PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 49 



ington who have charge of these matters are very earnest in their desire 

 to help every branch of manufacture or produce in the United States. 

 When your committee came to us last spring with this plan of requesting 

 Government aid in telling the fruit-growers and handlers of fruit in 

 California something about the possibilities of foreign markets, we took 

 up the matter and formulated a series of questions upon the most prom- 

 inent articles that are produced in California, and forwarded them to the 

 Secretary of State, with the request that certain reports be made upon 

 them at three different times in the year. These were to be, in the main, 

 first, reports as to the crop conditions and possibilities in the early 

 summer and spring as compared with the previous years, and such 

 general information in that direction as might easily be obtainable. 

 Then, next, the size of the crop, etc., and any other changes that may 

 have occurred in the meantime. Then when the first fruits —prunes, 

 raisins, almonds, and walnuts — came into the market, cables were 

 requested at many points in Southern Europe, especially Spain, Italy, 

 France, and Bordeaux, and also at Hamburg, as to the opening prices 

 of these articles. Then, following later, reports by mail as to the market 

 conditions and concerning previous cables, etc. 



Of course in starting a service like this the first attempts were some- 

 what crude, and neither the questions nor the answers just what they 

 should have been; but most of the consuls seemed to enter into the spirit 

 of the thing in a very commendable manner. The Commercial Museum 

 is a new organization and is not yet in full running order. We are very 

 glad to take up this matter and assist you in any way, because one of 

 the purposes of the Museum is for the marketing of the products of Cali- 

 fornia. These reports have now ended, and, as you know, were made up 

 in as many ways as was possible with our limited resources. 



This service has been entirely gratuitous so far as the Government 

 was concerned. The only expense has been the cost of cables in getting 

 these opening prices. Just what that is I don't know, because the bill 

 has not been sent to us. A cable code was arranged, so that these reports 

 were sent in a very few words. We are very willing to continue that 

 sort of work for you, provided, of course, that you desire it. However, 

 if the State Board of Horticulture wishes to take it up I have no doubt 

 the State Department would render as efficient service as it does to the 

 Museum. This work comes within the objects of our organization, and 

 we are perfectly willing to continue it. I would suggest that while you 

 are here assembled for the purpose of discussing your business and the 

 enlargement of your markets, especially foreign markets, you should 

 appoint some committee representing the different interests to consider 

 this question very carefully, and to formulate a series of questions which 

 will exactly fit each product, and place those in the hands of your State 



4 — P-GC 



