— 20 — 



one of its great merits lay in the fact that all buyers, large and small, 

 were, under that system, brought together and made to compete with 

 each other; thus increasing the competition among buyers and lessening 

 the chances of combinations among bidders. This end has of late years, 

 in a measure, been defeated by certain auction houses accepting bids 

 only from members of certain associations, thus barring out numerous 

 buyers whose support and whose aid as competing bidders are of much 

 importance to the interest of the grower. The grower's interest demands 

 that every buyer, however humble, so long as he is prepared to buy in 

 the reasonable quantities usually fixed by auction rules, and so long as 

 he is prepared to pay cash for his purchases, shall not alone be invited 

 to come, but shall be encouraged to regularly attend all sales and to bid 

 as lively and as frequently as possible. This arrangement may not suit 

 the interests of the Eastern fruit-jobber, but the question to be consid- 

 ered is not " What is in the interest of the Eastern jobber? " but rather, 

 " What is in the interest of the California fruit grower ? " 



We find then, that in order to remedy existing evils the three follow- 

 ing conditions must be established: 



First — A Bureau of Information to aid in regulating distribution. 



Second — One auction-room only for each city. 



Third — Auctions open and free to all. 



" But how is all this to be brought about ? " I hear some ask. " How 

 can we compel people to join in supporting a Bureau of Information, or 

 how can we prevent two or more auction houses from operating in each 

 city if they choose, or how can we control the action of such auction- 

 houses, and dictate to them to whom they shall sell ? " 



My answer to these probable questions is, that the fruit growers, if 

 they but know it, are the masters of the situation, and the success of 

 the whole matter rests entirely with them. 



It is true that a thousand growers, each acting for himself, can 

 accomplish nothing. Each acting alone will continue to find himself 

 the helpless victim of conditions that must sooner or later drive the 

 many to bankruptcy and to ruin. But the thousand acting as a unit 

 become supreme and can establish conditions conducive to the best 

 good of all, with injury to none. While a few large growers here and 

 there may find it to their best interest to make their own arrangements 

 with Eastern agents and to ship direct; yet the great majority of grow- 

 ers prefer to do their business through one of the numerous shipping 

 houses, such as the Porter Bros. Company, the Earl Fruit Company, the 

 National Fruit Company, and others. To all of which there can be no 

 objection so long as such arrangements continue mutually satisfactory 

 to shipper and grower. Nor is it necessary to disturb these relations 

 in order to establish the three conditions outlined above, namely: (1) 

 A Bureau of Information; (2) One auction-room only in each city; (3) 

 Auctions open and free to all. 



With the above three conditions established, growers who do their 

 own shipping, as well as shipping houses, cannot alone retain their in- 

 dividuality, and carrnot alone continue their present business relations 

 with their numerous clients, but these business relations can be made 

 mutually far more profitable than they have been in the recent past. 



If the growers desire relief it is for them to organize and to act as a 

 unit. It is for them to withhold their business from shipping houses 

 who decline to unite in the support of a Bureau of Information. It is 



