100 PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



The difficulty with the farmers is that they are afraid. They are accus- 

 tomed to think that if anybody proposes an expenditure, it grows out of 

 a desire on their part to get some of their money for private purposes. 

 But as you get together and become familiar with the operation of the 

 exchange, you will increase your expenditure as you see your interests 

 being advanced thereby. The gist of the whole proposition really is: 

 That we will give one quarter of one per cent to sell our products next 

 year — 25 cents on $100, $2 50 on every $1,000. I am willing to run 

 that risk. 



The people who raise oranges united, and I don't see why we can't. 

 They were well organized, and let me assure you of one thing, that the 

 nearer you get to a trust the better it will be. The best trusts are those 

 which come nearest to the Standard Oil Company. The next best is the 

 Citrus Association. It would be right to say that if we were properly 

 organized we would do as well. Now, those people are perfectly willing 

 to unite. The orange men are also producers of dried fruits, and 

 anybody can see that it would be foolish to go to the expense of support- 

 ing two organizations where one would suffice. Now, there is a strong 

 disposition to make use of the machinery which we have created for our 

 fresh deciduous fruits, so that we can work together, and in one respect 

 we could have a general Eastern agency located in New York. The 

 orange men thoroughly appreciate the facts. We have heard them 

 express their ability to unite, and we who have considered the matter 

 are desirous of uniting with them. We are ready to unite. If I chose 

 to do so, I could go on and show in what way the State exchange would 

 grow into an exceedingly powerful institution, having a powerful govern- 

 ment and an assured income. The gist of cooperation is putting your 

 fruit where it will bring cooperative prices. That is the plan or* the 

 directors. 



Mr. Sprague: There are two ways in which local organizations may 

 be effected. One is by sending out a man, or men, who will make a 

 thorough canvass of the State on the part of the California Fruit Ex- 

 change, so as to secure a local organization of the several unions. At 

 present there are no funds in the hands of the California Fruit Exchange 

 for this purpose. Those gentlemen have found that when they go into 

 a new district and suggest this new-fangled notion, they become at once 

 objects of suspicion. The old farmer shakes his head and wonders how 

 much there is in it for you. They draw into their shells. The agent 

 could stop but one day or night in any locality, as, owing to the suspi- 

 cious character of the tillers of the soil, their acts are very conservative, 

 and the agent leaves them without effecting an organization. The next 

 day the farmer goes about his usual avocation, the matter is forgotten, 

 and the efforts of the agent are lost. Now then, under this plan, it is 

 proposed that each one of us aid in this movement, and each one in 

 attendance on the convention should, on his return home, at once call a 

 meeting of his neighbors in the school-house, or some other public 

 building, and tell what he has learned here. I think this would reach 

 the great mass of fruit-raisers quicker and better than any other plan. 

 In looking toward the State Board of Horticulture for assistance, it 

 seems to me that it is perfectly natural to know whether it would be 

 prepared to aid us in this movement. • It should be very carefully laid 

 down in connection with this movement, that in those local meetings 

 questions only of immediate industrial interest should be presented. 



