38 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



Goodsell, Jones, or Smith, or any one else to sell his fruit. He knows 

 that he could select the men who are acceptable to him. He could go 

 East himself, if he choose, and select his own receivers, either in New 

 York or elsewhere. Nor could any one say to him what he should ship, 

 where he shall ship, or how much he shall' ship. He would have the 

 widest possible latitude, as a member, in all these things. So that when 

 Mr. Stephens makes the statement that by becoming a member of the 

 association he would come under the control of Mr. Earl or Mr. Porter, 

 I think that Mr. Stephens knows that this is not so. 



As to the relative merits of the Erie and West Shore piers, that ques- 

 tion cuts no figure. In this discussion it is of no interest to us which 

 of the two piers is the more desirable. There was no inclination on my 

 part to bring up the relative merits of the two piers until yesterday, 

 when Mr. Day brought the question before the convention; and for that 

 reason only did I, in response, present the statement of results. By the 

 statement I read here yesterday, copies of which (while in New York 

 recently) I placed in the hands of Mr. Day and the other Erie receivers, 

 who doubtless have since gone over them carefully, it is shown that 

 while the Erie averaged about 2 per cent higher on single crates of 

 grapes, and 9 per cent higher on double crates, yet, despite that fact, the 

 West Shore, on the whole, still averaged for all fruits 5 per cent higher 

 for the season. 



I was present in New York in September last when some of Mr. 

 Stephens' grapes were sold. They realized $1 more per crate than did 

 those of his neighbors. So far as I could judge, it was not easy to see 

 wherein the difference lay to justify the increase in price. Along came 

 a fruit man who had bought some of Mr. Stephens' grapes. The ques- 

 tion was asked, "Why do you pay $1 more for Mr. Stephens' grapes?" 

 And the answer was, " Because the people want his fruit and will pay 

 the difference in price, for the reason that they know they can depend 

 on it," It must be evident that Mr. Stephens puts brains and con- 

 science into his grapes. You can therefore also easily understand that 

 whichever pier gets Mr. Stephens' grapes will naturally show the higher 

 average for that kind of fruit. This largely explains the higher average 

 realized on the Erie pier for grapes. 



Under the resolutions which were adopted here yesterday, every grower 

 has the privilege of choosing either road, and can use his own judgment; 

 hence, it is wisdom for us to select whichever of the two piers shows the 

 better result. There is nothing in the resolutions adopted yesterday 

 compelling Mr. Stephens to ship over the West Shore nor compelling me 

 to ship over the Erie. 



The next point which Mr. Stephens raises, and which should not be 

 allowed to go uncontradicted, is that certain persons had purposely sent 

 great quantities of fruit to New York, in order to break the market. The 

 inference from his statement was that those persons are members of the 

 California Fruit Growers and Shippers' Association. You will remember 

 that in my address yesterday I made use of the following statement: 

 " Not least among the disappointed California growers this season are 

 the raisers of Tokay grapes, who had looked forward to a highly profit- 

 able market for their product. It is true that the early September rains 

 materially injured the shipping value of their grapes, but it is also true 

 that the rival shipping elements, in their endeavor to make a good show- 

 ing of fruit on their respective terminals, in order to induce the largest 



