74 



TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



It is safe to say, at least from the standpoint of this fruit-grower, that 

 a knowledge of obsolete words is one of the least useful and least neces- 

 sary things that a child can study. Let us drop from our school courses 

 this remnant of monkish, mediaeval mummery, which has masked as 

 enlightenment, while acting as a veil for the grossest ignorance. 



"Too long the night has lasted of darkness and depression, 

 Of sorrow and of anguish, of wrong and black despair; 

 * Too long has error held us in bondage and oppression, 



And fear-begotten death-germs to vitiate the air." 



Don't let your children be educated as slaves to the superstitions of 

 the past. The science of fruit-growing demands an acquaintance with 

 almost all sciences from A to Z. This being so, do not permit their minds 

 to be made what Kipling calls " perfect rag-bags of useless knowledge." 



Now, then, you good people are the salt of the earth: Californians 

 grow the best fruits in the world; and "by their fruits ye shall know 

 them." So we must be the best people in the world. If you good people 

 concur in any or all of these my wants and desires, there's just one 

 thing to do: Put your shoulders to the wheel and push hard for their 

 attainment. 



"Good times are made and fashioned of men's souls." They come 

 as they are worked for. Neither* school boards nor legislatures, neither 

 President nor Congress, will make any move forward except under 

 the pressure of public opinion. It is for 5^ou — you salt of the 

 earth! — not only yourselves to loudly express, but to concentrate the 

 expression of public opinion by forming associations. And you must 

 needs be both loud and persistent, for the corporations, in whose grip 

 you are now clutched, know not only the value of clamor, but the uses 

 of cash that talks and talks loud. 



I have come nearly 500 miles to say these things to you. I am sure 

 you will not let it be labor in vain. 



PRESIDENT COOPER. We will now listen to the address on the 

 subject of marketing citrus fruits, by A. H. Naftzger. 



MARKETING CITRUS FRUITS. 



By A. H. NAFTZGER, of Los Angeles. 



Mr. Chairman, and Ladies and Gentlemen: I think this is the first 

 time that I have ever asked a Fruit-Growers' Convention in California 

 to listen to an extemporaneous talk from me. I have generally endeav- 

 ored to concentrate what I had to say into a few suggestions on paper. 

 Unfortunately for you, perhaps, as well as to my own dissatisfaction, I 

 have been obliged, by circumstances that I could not control, to come to 

 you this morning and try to make a few suggestions extemporaneously. 



