PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 63 



Mr. Berwick : What is the rate at present c*n Spanish raisins ? 



Mr. Weinstock: I understand it is 28 cents from California. 



Mr. Motheral : If I know what I am talking about, it is from $25 

 to $30 a ton from here. That's about it. 



Mr. Weinstock: What advantage would there be if the tariff were 

 raised on raisins ? 



Mr. Motheral: Well, it would keep those other fellows out. 



Mr. Weinstock: The people of California, it is evident, cannot 

 depend on transportation by water, and now ship altogether by land. 

 However, it would, doubtless, be possible to get the present rate lowered. 

 It would seem to me more direct to endeavor, first, to secure lower trans- 

 portation rates, if possible; second, to raise the tariff, and, in that way, 

 keep the foreign competition out; third, to organize the growers in 

 some way. As it is to-day, very much of the demoralized prices are the 

 result of Mr. Motheral and his neighbors going into the same markets 

 in the East, and competing against each other in their efforts to sell 

 their product. If proper effort be made you will meet with success. 



Mr. Motheral: What of the Government doing a banking business 

 to make the farmers independent of those fellows. 



Mr. Weinstock: That is a question that is beyond me. 



Mr. Fowler: May I ask a question? How was it that when the 

 McKinley tariff placed 2 -J cents a pound on raisins, the price from that 

 day steadily declined? 



Mr. W t einstock: At the time the 2-£-cent tariff was placed on raisins, 

 I cannot tell you exactly what the production was at that time. I think 

 it was about 40 per cent of what we now produce. 



Mr. Motheral: There were, at about that time, 2,000 carloads, in 

 round figures. 



Mr Weinstock: There has been an increase to 4,600 carloads? 

 Mr. Motheral: Yes, sir. 



Mr. Weinstock: I think that is correct. Even if you get the highest 

 possible protective tariff that you can secure, unless you do all these 

 things that I have named, you will fail. Therefore, it seems to me that 

 an effort should be made in the direction of getting an improvement of 

 present conditions and to organize; and that is going to be the most 

 difficult thing of all. 



Mr. Lelong: I would like to ask Mr. Motheral a question in regard 

 to the production of raisins. The production of the State is given as 

 52,000,000 pounds. Of that I would like to know how many are packed 

 and sold as first-class raisins that should be packed as second-class? 



Mr. Motheral: The fact is, all of them are packed as raisins. 



Mr. Berwick: I have been some thirty years in California. I claim 

 to know something about the habits of the people. I know that plum 

 pudding is made generally with raisins. I wish somebody here would 

 tell me the London price of good raisins to-day. Can any one tell me? 



Major Berry: About 12 cents a pound. They grade raisins better 

 in Spain than we do in California. 



Mr. Sprague: Do we make a good pudding raisin in California, or do 

 we not? I would like to see Englishmen consume the whole product of 

 California. 



Major Berry: I will tell you that my family consumes about 200 

 pounds of seedless raisins per annum. 



