PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 159 



The Board of Trade of this town went to quite a bit of expense in having 

 those surveys put in vials or long glass tubes, setting forth the various 

 localities, what it is composed of, where it was taken from and what its 

 value was. It seems to me that as little as this convention could do would 

 be to hold up the hands of the Government in this very thing that we 

 propose in this resolution. If we want to show the people what we have 

 got and we are honest about it, there is nobody going to make any objec- 

 tions. But if you have got any hardpan down west of Fresno, 12 or 14 

 miles, all covered with alkali, and sell that to people back East until 

 taxes carry them out, that is all right. If you go up near Centerville 

 and find it is a bog during the wet season, you don't want to get a lot of 

 people in there. It would turn out just exactly as Mr. Hoffman 's colony 

 did at Merced. We have a man in our county now, a lawyer, that spent 

 something like $35,000 or $40,000 on his own place before he got there. 

 There was something like two hundred families from Holland that sent 

 their money on and had their houses built and they came out here and 

 they got the water on, and the third year they had to pull up every tree; 

 and lots of those people, all they had on earth was sunk in that hardpan 

 spot ; and I only know of one man, Mr. A. R. Curry, they crowded him 

 off on to a sandy spot and he put it out to olives and has made good. 

 There isn't anything in the State of California that damages us to-day 

 as much as this grafting proposition on poor land. I am in favor of the 

 resolution as read. 



The motion to adopt the resolution was carried. 



Resolution Regarding Parcels Post. 



Whereas, The California Fruit Growers' Convention has been working for five years to 

 secure for American citizens the advantages of modern civilization in the way of a parcels post; 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved, That this convention appoint Edward Berwick of Monterey, John S. Dore of 

 Fresno, and G. B. Messenger of Los Angeles, a committee and authorize these to compile from 

 the Congressional Record the action of every senator and representative from California, upon 

 any phase of the parcels post which may come before Congress, and supply the same to the 

 press of the State. 



Resolution as to Committee ox Parcels Post. 



Whereas, The future prosperity and very existence of California horticulture depends on 

 transportation facilities ; and 



Whereas, One most valuable transportation agency, the parcels post, which in other lands 

 brings producer and consumer together, is here, by reason of prohibitive rates rendered useless ; 

 be it 



Resolved, That this convention of California horticulturists assembled at Watsonville this 

 8th day of December, 1909, hereby requests the senators and congressmen who represent the 

 Pacific coast states at Washington, to pass such measures as shall permit the Postmaster Gen- 

 eral to grant the American people such parcels post rates as are current in Germany, Great 

 Britain. Japan, and other civilized lands; 



Resolved, further, That our Secretary be instructed to send copies of these resolutions to 

 our representatives in congress and also to President Taft and Postmaster General Hitchcock. 



Resolution as to Postal Savings Banks. 



Whereas, Our monetary system is inadequate to put into general circulation sufficient to 

 meet emergencies arising from the movement of crops, or money stringency caused by financial 

 institutions that have practical control of issue; 



Whereas, Other progressive countries have found the system of postal savings banks to 

 cover many of our financial ills; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That we, the Fruit Growers' Convention assembled, most earnestly urge congress 

 to pass such laws that will bring about such postal savings banks. 



Resolution Endorsing Report on Freight. 



Resolved, That the able and exhaustive report of our Committee on Freight Rates shows 

 valuable data and a vast amount of labor performed, we hereby endorse that portion of their 

 claim for a reduction of a freight rate bringing deciduous fruits on a par with the orange rate. 

 We justify their demand for a postage stamp rate of $1.15 per hundred pounds, but later experi- 

 ence and computations with present labor conditions shows us that a rate of $1.15 for the past 

 season would have been too high to encourage any further development in the fruit industry. 

 Therefore, we hereby instruct our Committee on Freight Rates to press the matter through all 

 legitimate channels for a postage stamp rate of $1, thus placing all deciduous fruits on a par 

 with the lemon and apple growers of the coast. This rate only will satisfy the fruit interests 

 and offer encouragement to prospective growers. 



