FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
129 
know that men’s wages for grove work 
in Florida, even in the dull season, are 
not less than one dollar and a half a day, 
or from three to four times higher than 
the price paid for Valencia labor for men. 
In the harvest season, which is the busy 
season here, we are obliged to pay in 
Florida one dollar and a half a day min¬ 
imum for the cheapest labor, up to as 
high as five dollars a day for the most 
skilled labor in the handling of citrus 
fruits. An expert and careful picker 
commands from two dollars and a half 
to three dollars and a half per day. An 
expert and careful grader commands 
three dollars and a half per day, while ex¬ 
pert packers will earn as high as five dol¬ 
lars per day. It is fair, therefore, to as¬ 
sume that on an average, the Florida 
citrus labor earns at least four times as 
much per day as the schedule of labor 
charges shown in the daily consular re¬ 
port ; therefore if the labor in Florida 
could be secured at the same rate per 
day as the Spanish labor, our labor cost 
of sixty-six cents a box could'be reduced 
to from one-quarter to at least one-third 
of this amount, or a saving of from for¬ 
ty-five to fifty-one cents a box. 
Second : Transportation Costs — 
As the daily consular report shows a 
transportation cost from Valencia ports 
to New York to be twenty-five cents a 
box, and as the average transportation 
of the Florida fruit is shown to be six¬ 
ty-five cents a box, there is a further dis¬ 
crimination against the Florida product 
of forty cents a box in transportation 
charges, making a total handicap of la¬ 
bor and transportation of approximately 
eighty-five to ninety cents a box against 
Florida fruits in favor of the imported, 
or more than the total amount of duty 
now in force and asked to be continued 
by the Florida growers. 
TARIFF-PROHIBITIVE ? 
It has been alleged that the present du¬ 
ty on citrus fruits is a prohibitive duty, 
and the only reason given for such a 
statement seems to be that there is a very 
small importation of foreign fruit. I beg 
to differ from this deduction, as the 
premise, I think, is a false one. The 
statistics herein given show that at the 
average price received by the Florida 
Citrus Exchange for its products, deliv¬ 
ered, for the last three years, the im¬ 
porters can furnish their fruit at a cost 
of sixty-five cents a box less than this 
average price received, and pay the pres¬ 
ent duty; and I would beg to suggest 
that instead of the present duty being 
prohibitive, the fact stands out clearly 
that a profit of sixty-five cents a box to 
the importer is not in his opinion suffi¬ 
cient to warrant him in undertaking to 
deliver his fruit in the United States, 
and if sixty-five cents a box profit is 
not a sufficient profit to induce him to 
ship in here when fifty cents a box profit 
is all that the American producer asks, 
it would seem that the importer therein 
brands himself as being greedy, grasping 
and desirous of a profit far beyond that 
expected, demanded or required by the 
American grower. And this should be in 
itself an indication to your honorable 
body of what would take place should 
the American citrus industry be entirely 
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