THIRTY-THIRD BlENNIAD SESSION 
243 
. ' ■ " r|' M 1 i ! ' 
You may take up the question of marketing at this time — the practice 
of the railroads along this line and what we ought to have. Mr. Dean, how 
do you get your stuff to market? 
Mr. Dean: Mr. Chairman, of course over the Northwest we have to 
take extra care of our fruit to get it into the markets in proper condition; 
and it is handled principally through co-operative organizations — the great 
bulk of the crop. One of the great questions in the Northwest is the dispo- 
sition of the cull fruit, owing to the fact that the freight rajtes on the 
canned product, evaporated and preserved, almost make it prohibitive to 
put those articles into the centers of consumption. 
The freight rate is the great item to contend with in the West and the 
Northwest, but by continual work, organization and systematic operation 
the freight rates are being reduced, which makes it possible for the 
products to be placed on the market and makes it a matter of economy in 
the handling of the orchards. I believe that the solution of the marketing 
of the fruit crop of the United States, from the strawberry to the apple and 
the orange and the lemon, lies in a thorough co-operation of all the interests 
in the entire country. We want to get just exactly what the speaker men- 
tioned, more publicity, a better distribution of information, a better knowl- 
edge among the people as to what they should put upon the market in the 
way of fruits in their season and fruits from certain localities; and the great 
question to my mind along these lines is better publicity; more information 
among the fruit growers of the whole country. 
President Goodman: Mr. Kirkpatrick of Texas, what do you do in 
marketing your products? 
Mr. Kirkpatrick: Well Mr. President, we in Texas have a very different 
experience from that of you people in other states. We sometimes find 
when we attempt to put the crop of too large an acreage on the market, 
an extra big crop, that we lose our product, lose our labor, and have to send 
checks along to pay the freight. Sometimes we produce what is called a 
“short” crop, and we find we can get much more money out of a short crop 
of all kinds than we can out of a full crop. Looks like there is some secret 
voice, that in some place and in some way whispers stories of our crops, 
not only in Texas but in other states; and when there is a report that there 
is a great crop coming, that unknown secret, silent voice, whispers that 
prices are going to be low, very low — and they are low. On the other 
hand, when there is a shortage that silent-speaking voice is very quiet; its 
report does not appear on the printed page; we do not see it on the market 
place; but if there is actually a shortage the prices appear without the 
voice, and the prices are high. And we can sell a fruit crop of two thousand 
cars in a given district for more money than we can sell four thousand cars 
in the same district under the other state of affairs. And that condition, 
applies not only to the fruit crops, but to the cotton crop as well. The 
three million bale cotton crop in our state will bring us much more money 
than a five million bale crop. That has been the history of the cotton busi- 
ness, and it is also true of the fruit business. 
