TWENTY-EIGHTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



181 



PROCEEDINGS OF FOURTH DAY. 



Friday, May 8, 1903. 



The • Convention was called to order at 10 o'clock a. m. President 

 Cooper in the chair. 



PRESIDENT COOPER. The business before the Convention this 

 morning is the consideration of the report of the committee to 

 memorialize President Roosevelt, and as chairman of that committee I 

 would report that arrangements have been made with Secretary Loeb, 

 whereby we shall be able to present our memorial to the President this 

 afternoon, and the following has been prepared: 



To His Excellency Theodoke Roosevelt, President : 



The Fruit-Growers of California, in convention assembled, at the City of Los 

 Angeles, May 6, 1903, have appointed a committee for the purpose of extending their 

 thankful appreciation of your efforts to place yourself in sympathy with the people of 

 our great Nation, and to present to you some of the ills under which they now suffer, 

 and for which they seek redress by the General Government : 



First — The horticultural industry of California is now a most important one, involv- 

 ing millions of dollars of capital, and giving employment and livelihood to thousands 

 of families; shipping some 65,000 carloads of produce annually, at the expense for 

 freight of $19,000,000. Its requirements are therefore worthy of serious consideration. 



Second — The time now required to carry fruit, a perishable product, from California 

 to Eastern points, is from eighteen to twenty-five days. This fruit is largely shipped in 

 ventilator cars, which to be effective must be in motion. The long time consumed, how- 

 ever, leads to their being side-tracked, often on hot deserts, and the fruit spoils, in con- 

 sequence, causing heavy loss to the grower. 



Third — From present indications we may safely conclude that the acreage in fruits 

 and vegetables will double in the next decade. Our present railroads lack equipment 

 for adequate service. These, and those projected, will be unable to meet the increasing 

 demands for transportation. 



Fourth— A very large portion of the arid West, now uninhabitable, will be reclaimed 

 within the next few years. The work is now in progress. This region, now sparingly 

 settled, will support a dense farming population and ought to bring great prosperity to 

 the Pacific Coast and to the United States. 



Fifth — Your interest in the Isthmian Canal, and the promise of the completion of 

 that great enterprise in the near future, has won from California enthusiastic apprecia- 

 tion. We, the Fruit-Growers of California, representing its most important industry, 

 are more than hopeful that you will lend your assistance to the greater and more greatly 

 needed work of the construction of a double-track railroad from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific seaboard, to be owned and controlled by the General Government, as the present 

 facilities are entirely inadequate to our needs. 



Sixth — That we be secured for our perishable product an eight-day freight service to 

 New York and a six-day service to Chicago, which more than doubles the present pas- 

 senger time. 



Seventh — We would respectfully, yet most earnestly urge upon your attention the 

 necessity of maintaining the present tariff rates upon citrus fruits and upon fruit prod- 

 ucts in general, and stoutly urge that even with the present duty the California grower 



