41 



scarcely a restraint or check upon their actions except such as may 

 be dictated by poHcy or their own conscience. It is little wonder then 

 that selfish and dishonest men enter this field of business to the con- 

 stant annoyance of decent men and that such suspicion as may be en- 

 gendered by rascality will often attach to the best firms in the same 

 line of business. Good, strong, honest firms may be found in most 

 all cities by inquiry in the proper channels. Let the best be selected 

 for patronage, and then make them your partners. 



This is an age of co-operation. Competition has been so sharp 

 and the desire for increased profits is so great that we find nearly 

 every class of business well organized for mutual profit. The world 

 never saw such combinations of capital as have lately been formed, 

 under what we are pleased to call the "trust" system. In some 

 lines of business competition had destroyed profits and a combination 

 was necessary to cheapen the cost of production or increase the sell- 

 ing price of their products, or both. 



Let us look at the horticultural situation and see if our present 

 methods are not in need of improvement. As a result of careful in- 

 vestigation, I am, convinced that a bushel of peaches for which the 

 consumer pays $1.50, does not net the average Michigan grower over 

 fifty cents ! This means that the grower pays twice as much for 

 getting his fruit to the consumer as he receives for his own labor in 

 producing that fruit. Is such a condition fair? What ordinary busi- 

 ness is there which will stand such a constant drain and profitably 

 exist? 



These facts are probably well knowm to you all, so that it is very 

 simple to diagnose the disease from which our business suffers. 

 What is the remedy? There's the rub. The threadbare saying, "In 

 union there is strength," has become an axiom, but these abstract 

 propositions are not enough to solve the problem. We want to 

 know how to apply the remedy to the disease, so as to get practical 

 results. I know of no better way of showing how co-operation can 

 help us than by telling you of some ways in which it has aided us 

 in the fruit belt of western Allegan County. 



One of the first drawbacks that we had to contend with in the 

 Michigan fruit belt was the cost of transportation. The location of 

 our orchards is such that we can patronize either the railroad or the 

 boat lines, but there has been no competition between them. An ex- 

 press company operated over the fruit train for about fourteen years, 

 furnishing very poor service and stubbornly maintaining a six-and- 

 one-half-cent rate on small baskets to Chicago. We had no organ- 

 ization, and the efforts of individuals to get better or cheaper service 

 were of no effect. 



The season of 1888 brought such low prices for fruit that it was 

 evident that something must be done, and co-operation was resorted 

 to. The Fennville Fruit Shippers' Association was organized in 

 1891 and the "Granger System" of shipping fruit was adopted. The 

 success of our association under this plan has been wonderful. We 

 have a local agent of the association who receipts for and loads the 

 fruit into ventilated cars, holding about 2,500 small baskets each, for 

 which he receives $2.50 per car. A special fast fruit train starts 

 from Fennville at six o'clock every evening, Saturdays excepted, for 

 Chicago. The cars are all billed to our Chicago consignee, who does 



