220 



THE FRUIT EXCHANGES. 



against which some of the members were disposed to 

 rebel. ' 



' ' In this dilemma, the Board of Directors, at a meet- 

 ing on February 4th, 1880, appointed a committee to 

 revise the By-Laws, with the hope that some method 

 might be devised, and incorporated in the laws, by 

 which money to meet expenses might be more certainly 

 collected than by the former mode of assessment on 

 members. This committee did its work faithfully, and 

 a transcript of the secretary's minutes for April 7th, 

 1880, reads thus : ' After considerable discussion, a 

 series of resolutions, prepared in the main by Captain 

 A. Somerby, to enable the Union to pay its own expenses 

 by a percentage on sales of commission merchants, were 

 read, and unanimously recommended by the board. ' At 

 a meeting of the members of the Union, at Oakdale 

 school house, April 17th, 1880, these by-laws were 



order and regularity, in place of confusion and difficulty. 

 Records were kept. Constant communication was sus- 

 tained with the companies carrying out fruit, and with 

 the merchants who sold it. Daily dispatches were sent 

 and received, and a system was arranged to publish and 

 send to our members, daily, the prices obtained for fruit 

 in the various cities. Sufficient help was employed to 

 load cars more rapidly, and carefully to separate our 

 returned crates. And many details, which cannot here 

 be enumerated, were faithfully attended to, and greatly 

 facilitated our business. 



'' The work of the agent was increased, and the records 

 of the shipping department were of great assistance to 

 him in providing and settling claims ; and all claims for 

 losses have been adjusted with less friction and in a 

 more satisfactory manner than ever before. 



' ' P'rom this time, so confident were our leading mem- 



FiG. 2. Whole-Rooted (Budded) Trees. (See page 218.) 



adopted. That was a memorable meeting in our his- 

 tory ! For on that night the Union stepped out firmly 

 and confidently on the road to independence and pros- 

 perity. 



" One year of trial, under these laws, without a dollar 

 of assessment on any member, gave us the following 

 figures: Total income, 1:1,002.45 ; expenses, $711.19; 

 balance, $291.27. And one item of the expenses was 

 this, ' note and interest, f62.40.' Gentlemen, the debt 

 was paid ! The obnoxious assessment was abandoned ! 

 The financial problem was solved ; and from that date 

 there was good reason for belief that our future pros- 

 perity was assured. Nor was this all. For having the 

 capital with which to do something, something was done. 

 A shipping department was organized, and the committee 

 having it in charge were instructed to spare no pains to 

 make its work effective ; and for the first time there was 



bers that we were firmly established, so impressed were 

 they with the belief that the Union should now move 

 forward upon a field of greater usefulness to its mem- 

 bers, that an agitation was begun in favor of purchasing 

 fertilizers, etc., and in a small way this was attempted. 

 It was a success so far as it went, but the chief value of 

 the experiment was found in the education it gave us as 

 to the possibility of future co-operation in this direction ; 

 and the importance of this view was actively canvassed, 

 and was especially championed, by one of our oldest 

 members, L. Montfort, who at an annual meeting, a 

 year before we were prepared to move, introduced and 

 explained the law under which we are now organized. 

 The result of this discussion was, that after much pre- 

 liminary work on the part of the board of directors, a 

 plan of organization was perfected, and submitted to the 

 members at a meeting called for that purpose at the 



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