with a record that 

 is unparalleled in the history of the perishable fruit trade of the world, 

 and I hope it will be next year so that the record accomplished is such 

 that it will constitute a very happy story for that whole section. 



MR. STEPHENS. Inasmuch as I have been accused of something 

 which is disgraceful, I feel that a moment or two of your time might be 

 properly occupied by me. I don't retract one iota of what I have stated. 

 It is a fact, notwithstanding the utterances of my friend, Mr. Jacobs. 

 Mr. Jacobs may come in contact with those growers he speaks of, for 

 what I know, and may be he belongs to the millionaire class, I don't 

 know. Now, take my neighbor and friend, for instance, Mr. Johnston. 

 There is no question about his prosperity. There is no question about 

 the prosperity of many growers on the Sacramento River, because they 

 have been in the business a long time, but I make the statement that 

 Mr. Johnston has other interests besides fruit-growing. I believe he is 

 in the dairy business, at least he was, and he does not depend wholly 

 upon fruit-growing for a living. I do not deny that Mr. Johnston and 

 several other growers on the Sacramento River, and a few in other 

 places, have made money by handling their fruit. But I wish to call 

 the attention of Mr. Jacobs to the digging up of 58,000 fruit trees in 

 one section of the country, in one holding, last year, because they didn't 

 pay, and that is upon the Sacramento River, too. I wish to call his 

 attention to the digging up of many thousands of trees in Butte County, 

 it is alleged because they didn't pay. 



MR. STILES. Mr. President, I am very sorry Mr. Stephens has not 

 the facts and statistics to present in this argument. As a resident of 

 Butte County, I would like to have him state the facts as to why those 

 trees were dug up in Butte County. It was for no such reason as he 

 tried to impress on this Convention. 



MR. STEPHENS. Then what is it ? 



MR. STILES. Well, you tell. 



MR. STEPHENS. I will tell you. As given out to the people of 

 the State of California by the press, it was because they didn't pay, 

 because the orchards, some of them, had been neglected, because the 

 trees were old and unproductive. That is the very point I make here. 

 I have been trying to call your attention, and the attention of Mr. 

 Jacobs, and the attention of all advocates of increased population, to 

 the fact that one of the most important factors, and expensive factors 



