60 



OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



pounds. The production rapidly increased each year thereafter until 

 nine years later, or in 1894, the output was 103,000,000 pounds. During 

 this period, which was one of great prosperity in the United States, the 

 demand was in excess of the supply, except in 1894, and the raisins 

 were sold f. o. b. shipping points at steadily advancing prices. The 

 panic of 1893, and the excessive crop of 1894, together with the 

 dishonest and suicidal practices of some packers in filling orders with 

 raisias of a quality much inferior to the grades indicated by the box 

 marks, brought about a total change in the methods of marketing the 

 crop. Thereafter the dealers in the East refused to pay for raisins 

 except after arrival and upon examination; and as the demand was 

 very much reduced by this change, and the crop of 1894 was much in 

 excess of previous years, the growers were obliged to ship the raisins 

 East on consignment. I think we have all learned the bitter lesson of 

 the consignment system, and I need say no more on this point than 

 that, with nearly every crop in the hands of a separate broker — for 

 there were almost as many agents selling the crops as there were 

 growers — each grower's crop was used against every other grower's crop 

 to beat down the price and ruin the market. The logical result of all 

 this was that when the commissions, freight, packing, and other charges 

 were paid, the grower not only had nothing left for his labor, but was 

 actually out of pocket on the year's transaction. In fact, raisins 

 dropped to $18 per ton in Fresno in 1897, and the farmers found it 

 cheaper to use them, and did so use them, as a substitute for barley in 

 feeding their work horses. As a further result of this condition great 

 areas of raisin vineyards throughout the State were uprooted, and in 

 Fresno County alone the Assessor's books show a reduction in acreage 

 in two years of 16,000 acres, representing a loss to the growers in labor 

 and material of at least $100 per acre, or $1,600,000. Of course, this 

 meant widespread ruin to the raisin-growers, and hundreds of mortgages 

 were foreclosed, and the farmer and his family turned adrift to compete 

 in an already overcrowded labor market, tramping about the State in 

 search of a day's work. 



You will naturally ask, was nothing attempted to put a check upon 

 this condition of things? I answer, yes. For three years efforts were 

 made to organize the growers, but without success. I regret to say that 

 farmers as a class are somewhat inclined to an excess of suspicion at 

 the wrong time, and to an absence of it at the right time. It is also 

 unfortunate that in large business affairs they appear to be lacking in 

 masterful business ability and broad views, which are so necessary and 

 are so conspicuous in the many large undertakings in commercial life. 

 It requires great patience and greater perseverance to win their confi- 

 dence, but when they secure men of ability, and of unswerving integrity, 

 as leaders, they can be depended upon to fall into line and stay there, 

 however fierce the battle may rage. 



