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TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION, 



cases, is also the agent for the associations; hence, as he is a buyer, it 

 is perfectly natural for him to advise the fixing of the price low instead 

 of high, so as to make his margin of profit on the purchased nuts as 

 wide as possible. Never until the outside grower joins the associations 

 will the interests of the broker and the producer be identical. Then, 

 and not till then, will they unite to put the price up to the full limit 

 which the market will stand. 



Also, if there were no outside growers to take advantage and offer 

 nuts for less than the established price when sales happen to be a little 

 slow, the executive committee would have more confidence in maintain- 

 ing the prices set and a higher price would be the inevitable result. 

 When the outside grower is eliminated, and not until then, may we 

 hope to get the full market value for our product. 



As for the commercial outlook of our industry, it is very encouraging. 

 We have only two competitors of any consequence. The one is Chile, 

 whose nuts are harvested in the month of March and arrive in our 

 market so early that they are all disposed of before ours ripen; and the 

 other competitor is France, whose nuts arrive in our market several 

 weeks later than ours ripen, giving us an opportunity to sell in advance 

 of them. And while we may differ concerning the tariff on manufac- 

 tured goods, etc., all walnut-growers are convinced that the 4 cents a 

 pound duty on walnuts is a beneficent and righteous regulation. We 

 also have the advantage of our competitors in the fact that our goods 

 are superior in quality to theirs. 



There is but little danger of overproduction, as the demand seems to 

 be increasing more rapidly than the supply; this will probably continue 

 to be true, owing to the limited area adapted to walnut culture. 



As to the profitableness of the industry: We are acquainted with a 

 few orchards that, in normal years, produced a ton of nuts per acre. 

 At present prices, such an orchard will net the owner in the neighbor- 

 hood of $200 per acre. 



MR. HARTR AXFT. Mr. Chairman, I wonder if Mr. Kellogg is not 

 asking for too much when he asks anything more than 12^ cents for 

 walnuts? I wonder if he is not expecting too much of marketing 

 methods? 



MR. KELLOGG. Mr. President, there is a price beyond which we 

 can not go, and that is the price which market and crop conditions will 

 sustain, and we want to get all that those market and crop conditions 

 will allow. If we go beyond that we do something that is in opposition 

 to our own interests. 



MR. PHILLIPS. I would like to ask the gentleman if he does not 

 have to wait about eight years before he gets any crop at all? 



MR. KELLOGG. No, sir. If you plant two-year-old trees, or three- 



