62 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



they would be in touch, let us do so. This sort of talk has been before 

 this convention almost every season, and I am getting nearly dis- 

 couraged at something not being done. My neighbors are in the same 

 condition. We plan and labor and struggle to get together, and, some- 

 how or other, we don't do it, and our products are going down in price 

 year by year. 



If anybody here can tell some way — I tell you, friends, if somebody 

 here could devise some plan by which those people could save their 

 homes, it would be the happiest day that my county ever saw. Now, 

 can you do it? 



Mr. Weinstock: I would like to ask Mr. Motheral a question relative 

 to this. It seems to me that the raisin grape is a question that does 

 not affect the people of Fresno County alone, but it is a question that 

 affects the welfare of the State of California. Therefore, anything that 

 will aid the raisin industry must, necessarily, aid this commonwealth. 

 Now, speaking for myself, I am free to confess that I know very little 

 about the raisin question, except in a general way from reading the 

 papers. Mr. Motheral, however, will, I am sure, answer any reasonable 

 question that I may ask him for information. The first is this: Are we, 

 or are we not, over-producing raisins? 



Mr. Motheral: With proper distribution I do not think we are to 

 the extent that prices would seem to indicate. Our distribution is poor, 

 and there are too many middlemen between the producer and the con- 

 sumer. For instance: We sell our goods at from 2-J to 5 cents in New 

 York, and within a radius of fifty miles from that city the same raisins 

 are sold to the consumer at 15 cents a pound, passing through two or 

 three hands in the' meantime. 



Mr. Weinstock: Can you tell us what the consumption of raisins is 

 in the United States? 



Mr. Motheral: I don't think I can in detail. We shipped 4,600 

 cars from California at the rate of ten tons to the car. That is about 

 two thirds of the consumption in the United States. 



Mr. Weinstock: About two thirds of the consumption? Where does 

 the other third come in? 



Mr. Motheral : From foreign countries — from the Mediterranean and 

 other places. 



Mr. Weinstock: But how can the Mediterranean grower compete 

 with us? 



Mr. Motheral: He competes in this way: He gets his labor for a few 

 cents a day. 



Mr. Weinstock: I do not understand how it is possible for the Medi- 

 terranean grower to compete, even though his labor is cheap. 



Mr. Motheral: They do it in this" way: They pay for freight at the 

 rate of $8 a ton to New York, and we pay from $27 to $28 a ton. 



Mr. Weinstock: Then it is simply a question of transportation? 



Mr. Motheral: Largely of transportation. 



Mr. Weinstock: Now, it is very doubtful whether the question of 

 transportation can be reached in the immediate future, because we have 

 been told here that the question of transportation can be solved only by 

 the Nicaragua Canal. It would be six years before the Nicaragua Canal 

 would be available. During those six years the raisin-grower would 

 suffer. If it is a question of labor, I do not suppose it is possible to get 

 our labor down to the standard of labor on the Mediterranean. 



