PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ? CONVENTION. 



Ill 



regarding the statement of the printed petition is wrong, and if you will 

 be so kind as to change that date on all the copies you get and make it 

 read "January 30, 1909," instead of "January 30, 1908," because we 

 filed this petition of the growers and shippers combined with the rail- 

 roads on the 30th day of January, 1909, and in putting it into type 

 they made a mistake. There is another thing I wish to call your atten- 

 tion to. In the index you see among the subjects referred to, "Dealing 

 with Facts, not Theories." It is given here as page 26; it should be 27. 



This is a very elaborate report and I wish to call your attention to a 

 statement made in the report of the cost to the grower. These have all 

 been presented to the railroads and we have challenged investigation. 

 We requested that we be permitted to have a conference with the rail- 

 road officials, that we might be given an opportunity to discuss the pros 

 and cons. We have not been able to get anything out of the railroads 

 in the way of an expression since the filing of our petition, with the 

 exception of two letters which we will now proceed to read. 



Sacramento, Cal., February 13, 1909. 

 |ff. //. A. Jones, Frt. Traffic Mgr. S. P. Co., San Francisco, Cal. 



Dear Sir: Your letter of the 6th inst.. in reply to ours of the 4th, which was 

 accompanied by petition from deciduous fruit growers and shippers north of the 

 Tehachapi, received. 



In this reply you say : "I assure you that I will be pleased to hear from you at 

 any time on the subject that interests the growers and want you to understand 

 that we are inclined to do anything reasonable to further your interests so far as 

 we can consistently do so." 



You also say : "It goes without saying that our interests are mutual and that 

 this company will not place any impediment in the way of developing and increasing 

 the deciduous fruit business, but you must not forget that we are not free agents 

 in establishing rates over territory beyond our own lines.*' 



We are pleased with these statements, for we believe they were made in all sin- 

 cerity. These assurances give us faith that we will get the reduction in the freight 

 rate asked for in our petition. 



We also believe that when we give you additional facts, facts that can not be 

 successfully disputed from any standpoint, you will realize the absolute necessity of 

 your cooperation with the growers and shippers, in every way possible, in their 

 efforts to broaden the area of distribution, and thus increase consumption to a degree 

 that will keep pace with the rapidly increasing production. 



We wholly agree with you when you say : "It goes without saying that our inter- 

 ests are mutual," and we wish to impress upon your mind and upon the minds of 

 all other railroad officials that have any interests in deciduous fruit shipments from 

 California that anything we say in advocacy of the granting of the prayer of our 

 petition is said in the true spirit of friendly feeling, void of any prejudices of any 

 nature or kind whatever. 



You say, in substance, that the greater portion of the orange shipments are 

 made without refrigeration, which, when reduced to its lowest denominator, means 

 that the railroads lose the profits made on shipments under refrigeration. In other 

 words, shipments made without refrigeration do not bring so much profit to the roads 

 as do the shipments under refrigeration. 



Therefore, it follows that the railroads receive more profit from deciduous ship- 

 ments than they do from orange shipments made without refrigeration. 



Again, you carry orange shipments from south of Tehachapi to New York over 

 your road, which is practically one sixth longer haul than is the deciduous haul, 

 at a freight rate that costs the growers $72 less per car than it costs the decidu- 

 ous growers per car for shipments made from the Sacramento Valley to the same 

 destination. 



In order to show how heavily handicapped the deciduous growers are, to the ><72 

 above mentioned must be added $97.50 for refrigeration on their shipments to New 

 York from all stations outside of Sacramento City and Placer County, in the Sac- 

 ramento Valley. 



This makes a total additional cost to the deciduous growers of $169.50 per car. 

 which is practically 50 per cent higher rate than it costs for orange shipments. 



If the same rate per mile were charged the orange growers south of the Tehachapi 

 to Chicago, which is practically a 20 per cent longer haul, it would cost the orange 

 growers about $55 per car more for freight, to which add $85 per car refrigeration 

 charges on deciduous shipments from all points outside Sacramento City and Placer 



