THE FRUIT EXCHANGES. 



149 



ORGANIZATION Ix\ MISSOURI. 



The Southwest Missouri Fruit Growers' Association is 

 essentially a fruit exchange. Its handling of strawber- 

 ries alone for i8go was thirty-nine car loads, comprising 

 452,592 quart boxes. The average price for the season 

 was sixty-six and a-half cents net per crate of twenty- 

 four quarts. The association comprises a number of 

 local organizations, each of which has certain powers. 

 The essential features of the organization are as follows : 



"The annual membership fee shall be one dollar a 

 year, payable to the treasurer of the association, to be 

 paid at time of enrollment. 



' ' The executive committee shall procure best and most 

 satisfactory rates and prices on box and crate material 

 for the members of this association, and make such rates 

 known only to, and for the benefit of the members. They 

 shall procure refrigerator cars where practicable, se- 

 cure express and railroad rates, to all points likely to be 

 used by the association. Arrange for one or more com- 

 mission merchants or agents at each place where fruit 

 is to be shipped, report upon their commercial standing, 

 reliability, and make such recommendations as to each 

 as in their judgment, after investigation, is best for the 

 shippers. 



" There shall be a central office provided at some con- 

 venient place in the district, from which a complete su- 

 pervision of the business of the associatien will be had, 

 and records of the business done by the association kept, 

 and collated for the information of the members, and an 

 annual report made of each year's business, and filed at 

 the succeeding regular meeting of the association. 



' ' The trade mark of this association shall be that adop- 

 ted in 1890, and shall not be used on any crates of ber- 

 ries or fruit not first-class, sound and merchantable, 

 under penalty of a forfeiture of membership ; and mem- 

 bers so expelled shall be published, and all persons in- 

 terested, notified of such expulsion. Any person now 

 in possession of a trade mark — star and crescent — of the 

 South-west Fruit Growers' Association, forfeiting their 

 membership, will be requested to surrender their trade 

 mark to secretary, and receipt taken therefor ; and if 

 such trade mark be not surrendered, the number of same 

 and the name of the person to whom issued shall be 

 posted as above ; that the interest of the association 

 may be protected, local societies shall determine each 

 violation. 



"At each shipping station a local organization must be 

 maintained and officers elected, whose duty it will be to 

 cooperate with the executive committee in all matters 

 pertaining to their interests, especially during the ship- 

 ping season. 



' ' For the purpose of maintaining an agent at each place 

 where fruit is shipped a tax of two cents per crate is 

 hereby levied upon all crates shipped, to be deducted by 

 selling agent, who shall remit such amount on account 

 sales rendered, and make report of same to executive 

 committee. Such agent shall receive the cars, attend to 

 the unloading and delivering, check same and make daily 

 reports to each shipper what his fruit has sold for and 



the condition of same when received, and perform all 

 other duties the executive committee may desire relative 

 to the business of the association. 



"Each local society or persons desiring refrigerator 

 cars for daily shipments shall make satisfactory assur- 

 ance to the executive committee that such cars will be 

 used, when ordered by the committee, or its agent, at 

 central office, and report daily to central office its de- 

 mands for cars, and the officers of the local societies 

 shall see that the trade mark of this association is used 

 only as provided. 



' ' The commission men named or recommended by the 

 executive committee, it is understood, are to be employed 

 on terms of last year, rebating two per cent, of their 

 commissions to the treasurer of the association for the 

 maintenance of the expense of this association." — Front 

 correspondciiic 'luUIi y. J/. AVVi', Sc'cre/aiy. 



A MICHIGAN EXPERIENCE. 



The Other Side, — A few men who saw very plainly 

 that the fruit-growers here were sadly in need of an or- 

 ganization that could elevate the standard of wor); and 

 facilitate sales, met and discussed the matter, and finally 

 organized the Michigan Fruit Exchange. About fifty 

 growers subscribed to the articles, which were certainly 

 strong enough, and based on good busine.ss principles 

 except, perhaps, that there was no provision for actual 

 inspection. Yet there was an inspector appointed who 

 was to receive a salary, his duty being to distribute a 

 certain stamp, which was to be pasted oh the package, 

 guaranteeing the uniform quality of the package, and 

 requesting the buyer to report to the inspector any fraud 

 detected under the brand of the exchange. One of the 

 provisions was that each shipper should put his name on 

 each stamped package. The whole scheme was based 

 on the theory that fifty or more men would be strictly 

 honest because they had signed articles to that effect, 

 and that no supervision was needed, uin/ iliat luas l/w 

 roc'/c on 'oliich the organization rcas rcviY/vi/. 



One of the first acts of the organization was to decide 

 on the size of package to be used, and a meeting was 

 called and the manufacturers were invited to attend. 

 The members agreed unanimously to use nothing but 

 full standard packages. The manufacturers, with a 

 confidence which their past experience did not warrant, 

 did make up several thousand crates for the strawberry 

 crop, containing full quarts of exactly the dimensions 

 adopted and pledged for over the signatures of forty-five 

 good men. But, alas ! when strawberries ripened, forty 

 good men drove up and fearlessly called for the smallest 

 "snide" package they could get. and only five called 

 for the package they had agreed to use ; and the next 

 season only two or three growers among more than a 

 thousand located here used a full quart package. It 

 took the manufacturers three years to work off the pack- 

 ages which they expected would be taken in a week. 

 These same good men then packed these crates just as 

 they had formerly practiced, with all grades of fruit, 

 and put the stamp of the " Michigan Fruit Exchange " 



