133 



daily supply in place of one day a fair supply and then none for three or 

 four days or a week. This style of business they claimed was ruinous to 

 their trade — they want a fair daily supply through the season or none at 

 all. The public must not run away with the idea that any kind of fruit 

 will do to ship. The shipments of California fruits, which have found their 

 way East this year, represent our largest, choicest, selected shipping varie- 

 ties of apricots, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, cherries, nectarines, grapes, 

 and quinces. Where are the "old fogy" fruit growers, that are eternally 

 preaching overproduction? Why, such a thing is impossible provided you 

 grow fine fruit. Of poor trash, the production is already much too great. 

 You have not commenced to feed the millions with California's luscious 

 fruits — what is twenty-one hundred carloads of fine, ripe fruit for the East 

 with her fifty millions of people ? Why, it is not a drop in the bucket. 



DISCUSSION ON MARKETING OF FRUIT. 



Mr. Block: Mr. President, I did not seek to present this matter at this 

 time, and endeavored to procure others to do so; but inasmuch as we are 

 talking about drying and preparing fruit for market, I want to present 

 something that will bring it home to you: the question is, How much are 

 we getting for our fruit? Can we afford to raise it at the prices that we 

 do? And I will give you some figures, based upon this measure, of the 

 largest shipping that has been done by any party in this State for this 

 year, and that will be probably a basis to estimate how much we fruit 

 growers are getting for our fruit, if we do ship it; to show who is getting 

 the money and how much we are getting for our fruit. You probably have, 

 most of you, seen the report here in the paper about three weeks ago, that 

 the results of the .California Fruit Union sales this year in the East would 

 be about $420,000 or thereabouts for fifteen million of pounds. I have 

 written to the " Fruit Grower," inquiring whether the amount they stated 

 included the expense of packages, paper, packing, and loading; they said 

 no. I made an application to other parties to get information as to how 

 much we had been getting, and I find the figures $420,000 are not justified. 

 We will not realize 2\ cents a pound, paying our own expenses out of it; 

 and our main expenses are boxes, paper, packing, and loading. You will 

 probably be surprised if I tell you on a basis of eight hundred and fifty cars 

 sold, carrying twelve million six hundred and two thousand one hundred 

 and eighty pounds, sold gross for $773,117 06, out of which there was 

 freight paid, amounting to $345,156 28; commissions paid, $77,298 06; 

 cartage, $2,430; leaving as returns to the grower, $348,233 06; deduct there- 

 from crates, boxes, paper, packing, hauling, and loading expenses; take 

 the average expense, and I am pretty near correct in saying 85 cents for 

 one hundred pounds. So $107,118 53 goes off of that $348,233 06; conse- 

 quently, out of these $773,117 06, the grower realizes for the twelve and a 

 half million pounds and over of fruit, $241,114 53; this is net. The rail- 

 road realizes $345,156 28; the commission man, $77,298 06. To simplify 

 the matter, the above statement shows that where the fruit grower realizes 

 for growing, including cultivation, taxes, packing, and taking all the risk 

 of shipping, $100, the railroad receives for carrying the same about $150. 

 Now, this is a very important matter. The question with me is, can we 

 afford to raise the fruit? Some of you gentlemen are selling fruit to the 

 shipper, and you say, " I don't care, I am going to sell to the shipper." 

 But the shipper that buys your fruit has these expenses; can he afford to 



Note.— The above figures are modified from the report of the Secretary of the California 

 Fruit Union. 



