18 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



had sent a communication, and that that communication would be pre- 

 sented to this convention by Mr. Fairbanks. I think you would like to 

 hear that letter and learn what others may have to say on the subject. 



Mr, E. W. Armstrong: I have that letter from Sgobel & Day to Mr. 

 Fairbanks. It is as follows: 



New Yoke, October 28, 1895. 



Mr. H. A. Fairbanks, National Fruit Association, Sacramento, Cal: 



Dear Sir: Our Mr. Day endeavored to make his arrangements so that he could be 

 present at your meeting to be held on the 5th proximo, called under the auspices of the 

 Growers and Shippers' Association, but we very sincerely regret that it will be absolutely 

 impossible for him to make the trip, as we cannot possibly spare him. 



We have been fruit merchants here for twenty-six years, and for the past eight years 

 have sold California fruit, always at auction. We have grown up, so to speak, with the 

 New York buyers, and we claim to understand the situation at this end of the line 

 thoroughly. 



Last May, in Sacramento, the desires of the gentlemen of this association were 

 explained to us, and we were requested to "get together," with the other receivers here, 

 in order to sell all the fruit on the West Shore wharf, notwithstanding our protest 

 against the selection of that road made in Mr. Weinstock's office. On our return, for 

 over a week, we endeavored to meet the views of the gentlemen, and at the end of that 

 time we were informed by one of the prominent receivers here that he would insist that 

 his fruit should always be sold first. We then arranged with the Erie Railway to bring 

 our fruit to this city, and are very glad we did so, as things have turned out. 



Mr. Weinstock came here about one month ago, and in this office, on two different 

 afternoons, the representatives of each of the receivers met to discuss the future. Mr. 

 Weinstock is imbued with the idea that the fruit shall be sold in one auction room, and 

 several plans were discussed as to how this might be done, none of which met the 

 approval of those present. What can be done in other cities must not be taken as being 

 possible for New York, and he had pointed out to him very forcibly that New York is 

 so immense in its dealings in all kinds of fruit, and there are so many auction sales 

 going on at different hours in the day, that very serious consideration must be given to 

 any change in the present system of selling. He was told that an average car could 

 only be sold in twelve minutes, ergo, five carloads per hour can be disposed of in one 

 auction room. He was told by every man present that eight years' experience had 

 shown us that it was impossible to commence the sales at an earlier hour than 9 o'clock. 

 He was told that if all the fruit was sold in one auction room next season, when we 

 certainly must expect to have twenty carloads per day, and probably more, it would, 

 therefore, take four hours to sell twenty carloads, five hours for twenty-five carloads, 

 and so on. It was pointed out to him that the Sicily lemon sales commence at 11:30 

 o'clock, while the orange sales frequently commence at 11:30 o'clock; but, allowing 11:30 

 o'clock as the hour for commencing these most important sales, the man whose Cali- 

 fornia fruit was offered in the single auction room after that time would find that all 

 the best bu3^ers had left the room. 



Allowing about 900 carloads of California fruit here this season, to average alto- 

 gether $1,000 per car, that makes less than $1,000,000 for the volume of California decidu- 

 ous fruit in this market this season. As against this, place the lemon sales of $4,000,000 

 to $5,000,000, orange sales of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000, then bananas, pineapples, and other 

 fruits in massive quantities, and you will see that very careful consideration must be 

 given to the time when these other auctions take place in determining what shall be 

 done with the California deciduous fruit. 



This is an early morning business ; the parties buying for out-of-town want to ship it 

 to arrive the same evening, while the small buyers around the city want the fruit as 

 early as possible in the day, and our buyers want it delivered to them at the earliest 

 possible moment after the sale. It is our custom to commence the delivery of the fruit 

 after the first half dozen lines have been sold, and we are quite safe in saying that all 

 the dealers have been more pleased with the very early morning delivery from the Erie 

 wharf. 



With this, we hand you a statement, signed by almost every prominent buyer in this 

 city who attends these sales, from which you will note, over their own signatures, that 

 they will not remain to buy California fruit after 11:30 a. m. The time may come when 

 this business will grow to such large proportions that this will have to be done, but it 

 has not come yet. 



We desire to call your attention to the fact that where disaster, low prices, and virtu- 

 ally slaughter were predicted if two auctions were carried on in New York, the fact 

 remains that the sales in this city have given better results than in any city west of us. 

 Mr. Weinstock asked us the question, after a very successful sale we had one day when 

 he was here, whether we would not have had even better prices if the dealers who went 

 to the West Shore had been on our wharf, and we told him, and truly, too, that we 

 should not have had a cent more, simply because those dealers who went to the West 

 Shore were partners, clerks, or other employes of the men on the wharf, who were the 

 heads of the firms buying this fruit. It is not splitting the trade, because the heads of 

 the firms come to our sale, while they send their clerks, brothers, or some one they can 



