PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 27 



boxes as they were packed for shipment. The cost of this to any one 

 grower among the hundreds who bore the expense w^as so slight that it 

 was a burden on no one. 



These are but suggestions of the ways that could be employed for 

 disseminating information and creating interest in the superior quali- 

 ties of our fruits. Having aroused an interest, we must follow with 

 supplies prime in quality and abundant in quantity. Not offering 

 spasmodically; not waiting for the consumers to call on the retailers, 

 and the}^ in turn to go to their jobbers and demand these fruits; but we 

 must see to it that they are always in their proper season in the hands 

 of the jobbers, and if they are dilatory about it we must go past them 

 to the retailers. If, however, there is a demand upon the part of con- 

 sumers, jobbers will be very willing to handle them. It is difficult, if 

 not impossible, to estimate the great damage and loss that will ensue if 

 the interest in any of these fruits is permitted to lag during their proper 

 season. People will not eat twice as many prunes in January because 

 they did not eat any in December. In fact, if they are permitted to 

 neglect prunes in December, and become accustomed to some substitute, 

 it may take half or all of January to get them back to prunes. The 

 work of advertising which I have suggested in the way of circulars, 

 formulas, etc., must be supplemented by personal effort. I do not ignore, 

 nor do I think I underestimate, the value of the ordinary channels of 

 commerce through which any commodity is placed upon the market, 

 but I am thoroughly convinced that these usual channels are not suffi- 

 cient for our uses. As I have already stated, brokers, jobbers, retailers, 

 and speculators, like the forces of nature, work along the lines of least 

 resistance. In other words, they devote their attention to the thing 

 easiest of accomplishment. Having no particular interest or invest- 

 ment in the production of fruit, they will deal with it precisely as with 

 any other commodity. They will sell it when there is a demand for it, and 

 neglect it as the demand weakens. As a consequence, any one or more 

 of our fruits may at any time disappear from the markets for an indefinite 

 period. Something else, or even nothing, may be substituted for it. 

 This leads me to say that, in my judgment, if fruit-growing in Califor- 

 nia is to be permanently successful we must sell our products through 

 agencies of our own. As President Bond, of the Cured Fruit Associa- 

 tion, said in his annual report: "I would have the association sell its 

 fruit through its own agents." 



So thorough is my belief, gained by observation and experience, that 

 this is of prime importance that I place it ahead of all other factors in 

 the problem of distribution. If we want the work done we must go or 

 send. Every other great business undertaking is exploited by personal 

 and exclusive representation. Where is there another industry of so 

 vast extent as fruit-growing in California that attempts to put its 



