Page 78 



BETTER FRUIT 



June 



ORGANIZATION A VALUABLE PUBLICITY AGENCY 



BY C. C. CHAPMAN, AT MEETING OF OREGON STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



HAD it done no more than to hold a 

 session like this, which has been 

 bringing out papers of the value of Mr. 

 LaFollette's, to which we have just 

 listened, the value of the Oregon State 

 Horticultural Society to the State of 

 Oregon as a publicity organization would 

 certainly have been demonstrated. Of 

 course, that is only the smallest part, in 

 a way, of what it has done. I may add 

 to the force of Mr. LaFollette's paper by 

 stating that I have had the pleasure of 

 visiting both his son's ranch and his own, 

 away down on the Willamette River, 

 near Wheatland, twelve miles this side 

 of Salem. He has understated rather 

 than overstated the possibilities of peach 

 growing on many of the lands of the 

 Willamette Valley, and the way he has 

 put it has been so forceful, so conserva- 

 tive and carried so much conviction with 

 it that I know, in our publicity matter 

 which we are sending out, we shall take 

 advantage of that and quote liberally 

 from his paper, with a view to inspiring 

 confidence in Oregon as a peach state as 

 well as an apple state. 



Now, I judge that some of the apple 

 fairs — among which the Oregon Horti- 

 cultural Society has been taking the lead 

 for many, many years — some of the apple 

 fairs must have been doing far more 

 work toward getting Oregon advertised 

 than the producers of any other product 

 of the soil in Oregon. Mr. LaFollette 

 mentioned that at the Oregon Develop- 

 ment League meeting in Salem every- 

 thing was apples, apples, apples. Now, 

 as a matter of fact only about two per 

 cent of the products of the soil raised in 

 Oregon are apples. 



Dr. Withycombe, of the State Agricul- 

 tural College, estimates that in 1910 the 

 value of the products of the soil of Ore- 

 gon, farm produce included, amounted 

 to more than $115,000,000; of that only 

 $6,000,000 was fruit, and of that $6,000,000 

 only $3,000,000 was apples. If apples 

 represent only two per cent and got^ 

 about ninety-nine and forty one-hun- 

 dredths per cent of the publicity down 

 at the meeting of the Oregon Develop- 

 ment League in Salem and at the Chi- 

 cago Land Show and the National Apple 

 Show held in Chicago, following the 

 land show, and the National Apple Show 

 just completed in Spokane — where Ore- 

 gon apples have been capturing not only 

 sweepstake prizes, but most of the 

 advertising, it certainly indicates that 

 the apple has been advertising Oregon. 

 What we are afraid of is that possibly 

 it is almost advertising too much, and 

 that people are beginning to think that 

 Oregon is not only an apple state, but 

 that it is an apple state only; so the 

 Oregon Horticultural Society certainly 

 can take credit to itself for having done 

 its work well. 



They have been holding an apple show 

 here in Portland for a great many years, 

 as an accessory to the meeting of the 

 State Horticultural Society, a splendid 

 little show. Quality has been of the very 

 best, and pains have been taken in the 

 preparation of the fruit. This has 

 resulted in a great deal of compliment 



and praise. It has had influence in edu- 

 cating the people of Portland into rec- 

 ognizing what Oregon can do as an 

 apple state. As a matter of fact, how- 

 ever, the incentive that has been held out 

 to the growers to make this a great expo- 

 sition has been absolutely lacking. Port- 

 land has been backward in that Port- 

 land business men — while some of them 

 have risen to the occasion splendidly in 

 adding to the inducements, and certainly 

 deserve credit — the City of Portland, as 

 a whole, does not deserve any special 

 credit. We have been backward in Port- 

 land, there is no question about it, we 

 have been traitors. We have let Seattle 

 scoop us in some things and we have 

 let Spokane scoop us badly in the fruit 

 question, when they got the idea of a 

 national apple show. Those of us who 

 have been to Spokane have seen carload 

 after carload and carload after carload 

 of apples. They started the show in the 

 Armory. That wasn't big enough, and 

 they extended it to the street. That 

 wasn't big enough, and they got a circus 

 tent, a big Barnum & Bailey tent. That 

 wasn't big enough, and they got a tent 

 made to order. That wasn't big enough, 

 and they extended out further and 

 further, and covered up the streets. It 

 was simply wonderful, and passes con- 

 ception. Nobody has any realization of 

 what that show was like unless he has 

 seen it. Spokane beat us to it, and has 

 got the National Apple Show, and so, 

 to a certain extent, Portland has had to 

 take a back seat. But there is something 

 very comforting about this situation 

 here in Portland, because the Oregonians 

 have carried away the big prizes. While 

 Spokane business men put up something 

 like $43,000 of their own money to make 

 the Spokane Apple Show a success, it 

 has been felt that the great result of the 

 expenditure of their own money is the 

 free advertising of Oregon. She got the 

 advertising for having taken all of the 

 great prizes from the city and state 

 which was putting up for the expenses, 

 so there are some joys, as you can see, 

 in Portland's position today. We have 

 had the benefit of the advertising. People 

 believe it perhaps more readily when 

 Spokane advertises the Oregon apples 

 as sweepstakes of the nation than if Ore- 

 gon herself advertised them as such. 

 You know when we toot our own horn 

 some people will say, "Blessed be he 

 who tooteth his own horn, for otherwise 

 it will not be tooted," but when others 

 toot the horn for us it means something. 

 With Spokane advertising the Oregon 

 apples we have the advantage at a very 

 low cost, but there is no reason in the 

 world why we should simply drop it at 

 that point. There may be a time when 

 Oregon will not take all of the sweep- 

 stake prizes. In fact we may come to 

 the point where it will be so thoroughly 

 regarded as certain that Oregon will 

 take the prizes that we may be asked to 

 step aside for a while in the interest of 

 the Northwest and give the Washington 

 fellows a chance to make a showing. 



We have really got to do something 

 here in Oregon to get Oregon on the 



map, not necessarily in competition with 

 the National Apple Show at Spokane, 

 but in a way that will give further iden- 

 tity to Oregon as an apple state. It 

 seems to me that can be done in a way 

 that Spokane has, fortunately, over- 

 looked. Spokane has done a wonderful 

 work in creating the National Apple 

 Show, and we compliment Spokane on 

 this great advertisement of the Pacific 

 Northwest, and we certainly do not want 

 Portland or any other city to have a 

 "National Apple Show." Spokane has 

 carried away the laurels, and is wear- 

 ing the wreath, and we want to accord it 

 to them with the hand of good fellow- 

 ship and cheer them on their way, but 

 that is rj reason in the world why we 



Buy and Try 



White 

 River 

 Flour 



Makes 



Whiter, Lighter 

 Bread 



CAMPBELL SUB-SURFACE 

 PACKERS 



We are the sole 

 manufacturers 

 of this famous 

 Sub-Surface Packer, 

 the only one 

 made. 



This is 

 the one 

 that you 

 have heard 

 everyone talk- 

 ing about. 



Send for our Special Pamphlet on Sub- 

 Surface Packing, the best known system 

 for "dry farming," a method of absolutely 

 insuring bumper crops with a minimum 

 rainfall — the salvation of semi-arid regions. 



Made in Three Sizes, with 10, 16 and 

 24 wheels, is heavy and strong, and the 

 frame is made to carry all the extra weight 

 required. Write for Catalog No, V 



Parirn & Orendorff Co., 



CANTON, ILL. 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



