FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
165 
conditions in their line and if you would 
see the need of their help and the profit 
you are letting slip out of your hands. 
AGGRESSIVE ECONOMY 
Tales of the Chicago fire were still 
fresh in my childhood. I remerrtber a 
neighbor who lost property in the heart 
of the city and who was found the morn¬ 
ing after with hammer in hand cleaning 
off the mortar from the smoking brick. 
This should not be. surprising, but it is 
human nature to talk a good deal, espec¬ 
ially after a great disaster. Our neigh¬ 
bor saw the bricks where his building be¬ 
fore stood and he entered at once into the 
spirit of his problem. Our neighbor died 
rich. 
We have got to forget the aims of yes¬ 
terday and clean the. brick from our own 
house before we can build again. We 
have got to build with the bricks at hand. 
There have been changes too far-reach¬ 
ing for us all to begin with new materi¬ 
als. We. cannot borrow freely from one 
another. All have met the same turn to¬ 
gether and all have got to build anew. 
The sooner we get at this business the 
better. After glorious times of aggres¬ 
sive expansion, we have got to practice 
aggressive economy. Let us enter into 
the new spirit heartily, to win. Econ¬ 
omy is not a negative, thing. It means 
the investment of time and money. Econ¬ 
omy means husbandry and prevention of 
waste. As all have been liberal in times 
of expansion, so all now have got to 
economize and the. problem is a scientific 
one. We have a great work ahead. 
Of the sum represented by the selling 
price of citrus fruit today, about a third 
consists of freight; a third, of packing 
house charges; and a third, of the. grow¬ 
ers’ costs. There is no profit. If we 
are to get a profit in the future, we must 
get it out of these charges, or out of what 
we can save of the fruit that is spoiled. 
What the buyer can pay for your fruit 
is all you have to work on, and you may 
be sure he will for some, time to come 
take advantage of every general economy 
which you can devise and will reduce his 
price. He is not looking out for your 
profit but is practicing economy like you. 
All are buyers and all are doing the same 
thing. So if growers and shippers are 
to make a profit, they have got to be 
aggressive, more aggressive than the buy¬ 
er and more aggressive than other grow¬ 
ers and shippers. You have got to get 
your brick cleaned first and be the first 
to build. That is what I mean by aggres¬ 
sive economy. 
REDUCING THE FREIGHT AND OTHER 
SAVINGS 
I have said something about one chance 
for getting a profit or saving in the grove 
and I want to say something of the sav¬ 
ings to be made in the. freight, and from 
what we can prevent of the spoilage. 
A great deal is said these days about 
high freight rates in connection with 
your costs. Like all the rest, we. are 
crying down the other fellow. But do we 
offer a constructive remedy? There is a 
constructive remedy for high freight 
rates and it is to get value for what you 
pay; better service and, above all, better 
cars. You need the very best refrigera¬ 
tors because of certain climatic condi¬ 
tions in Florida which I shall mention 
