— 56 — 



Mr. T. W. Madeley, of Placer: Mr. Block has asked for the authority 

 upon which the statement was made that the freight rate from Portland 

 to Minneapolis is $150 a car. In the "Fruit Trade Journal, Dairy and 

 Produce Record " is an interview with Mr. J. A. Shea, a wholesale fruit 

 dealer in Minneapolis, in the course of which Mr. Shea says: " Never in 

 the condition of the commission business have the common crops been 

 so dear and the fancy products so cheap as now. The condition of the 

 trade is paradoxical throughout. Products raised at home are dear, 

 while the luxuries are so cheap that it is almost like giving them away. 

 Potatoes are dearer than wheat and more expensive than fruit that is 

 shipped all the way from the Pacific Coast. Onions are dear, and sweet 

 potatoes are brought all the way from New Jersey, because the Illinois 

 crop of sweets is practically a failure. The Oregon fruit trade developed 

 slowly until within a period of about five years. I remember the first 

 Oregon fruit received in Minneapolis. It was packed in heavy redwood 

 boxes, nailed with big, heavy nails, and the fruit, though fine, was so 

 poorly packed that it was difficult to find a market for it. Now we 

 think nothing of getting five carloads of Oregon plums or peaches at a 

 single consignment. Oregon fruit reaches this market in about half the 

 time it takes for California fruit; the freight is $150 a car less, and above 

 all, the fruit seems better suited to the market. The shippers under- 

 stand their business now, and pack the fruit as well as it is packed any- 

 where in the county, and it usually arrives in this market bright and 

 fresh." The article goes on to say: "Mr. Shea's theory is that the two 

 transcontinental lines, the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific, in 

 active competition for traffic, are largely responsible for the abundance 

 of cheap fruit." In addition to that, I have been credibly informed that 

 the railroad companies of the Oregon section take the question of refrig- 

 eration in their own hands, and they charge but $25 a car for refrigera- 

 tion, whereas it costs us in this section $125. The article goes on to 

 say: "In a year like the present the growers in Oregon are sometimes a 

 little worse off than nothing upon some of their consignments." Take 

 for example: A box of pears brings $1 25 in this market; the freight on 

 it is 90 cents, the commission 12 cents, the box costs 13 cents, and pack- 

 ing the box 10 cents. This leaves no profit for the shipper, and no 

 profit for the man who raises the fruit. A neighbor of mine told me 

 Monday morning, just before I took the train for Sacramento, that his 

 total shipments East were 14,000 boxes. The average returns to him 

 from the other end were 19 cents. On that 14,000 boxes the railroad 

 company received $7,000 for freight. The result of the shipment was 

 that the grower had the pleasure of paying 11 cents a box for shipping 

 his fruit to the East. Another man whom I know of, shipped 1 6,000 

 boxes, and the average returns to him were 18 cents a box, and he was 

 paying 12 cents a box instead of 11 cents, out of his own pocket, for his 

 privilege of shipping fruit to the Eastern market. I think if the rail- 

 road companies can afford to carry fruit from Oregon for $150 a car, 

 this convention ought to be able to devise some way in which it can be 

 carried from California at the same rate. 



Mr. Bickford, of Newcastle: I will suggest that this committee of 

 five come together half an hour before this convention meets. I would 

 like to tell them something about the fruit interest in Placer County. I 

 do not deem it advisable to talk to this convention as seriously as I 

 might talk to the committee, and to have it published to the world how 



