06 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
the vegetable business to first try to 
learn the methods of doing it right. 
Now, the shipping is the main thing. 
I remember yesterday one gentleman 
said, in telling about the rules posted 
in his packing house, that one of them 
was that his brand must be an honest 
brand. If you can make your brand 
an honest brand, you can sell your 
fruit and vegetables and you don’t 
need commission men to sell it for 
you. Now, you know the commission 
men do not sell direct to the people 
very much. The commission houses 
I have seen sell only at wholesale. 
About the only good they do you, is 
to have you dump in your stuff and 
then they show it for you. 
One day I was in Bradentown in 
company with some of the best fruit 
and vegetable growers. They were 
talking about the shipping of to¬ 
matoes. One fellow said, “If I ship 
my tomatoes, I would like to put up 
good stock in good shape. If I were 
selling here, it would not make so 
much difference.” Another said, 
“Well, I don’t know so much about 
that. I think if I were selling here I 
would like to put in good stock, be¬ 
cause I would like to build up a good 
reputation at home.” I listened to 
these men and was amazed. Not an 
honest expression. It was simply a 
question of doing right because it was 
good policy. Not a single one said he 
was going to do right because it was 
right. That is what we should do; 
we should make our fruit and vegeta¬ 
bles something that can be depended 
upon; make it so that when anyone 
buys from us, they know they are go¬ 
ing to get their money’s worth and 
they are going to be done by as we 
would like to be done. 
I asked several questions yesterday 
while we were talking about the Cali¬ 
fornia Fruit Exchange, with a view of 
finding out their methods. I learned 
that sometimes this Fruit Exchange 
sells the fruit at auction where it is 
an auction town, but if not, they sent 
a man all the way from California to 
sell the fruit, which is expensive. Not 
only that, but when they send a man 
they have to trust that man to some 
extent, just as we have to trust com¬ 
mission men. I noticed some time ago 
that there was a man in the United 
States Treasury Department who had 
grown old in the service, having been 
there since he was a young man, and 
had established a reputation for hon¬ 
esty. In some way, he got into a little 
tight place and there was a $1,000.00 
bill missing out of the Treasury. One 
man came very near paying the 
amount back because the suspicion 
was directed to him. A lady learned 
the truth about it, and the guilty man 
finally acknowledged having taken it. 
What we need to do, is to arrange it 
some way so that we will not have to 
trust anybody only just as far as busi¬ 
ness methods go. It is asking too 
much to found an Exchange and put 
men in charge and find some among 
them who will not work to their own 
advantage. There is bound to be 
graft in any organization, and we will 
have to pay for it. 
In Manatee county we have men 
who for years have been buying, 
packing and shipping fruit and vegeta¬ 
bles. The rule in their packing 
houses is “Honesty.” They have built 
