The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 24, 1917, Page 7

e i oranges, it means millions of dollars in the pockets of California fruit growers who were wise enough to organize and stick together and make their product known and demanded the world over. For every box of oranges grown by members of the California Fruit ex- change, 2% cents is spent in advertis- ing the brand “Sunkist.” The growers can afford to do this because, through their own company, operating at cost, the expense for -marketing a box of oranges. is only 44 cents,. against 10 cents .a box charged by the privately owned, profit-making fruit agencies which' handle apples in the Pacific Northwest:: As over 10,000,000 boxes of oranges will be shipped this year, the growers will spend over $150,000 this year in advertisements to make Yyou think “Sunkist” when you think oranges. This advertising is so ef- fective that over 300,000 people last Yyear, after reading the “Sunkist” ad- vertisements in magazines and news- papers, wrote in for a free copy of an orange recipe book, published to in- crease the consumption of citrus fruit. Other hundreds of thousands wrote the growers' company for glass orange squeezers, offered in the ;\dvertise7 ments at cost to all users of oranges who cared to send in the money for them. A BUSINESS ‘DEVELOPED FOR'GRQWERST' BENEFIT There has-never.been any other pro- ducers’ company . ‘that has made its product-a household ‘word to this ex- tent, and that has so: completely domi- nated an industry/: This has meant handsome profits'to.growers. It has been possible::only ‘because of the DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS OF GROWING ORANGES BY THE GROWERS THEMSELVES FOR THEIR. OWN . BENEFIT, UNLIKE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHEAT BUSINESS WHICH HAS BEEN BY THE MIDDLEMEN AND MILLS FOR THEIR BENEFIT AND NOT' THE GROWERS. The - California Fruit Growers’ ex- change is a strictly' non-profit, co- operative organization ' .of over 8000 members, Seventeen district exchanges and 162 local associations are members. Last year it marketed for members 29,823 carloads of oranges and grape- fruit and lemons. 'Its members grew and sold in 1916.67% per cent of the total California citrus crop of that year, which was valued at over $41,- 000,000. This year it will control 70 per cent of the crop and will ship a total of nearly 40,000 carloads. It does.. not content itself with merely market- ing the crop. It buys supplies for its members. Last vear, the Fruit Growers' sup- ply company, the buying branch of the . exchange, did a business of $4,092,- 865.97 for members at a cost of only . 85 cent§ for each $100 of business transacted. This branch ‘furnishes district’ organizations with boxes, tissue ‘wrappers, labels, nails and other supplies, and growers individually with The California growers have tried the plan of ¢ recommended now by the bureau of markets found it does not work. The farmers must pr of co-operation is the wrong plan. co-operation” with middlemen and others, as of the department of agriculture and they have otect their own business. The other fellow’s plan orchard - supplies, such as .fertilizers, spraying equipment, cover crop seed etc.\ The company owns its own saw mill and orgnge box factory and a tract of standing timber. for lumber. supply, consisting of 26,000 acres. Then there are the legal and traffic de- partments. - ¥n-addition, - the exchange maintains a “field" department that is constantly instructing members in better methods"and how to increase profits. This department fights the tree pests ‘for members and .performs other services::!! ] % The Staridard’ Oil company controls the oil from™“tHe ground, in its crude state, through“the refineries and all other chaniéls ‘to’ the ultimate con- sumer, makes' all 'its own containers, owns ‘its own pipe lines and oil ships. Its organizition'is§ mot much more per- fect than'that of thé California citrus growers, = HEYGN kS MARKET PIRATES STILL - A MENACE TO INDUSTRY While powerful and constantly growing, the e?ccha.nge gi_oes, not have everything its own way in the markets, Thirty "per cent of the crop is still marketed through private channels, some years with demoralizing effect on . the farmers’' own co-operative system. . There are still the fruit ‘speculators One of Southern California’s orange orchards, in a palm setting; with eucalyptus trees in the back ground. this country, though they predominate in most every landscape. The first ora of the tropics and the eucalyptus from Australia, where alone it “is native. 1ave n v vear around, shedding their bark once a year instead of their leaves. The orange, palm and eucalyptus thrive in this semi ~ and market pirates, but their power for harm grows less ‘every year, as more and more growers come into the . assqciation.. Then there is the com- petition in all the northern markets of the Florida cifrus crop, and during peace times in Europe the .competition of the Italian lemon crop. ; One marvels at the perfection of the organization of this purely growers’ company. It maintains a staff of men in the field consulting with fruit whole- salers and retailers, advising in meth- ods of -handling and selling the fruit. A ‘grocer js shown how to avail him- self of the national advertising of the exchange to increase his own profits by handling ‘“Sunkist” fruit, and how to display the fruit and keep it in good condition. Fruit.stands and soft drink places are shown how to make orange drinks, how to advertise them and in- crease the consumption of oranges in this way. 2 . Of course all this helps the sale o all kinds of oranges, whether they bear the “Sunkist” brand or not, but this growers” organization so thor- ,oughly covers the field and dominates it, that it can ‘afford to increase the ° sale of oranges, even if some Florida and Ttalian growers do benefit from it vertising. nge tree in this country came from South SEVEN without helping td pay the cost of ad- = Picking oranges on a Southern California orange “ranch.” MULTIPLYING DEMAND FOR A STANDARD FRUIT Twenty years ago 5000 cars of oranges was an over supply and a drug on the market. Today it takes 20 times that amount to supply the American market alone, largely be= : cause this growers’ company has de= veloped the markets, found new. uses for oranges and. increased . their. con- sumption.- The growers are:perfecting in other: countries sales and marketing organizations similar .to those built up in this country, and ‘“Sunkist” ulti~ mately . will be. a world-word meaning oranges. One of the big results of the organi- zation of the California citrus growers . has heen the stabilizing of the market and the actual cheapening of the cost of oranges to the.consumer. In a U. S. department of agriculture bulletin the following statement is made in this regard: “Since the distribution of Cali- fornia citrus fruits has been organ- ized the retail prices have been much more stable, and; considering the quality, they have been much lower. The reasons for these changes are, first, the fruit is dis- tributed by the producers to the jobbers on a merchandising basis (Contiriued on page 1‘4) Neither the plam, orange or eucalyptus is a native of America, the palms from various parts Millions of eucalyptus trees have been set out in California. They are green the year ~tropical country. . ; S ot St i R PRSP