TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 65 



Before leaving this subject I desire to emphasize the fact that dealers 

 do not so much desire low prices as they do that they be guaranteed 

 against a fall in prices after they have bought. I have been told 

 repeatedly by influential dealers that they would not object to an 

 advance of a cent or two cents a pound in raisins if we would support 

 the market for them, and we therefore make our guaranty of prices a 

 leading feature of our price lists. I wish also to say that I have by 

 experience learned this fact: that it is not a low price in itself that will 

 make a market for our products, but much more than that it is the good 

 will and active assistance of the trade that will secure customers for 

 you. As an illustration I may say that our crop of raisins in 1897 was 

 3,250 carloads, and being without organization our prices dropped until 

 in December unpacked raisins could not be sold at 1 cent per pound and 

 we had to carry over 1,000 carloads into the following season. In 1898 

 our crop was 3,500 carloads, but with organization we put up the price 

 of unpacked raisins to 3 cents per pound, and sold the whole crop — 

 together with the 1,000 cars carried over. 



This year the crop is estimated at 2,700 carloads of ten tons each, 

 and with organization we have raised the price of unpacked raisins 

 from last year's figure of 3 cents to within a fraction of 5 cents a pound, 

 or in two years from 1 cent to nearly 5 cents. At this price there have 

 already been shipped out and paid for 2,200 carloads; 150 cars of the 

 remainder are sold on time orders, and the remaining 350 cars are 

 under contract of sale and will be paid for by January 15th next, thus 

 closing up the growers' business on a cash basis within four months 

 from the beginning of harvest, and for the first time in the history of 

 the industry. 



Mainly as a result of this success the savings banks report that the 

 growers are rapidly paying off their mortgages; traveling men say that 

 Fresno, the center of the raisin district, is one of the most active busi- 

 ness places in the State, and real estate agents say that the value of 

 Fresno town property has increased fifty per cent within two years, 

 with free sales, and that vineyards which two years ago could not be 

 sold for $100 to $150 per acre, now find willing purchasers at $250 to 

 $375 per acre. 



I can assure you that the raisin-growers, almost to a man, are now 

 firmly convinced that their salvation is in combination. With com- 

 bination we are able to put into practice the lesson Californians have 

 been taught, to "charge all the traffic will bear." With combination 

 we can guarantee to the dealer that if he buys our product, he shall 

 not lose, for we will hold up the market for him at all hazards. In 

 this is the keynote of our success. With combination every grower is 

 assured that he will get the average price of the season for his crop, 

 and where is the grower who would not be willing to sell on these 

 5 — BH 



