TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 61 



To form an organization that will win the confidence of the fruit- 

 growers and command success it is essential — 



First — That capable men shall be selected as its officers. And let me 

 say at this point that growers should not commit the fatal error of 

 refusing to pay sufficiently high salaries to secure competent men. The 

 services of able business men are wanted by shrewd men everywhere, 

 and as these services command high salaries, or as such men can use 

 their time with large profit in their own affairs, it is useless to expect to 

 secure them at a low price. Suppose the Raisin-Growers' Association 

 had been obliged to pay their five active directors $5,000 a year each, or 

 $25,000 in all, the investment would, it appears to me, have been a good 

 one, for in the little side issue of selling the surplus grapes to the 

 wineries these directors, by their firmness and business judgment, broke 

 up an understanding among the winery companies and compelled them 

 to advance their prices for grapes $3 per ton, or equal to $100,000 on the 

 crops purchased this season. Again, in naming prices for this year's 

 crop of raisins, the directors first made careful investigation of the con- 

 ditions of the market, both in the United States and abroad, and 

 advanced the prices over last year's more than 1-J cents per pound, or 

 equal to an increased profit to the growers on this year's crop of $780,000. 

 If we should figure on the basis of what raisins would probably have 

 brought without the aid of the association, the increased returns would 

 amount to at least a million and a half of dollars. It should, of course, 

 be understood that high salaries should only be paid to those who can 

 furnish ample proof, in what they have previously accomplished, of their 

 ability to earn them. 



Second — Having secured the right men to manage the business, at 

 least seventy-five per cent of the whole crop of the State or Coast should 

 be placed under the absolute control of the directors to be packed and 

 sold. Grades should be established under which the fruit is to be packed 

 and sold, and these grades should be rigidly maintained without fear or 

 favor. The greatest care should be exercised in sending out the fruit in 

 attractive packages suited to the varying requirements of the different 

 markets, and every parcel should be packed with absolute honesty and 

 uniformity. All packages should have on them the brand of the 

 association, in addition to that of the packer, so that the trade shall 

 come to rely upon the association's trademark as a guaranty of quality. 

 One of the most serious obstacles in the way of development of markets 

 for fruit is in the shortsighted and dishonest practice of some shippers 

 and farmers in placing choice fruit on top and poor or worthless stuff 

 in the middle, thus greatly exasperating the buyer. The only hope for 

 a remedy for this evil is in association, which takes the packing out 

 of the hands of the individual. I have said that seventy-five per cent 

 of the crop of the State or Coast should be secured. In my judgment it 



