PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 103 



the fruit we will produce in the not distant future, and, hence, foreign 

 markets must be developed as an outlet for our surplus. We ought to 

 begin this work at once and push it with the utmost vigor. The State 

 of Iowa has an agent in England, whose business it is to develop a 

 market for corn and the products manufactured from it. He exemplified 

 the fact that it is not only a very cheap, but also a very nutritious food, 

 and that many very palatable dishes can be made from it. He also teaches 

 how to prepare these dishes. He desires to do the same work for Cali- 

 fornia fruit-growers. Will you do anything? Possibly you will resolve, 

 but, judging by the past, nothing more can be expected. 



I know a fruit-grower who could not obtain a satisfactory price for 

 his dried fruit, either from local or Eastern buyers, consequently he 

 shipped a carload to Vermont, put an agent to work selling it from 

 house to house, and thus sold the entire carload at satisfactory prices. 

 He sold all of it to consumers who had never bought a pound of Cali- 

 fornia dried fruit before. The agent who sold this fruit made good 

 wages while so employed, and the fruit-grower netted the cost of pro- 

 duction, plus a satisfactory profit. 



Shall we begin at once the work of fully developing our undeveloped 

 home market, or shall we resolve? I believe that, as previously stated, 

 Santa Clara Valley alone can produce more prunes than this country 

 has ever consumed in any one year. I believe this will be accomplished 

 whenever the trees now planted there come into full bearing, or within 

 five years. Probably by that time, or sooner, the balance of the State 

 will produce as much or more. You are manufacturers of dried fruit. 

 Do manufacturers in other lines conduct their business as you do yours? 

 Do they not first create the demand and then supply it? Is there a wiser 

 method? I think not, or business men would have discovered it. You 

 will have to conduct your business as business men do, or you will soon 

 have no business to conduct. 



At one time one of the San Francisco canners came down to San Jose 

 to talk to us, and tell us what to do and how to do it. He was asked, 

 among other questions, " Does it make any difference to you if canning 

 fruit costs you $20 or $30 a ton?" "It makes a difference of only one 

 cent more on a can, if we pay $30 instead of $20. We would sell just 

 as many cans at a cent higher on the can. If you want $30 a ton you 

 can get it by all holding at that price. The difference in price is of your 

 making. We would as soon pay $30 as $20, if you make that price to 

 all." If you want to get anything for your product, organize, and then 

 cooperate in the sale of it. If you want $30 for canning fruit you can 

 have it by cooperating in the sale, or you can have $20 or less if you will 

 not. 



Mr. Markley : I don't know that I have anything very plausible to 

 offer. My own impression is that to make any business successful it is 

 necessary to reduce it to a system. I think the first thing that is neces- 

 sary is to have a proper warehouse. If we in Sonoma County could get 

 together and build a good warehouse to put our fruit in and grade it, and 

 keep posted on prices, there would be no trouble about selling. I looked 

 in the papers the other day and saw that 16,000,000 pounds of prunes 

 had gone forward from Santa Clara Valley, all on consignment. Had 

 this been true that large quantity would of course have broken the 

 market, but it was not true. If we were well organized and would work 

 together, grade our fruit well, then one man's fruit would help sell his 



