The  Needs  of  Eastern  Fruit  Growers 
Co-operate  or  be  Left  Behind 
Part  I. 
[At  the  Farmers’  Congress  held  in  Loekport,  N.  Y., 
on  June  1,  Mr.  Seth  J.  T.  Bush,  manager  of  the  East¬ 
ern  Fruit  and  Produce  Exchange,  delivered  a  strong  ad¬ 
dress  on  the  need  of  cooperative  organization.  It  is 
too  long  for  us  to  print  in  full,  and  parts  of  it  were 
of  necessity  of  local  application.  We  give  parts  of  this 
address  which  may  well  apply  to  all  Eastern  fruit 
growers.] 
I’RPOSE  OF  ORGANIZATION,—' The  Eastern 
Exchange  was  organized  to  perform  real  ser¬ 
vice  for  New  York  growers — not  to  perform  mir- 
at  their  direct  expense,  but  by  the  growers  of  the 
West,  Northwest  and  South  at  our  indirect  expense. 
Confidence  is  the  foundation  of  all  successful  busi¬ 
ness.  The  consumer  pays  with  a  standard  dollar 
and  is  entitled  to  a  standard  package.  There  is  a 
great  deal  to  this  marketing  problem  that  the  aver¬ 
age  producer,  who  has  been  in  the  habit  of  taking 
his  load  of  fruit  to  the  nearest  ’railroad  station 
and  exchanging  it  for  a  scrap  of  paper,  which  later 
cn  he  has  redeemed,  according  to  its  terms,  hv  the 
nan  whose  name  is  signed  to  it,  does  not  think  of 
or  understand.  The  man  who  puts  his  whole  time, 
thought  and  energy  into  the  production  of  a  crop, 
least  one  man’s  work,  and  he  ought  to  have  sense 
enough  to  see  that  the  sale  and  distribution  of  his 
products  is  another  man’s  work,  and  should  he  han¬ 
dled  only  by  men  who  are  experts  in  that  particular 
business.  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the 
auction  system  of  celling  New  York  State  products 
lately.  Tlie  Eastern  Exchange  is  now  and  always 
has  been  prepared  to  supply  this  service  to  its  ship¬ 
pers,  not  only  at  New  York,  but  iu  all  of  the  other 
auction  markets  throughout  the  country,  and  with 
the  service  we  furnish  goes  the  personal  supervision 
of  our  own  representatives,  who  are  on  the  job  to 
protect  our  shippers  in  every  possible  way,  who  are 
Making  Hay  While  the  Sun  Shines.  Fig.  418 
acles.  No  organization  will  ever  be  able  to  got 
fancy  prices  for  poorly  grown,  poorly  graded  and 
poorly  packed  fruits  and  vegetables,  or  to  prevent 
rejection  and  trouble  over  cars  containing  a  goodly 
percentage  of  fruit  of  a  grade  below  that  specified 
in  an  f.o.h.  order.  Our  marketing  problem  can  never 
be  successfully  solved  until  we  have  brought  pro¬ 
duction  to  the  highest  standard  and  have  properly 
prepared  our  product  for  the  market.  No  sales  agency 
can  ever  overcome  or  correct  the  mistakes  and 
neglect  of  the  producer.  The  consumer  is  the  court 
of  last  resort,  he  must  be  satisfied.  The  consumer 
is  being  educated,  not  by  the  growers  of  New  York 
has  no  time  to  study  market  conditions  and  trans¬ 
portation  and  distribution  problems.  The  selling  of 
fruit  is  a  specialized  industry  and  should  be  han¬ 
dled  by  experts.  We  are  really  manufacturers — 
manufacturers  of  the  world’s  food  supply,  but  unlike 
all  other  manufacturers  we  have  been  blundering 
along  blindly  without  giving  any  thought  to  effi¬ 
ciency. 
METHODS  OF  SELLING.— The  man  who  plans 
his  crops,  plants,  tills,  fertilizes,  sprays,  prunes, 
thins,  harvests  and  prepares  them  for  market,  at 
the  same  time  running  the  gauntlet  of  germs,  para¬ 
sites  and  adverse  climatic  conditions,  has  done  at 
in  a  position  to  withdraw  the  car  from  the  sale  if  it 
is  not  bringing  a  proper  price  and  handle  it  at  pri¬ 
vate*  sale,  or  offer  it  again  later  on  at  auction.  To 
anyone  possessed  of  a  vision  of  the  necessities  and 
possibilities  of  the  future,  as  regards  the  great  fruit 
industry  of  this  State,  the  present  indifference  and 
complacent,  disregard  of  consequences  by  New  York 
growers  is  not  only  pitiful — it  is  criminal.  For  no 
man  has  a  right  to  fool  away  his  patrimony — to 
neglect  his  plainly  indicated  duty,  or  to  disregard 
the  rights  of  others  who  are  partners  with  him  iu 
a  great  industry. 
THE  GROWER’S  ATTITUDE.— The  greatest  ob- 
