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OFFICIAL EEPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



terms, and thus be relieved of the worry and anxiety of trying to 

 determine when he ought to sell? 



This is an era of trusts and combinations. The principle is sound 

 and it is here to stay. By combination great economies are secured 

 and the cost of producing and transferring commodities from the pro- 

 ducer to the consumer is greatly lessened. To the fruit-growers of 

 California this principle will prove of untold value in the future. We 

 have in this great State the garden spot of the world, where fruits of 

 every kind can be grown to perfection and in the greatest profusion. 

 Our sole aim from now on should be to apply this principle of com- 

 bination in all our affairs, so as to secure the greatest economy in pro- 

 duction and in placing our products on the markets of the world, while 

 at the same time supplying fruit of the highest quality, put up in 

 attractive packages and packed with absolute honesty. We may then 

 hope that in addition to our splendid home market we will, with the 

 opening of the Nicaragua Canal, be called upon to send out hundreds 

 of shiploads of fruit, and reach countless millions of people whose 

 demands will in time require the products of fifty acres of orchard and 

 vineyard for each acre now in bearing in California. Let us not, 

 therefore, as producers seek to destroy the principle of combination, 

 but rather let us use that principle to enhance the value of our own 

 products, so that we can afford to pay an enhanced price for what we 

 buy and have a margin left with which to improve and extend our 

 industries. This, I am convinced, is the line of least resistance and 

 the one that will yield the best results. We should, however, advocate 

 and recommend to our lawmakers a wise control and supervision of 

 trusts and combinations, to the end that we may preserve to our use 

 all the advantages of combination, and at the same time protect the 

 people from the gross abuse of the principle. I thank you for the 

 patience with which you have listened to me. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. NAFTZGER. There is one point upon which I would like Mr. 

 Kearney to say something more. He has pointed out to us in his address, 

 in a very strong and clear manner, the advantages of organization and 

 every point of it. Every statement in that address has my unqualified 

 approval, after seven or eight years' experience in efforts toward cooper- 

 ation. He has pointed out the dangers and evils in having those 

 extralogical features in it; that is, the element of the speculator. I 

 am after the speculator — that is, to get him out where he belongs. His 

 primary interests are to destroy or prevent the organization. I do not 

 want to take him into the house when we do not think he is a useful 

 member of society. I do not want to take him into the house and 



