PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 21 



start selling by 7 o'clock in the morning, or even at 6, if necessary. The hours of sale 

 would be merely a matter of arrangement with the railroads, whereby the fruit could be 

 delivered here at hours that we might desire. There is absolutely no ground for main- 

 taining that the sale of California fruits can extend into or interfere with lemon sales, 

 because we can, if we have twenty cars, start our sale of California fruit at an hour that 

 will not interfere with other sales, which is possible if a consolidation is made. In fact, 

 if a consolidation is effected anything that is desired by the California fruit producers 

 can be carried out. 



Mr. Doe, representing Porter Bros. Co., New York, writes as follows: 



I do not believe that the lemon sales would affect the sales of California fruits, as (if 

 we could consolidate) it would be found that the fruit would be disposed of much 

 quicker than with the present system of fruit sales. Auctioneers would sell more 

 rapidly and the buyers would understand and not hesitate and drag, as they do now. 

 If they understood that the fruit was to be sold rapidly they would bid more rapidly, 

 and with the enthusiasm that could be aroused in this way, better prices could often- 

 times be obtained. I should certainly advocate having consolidated salesrooms. 



I also wrote to the West Shore Railroad Company regarding the mat- 

 ter, and received in reply this answer : 



West Shore Railroad Company, [ 

 New York, October 25, 1895. j 



I beg to say that the fruit now arrives at the Franklin-street pier in ample time for 

 the auction to commence at 8 o'clock in the morning, instead of at 9, if you so desire. 

 We would be very glad to have them commence at 8 o'clock, as the probabilities are that 

 the fruit would be taken away an hour earlier than it is at present. 

 Yours truly, 



PERCY R. TODD, 

 General Traffic Manager. 



The next point Mr. Day makes in his statement is that you practi- 

 cally get the benefit of all the buyers in each auction room, because the 

 buyers are represented in both auction rooms either in person or by 

 proxy. That statement, however, is not true except to a very limited 

 degree, as I will try to make plain by the following : 



At the conference of the New York receivers held in that city at my 

 request while there last September, Mr. Ruhlman, of Ruhlman & Co., 

 who, with Mr. Day, opposes a consolidated salesroom, in addressing me 

 on the situation spoke as follows: " You must not compare New York 

 with any other city in the matter of handling the California fruit business. 

 The conditions are very different here from Chicago and elsewhere." 

 " In Chicago, for example," he went on to say, " the bulk of the fruit is 

 bought by the jobbers, who sell to small dealers and hucksters, and who 

 reship to many interior points. In New York the conditions are 

 very different." Continuing, he said, " Here we must deal largely with 

 the hucksters and peddlers themselves, who buy direct in the auction 

 room. There are only a handful of jobbers and wholesalers here who 

 deal in California fresh fruits." " Why ?" I asked. " Because," he 

 answered, " out-of-town shipments are limited, and from the fact that 

 so many small dealers and peddlers buy in the auction room themselves, 

 it does not pay many of the wholesalers to handle the stuff. And so," 

 he said, " we have largely a different element to deal with here than 

 they have, for example, in Chicago. In that city the fruit is mainly 

 bought by wholesalers; here it is mainly bought by small dealers, 

 peddlers, and hucksters." This statement, made by Mr. Ruhlman in 

 the hearing of the conference, was not contradicted by Mr. Day nor by 

 any one else present. 



From my own observations I have every reason to believe the state- 

 ment made by Mr. Ruhlman to be correct. Hence, Mr. Day is flatly in 



