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OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



lator knows more about the market than you do — and I am not charg- 

 ing any one with ignorance — for under the system by which you do 

 your business through the speculative houses they are the only ones 

 who know the markets, and you are shut out. I think that the grower 

 should get his fruit to the market by the shortest route possible, and 

 through organization he will know as much about the market as any 

 one else at all times. In our office we issue bulletins about the ship- 

 ments and prices of fruits, which we hand to our members. When the 

 fruit is in the car we take it, and the local people have nothing more to 

 do with it until the fruit is marketed and the people get their money. 

 At our office we issue this bulletin daily, giving them all the informa- 

 tion concerning the market for the day, also all telegrams ; so the people 

 are advised very reliably. As a result, I can say, without being 

 immodest at all, that the Southern California Fruit Exchange is the 

 best known orange shipper in the world to-day. We are better known 

 in the markets and more generally known to the whole people, because 

 we do a great deal more business than any one else, and our brands are 

 better known all over the world than those of any one else. We have 

 come squarely in contact with the trade itself. 



Prof. CHILDS. The difficulty with us here is in regard to the 

 money. Regarding this prune contract, the growers want to know T how 

 they will get their money? 



Mr. NAFTZGER. We have been so prosperous down south that we 

 have got plenty of money. It was necessary at one time to draw 

 money to make provision for those who needed it in advance, and this 

 we did. We had an arrangement among the bankers by which an 

 order could be given by the grower. The grower issued an order on the 

 association into which he had put his fruit, to pay to the bank the pro- 

 ceeds of his crop up to a certain sum. The association wrote its 

 acceptance on that order, and the bank took it as collateral. The banks 

 would not do that when the trees were in bloom or half-grown. It is a 

 doubtful proposition in my mind to make it too easy for men to borrow 

 money. [Applause.] I think it is a good thing for the producer to 

 keep out of debt as much as possible. Until your crop is matured it is 

 pretty difficult to make it a basis for money unless you give it up to a 

 speculator, and if you do it you are liable to be always in the hands of 

 the speculator. 



QUESTION. Are you incorporated under the cooperative principle, 

 or a joint-stock corporation? 



Mr. NAFTZGER. Just a simple corporation without capital. The 

 Southern California Fruit Exchange is organized under the corporate 

 laws of California without capital. We do not need money. We have 

 an exchange in every county. Those local exchanges are incorporated, 

 and then enter their local associations made up of one, two, or three 



