PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 265 



new industries in horticulture; because nowhere in the State of Cali- 

 fornia, outside of the vicinity of Los Angeles, will there be such 

 facilities for transportation of passengers and freight as will be afforded 

 in the Sacramento Valley when our extensive plans are carried to 

 materialization. 



Nearly every one in the Sacramento Valley concedes that a complete 

 revolution of conditions and values has taken place since the Northern 

 Electric Railway was established. This is true of all regions where elec- 

 tric traction enters in, and the change in the conditions which you have 

 seen in the last twelve months is but a beginning of the new era upon 

 which the Sacramento Valley is entering and which will be an era of 

 change, evolution, development, and consequently progress, to such an 

 extent that in a few years those who have lived here under past condi- 

 tions will look upon those past conditions almost as a dream, and it 

 would be hard to realize that they ever existed in the country; and 

 this brings us to the point as to what is the exact value of these facili- 

 ties to the fruit-grower, and that is a point which only the fruit-grower 

 himself can determine, and in this connection I would like to point out 

 the two chief factors for your consideration upon this subject: 



First — It is manifest that the haul to the chief transcontinental 

 points can be made much more cheaply by electric railway than by 

 team. 



Second — A great deal of fruit that could not be hauled to any des- 

 tination by wagon can be easily transported by electric railway, and 

 this last advantage would enable the grower to market a very much 

 larger proportion of green fruit than it is possible for him to do without 

 these facilities. 



These two points must give very material added value to every acre 

 of land which can be served by such a system, and that added value, 

 wh itever it may be, must be considered as an increase on every acre of 



" i which is affected, and thereby the owner of these lands is directly 



iefited to an appreciable extent, the value of which every grower 

 himself can estimate, and these advantages are entirely exclusive of 

 generalities which are embraced in the usual estimate of benefits afforded 



such a system. 



MR. JUDD. Mr. Butters, isn't it a fact that the electric railroads in 

 the East, especially in the agricultural sections, have been almost the 

 redemption of a good many of those New England and Middle States? 



MR. BUTTERS. Yes, sir. 



MR. JUDD. In Bulletin 44 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 in regard to the rise and fall of values in the United States, the only 

 4 ht spot in the bulletin was where electric lines were run through a 

 don of country, thereby increasing the value of the lands. 

 ' 18 — fgc 



