PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 41 



THE EXPEDITED VENTILATOR SERVICE. 



Essay by Wm. B. Gbster, of Newcastle. 



The depressed condition of the California fruit industry at the close . 

 of the season of 1894, and the deep concern and marked distress of the 

 fruit producers of the State, were evident and undoubted. It was man- 

 ifest that a change of conditions must be brought about, or the industry 

 suffer at least partial ruin. 



The fruit-growers' convention of a year ago found this very serious 

 matter thrust upon it, and an unusually large proportion of its time 

 was spent in discussing methods by which the expense of production 

 and marketing might be reduced and selling prices maintained. It 

 was the honest and earnestly expressed conviction of the mass of the 

 delegates assembled, that at no point in the process of expense-cutting 

 was there a fairer or more reasonable opportunity for the use of the 

 knife than in the very large proportionate item of transportation. The 

 consequent organization of the Transportation Committee; its careful, 

 conservative, conscientious work; its discussion with the agents of the 

 railroad company, and the result of its labors and appeals, are a part 

 of the history of the California fruit industry. 



The railway company acknowledged recognition of the distress of the 

 fruit-grower, and its contribution to the alleviation of said distress was 

 the proposition to establish the expedited ventilator service, by which 

 service trains of ventilator fruit cars were to be dispatched regularly on 

 a scheduled running time, between Sacramento and Chicago, of 120 

 hours. This was not the boon most earnestly prayed for by the fruit- 

 growers of the State, but there seemed possible benefit in it; it behooved 

 not beggars to be choosers, and we were, and are, thankful for the bene- 

 fits we have derived from this offering of the railroad toward the solu- 

 tion of the problem of cheaper transportation for California fruit. That 

 these benefits have not been greater than they have should not serve as 

 a cloud to darken the good intention of the donors, nor yet should the 

 disinclination to look a gift horse in the mouth deter us from examin- 

 ing as well as may be this particular gift. It is well for us, after our 

 experience with the expedited ventilator service during the past season, 

 to measure its worth, to draw some conclusions as to its possibilities, its 

 limitations, its value. 



This paper can do little more in the matter than to open the discus- 

 sion by giving in a condensed way the result of some personal observa- 

 tion, some few facts derived from official sources, and the opinions upon 

 some points of a few of the prominent growers and shippers in the State, 

 leaving it to the large number of interested fruit men here present to 

 bring up points untouched, and to elaborate those points in the paper 

 not dwelt upon with sufficient emphasis or clearness. 



The first trains of the expedited service were dispatched, according to 

 due notice given by the railroad company, on June 5th. 



Some of the advantages to be derived from the new service were 

 immediately apparent. Shippers of ventilator cars to Montana and 

 Colorado points found their shipments going to Ogden in most excellent 

 time, insuring much quicker delivery to destination than had been 

 vouchsafed them under the ordinary freight schedule. 



