64 



OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



of the new year I appealed to the growers to arrange to do their own 

 packing and selling independently of the packers, but without avail, 

 there being a large minority who feared to venture. A new contract 

 with the packers was therefore entered into, under which we have worked 

 this season, which was more stringent than the previous one and which 

 provided that at the beginning of the season we would distribute the 

 crop among the various packers at our discretion by an allotment, and 

 each packer was required to agree to buy and pay for, on or before Jan- 

 uary 15th next, at prices to be fixed by us, all of the raisins ailoted to 

 him; all raisins to be paid for in cash before shipment. On these terms 

 one hundred and seventeen per cent of the whole crop, no matter what 

 the quantity might prove to be, was applied for. In other words, seven- 

 teen per cent more than the whole was asked for, and we were obliged to 

 scale down their applications. This it would seem should be entirely 

 satisfactory to the growers, but the fault I find with it is that it stimulates 

 a fierce rivalry among the packers both to secure raisins from the growers 

 and to sell them, and although they are under heavy penalties, the forfeit 

 money being in our hands, not to offer inducements to growers nor to 

 share commissions with buyers, both are being done and to the extreme 

 dissatisfaction of those who honorably live up to their engagements, and 

 it is done in such a way that it is . simply impossible to prove a case 

 against the delinquent. I feel all the while as if we are camped on 

 the top of a volcano and that an eruption is imminent at any moment. 



Another evil in this state of affairs is that the trade in the East is in 

 a continual state of unrest, each dealer fearing that his neighbor is 

 getting the advantage of him in price by this underhanded giving away 

 of a portion or the whole of the packer's commission. I believe it 

 would be very greatly to the interest of the growers if this business of 

 distribution were carried on in such a way that every dealer would be 

 absolutely certain that his competitors could have no advantage in price 

 over him. With this assurance the product would be received with 

 favor and the sale of it fostered and promoted to the fullest extent of 

 the enormous possibilities within the power of the jobbers and whole- 

 sale dealers of groceries. With this end in view I shall this winter seek 

 to bring into one organization all the raisin packing houses and seeding 

 plants; and to make the bond of interest stronger between the packers 

 and the growers I shall advocate the purchase by the Growers' Associa- 

 tion of one half the stock of the Packers' Association. The profit to 

 the packers coming to them in dividends on the stock, there will be no 

 temptation for any one of them to cut commissions or in any other 

 manner violate the rules of the association, and as a result I shall 

 confidently expect at home, peace and greatly increased profits for the 

 packers, and throughout the East a general feeling of satisfaction in the 

 trade. 



