The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 30, 1903, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1903 NOTED FRUIT AUTHORITIES TELL OF THOUSANDS OF CARS THAT GO ANNUALLY FROM CALIFORNIA, CARRY] In- Signed Articles|| leading Facts || Appear. | ——— ses of Business!| Are Considered || in Detail. Ph (8% TING OF ORANGES. ultimate | pow of our people have stopped to glory of California. Nowhere on the, think what a vast product this is and earth is it produced so readily or so!what an amowht of traffic it gives to bountifull Such pears, peaches, apri- | our and BEastern s, etc., as load the trees | ¢ ections and its influence on rates | , and of nearly every vs for all transcontinental traffic. ‘In State which Ras. Bid . the | tons It "is g»*rrmm <zhan the entire i it 3 g o | Wheat crop of the State for the crop > produce them, Would Stagger | ... 19001901 and not much below the the faith of nine-tenths of my readers.” | I/ = CT 0 O = " e ever arose even in the | “T7P 7 e 3 n of Mr. Greeley the in.| It reduired ninety-six cars,_with | M ottint 3ick of orchards, gardens | LYEtY tons each, moving out of the e 2 vineyards which 1s presented to-| State every day in the year, to carry NG THE RICH PRODUCTS OF ORCHARDS AND OF THE MILLIONS PAID OUT TO +* YESTING THE GFROP APRICOT | ORCHAKRD -« | 3 the State’s Greatest Industry. —_— ate Board of 7 1859, at San In stating what he had productivene in his trav how- the day in the valleys and on the hillsides 1 from € Diego to Shasta. It took the re is no question that, | People of the State twenty years to he percentage of the output | COmprehend something of the signific- " ol, we will be able to | ance of Mr. Greeley’s prophecy, and it 5 A better to the |18 but now beginning to be fully real- i conidl pon ized. d w such an GROWTH OF INDUSTRY. Fruit-growing in California did not assume importance until shipments by ifornia have | rail became practicable. This was about . from men of | the year 1880. The growing of wine t ss affairs of this | grapes and ta grapes to some extent - ppear and will | had made considerable advancement, » T ., but | but other fruits had attracted little at- s for exploitation | tention, and that in but few localities. for a better un- | Production, except as to es, had not wiser action in many | is devoted current to this connec- representing 1890 they have t ficlal sources and are found in the an- | nual State Board of Trade. fractions, we shipped as near as I can learn thirty-three car- far overreached home consumption. Ac- c urate statistics are wanting prior to 90 of shipments out of the State. e the latter date and including en gathered from of- reports made to the California In 1880, omitting out of the State Califorr are published | loads of ten tons each of raisins, 157 morning, the leading topjc of in- | carloads of fresh fruits, twenty car- ng the fruit industry as ex- | loads of dried fruits and 335 carloads of FETALUMA IS PLEASED. us reports that £ the the Peta- | fruits, making total of a Shipments of oranges were made in no considerable quantity, but as show- ing progress in that culture Riverside A B 1 | in 1886 took first premium for the best | Shipments from the State, 1902, carloads, ten collection, not less than twenty varie- | ties, - | Note now the at the New Orleans World's Fair. ments, in carloads of Con ten tons, as compared with 1890 and d uma Thursday, | 1902, the figures being tabulated as fol- st the new road | jows: day morning, when | - 2 %% 8 18 in the grade street in East Peta- rps of men will soon on the other end of |1 | Fresh deciduous f; Kinds. ruits fruits . d fruits e line. Pr A. D. Bowen and as- | Raieins . - Nu S possession of the | Canned fruits 4,006 sarters of the new |———————— ——| Ptatuatt | Total cars fruit.. 16,194 | general headquar- | Wine and brand e 6000 | sses rk of construction | YeEetab! paristdney Sees will soon be put to power-house for the 38 | | Total carloads, all kinds! orted ed at Sebastopol. The eady bought thirteen f land for that purpose.” ®cres RICH FREIGHTS BY RAIL. For many years the Central Pacific | BY N. P. CHIPMAN, PRESIDENT STATE BOARD OF TRADE. sent empty trains of cars East ing articles of consumption to Cal- 2 for which we had little to send it growing s fact a. cight p le. went by rail, but has become la actor Iroad dividends. Stated exactly carloads of ten tons each of the products in the fore- going table went out of the State by | rail in 1902 ar carloads by sea. this exported product of our orchards, vineyards and gardens for 1902. Will some one figure what this means to the transcontinental railroads and connec- ons? Would $18,000,000 be far from the truth? ORCHARD DISTRIBUTION. It is interesting to know where in the State lies this source of her wealth and what part of the State is enriched by it. The annual reports made to the State Board of Trade have for obvious | reasons stated separately the from Southérn California, south of the Tehachapi Mountains and Northern and Central California, lying north of the Tehachapi Mountains. The facts can be no more graphically given than by the subjoined table. The products are classified as far as the rajlroad companies have reported them, thus showing the kinds and quantities produced in each region. The official reports from which I quote show the terminal points of shipment, but I omit these from the table for brevity. They are in the north and central part of the State—San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Fresno, Stockton, Sacramen- to and Marysville. In the south are Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego. These points are the terminals for the fruit regions around them. hipments tons eas by rail and eea. North and Cen-| _ South # Kinds. Deciduous fresh.. Citrus Dried .... Raisins 4215 | 1713 4,161.8 | 2,7948 ——— j———— _50,919.1 | 26,619.0 PRODUCTS BY SECTIONS. it thus appears that nearly all the deciduous fruits shipped out of the State to consumers—fresh, dried, rai- sins, canned, wine and brandy—go from Northern and Central California, and in part | Comprehensive Review of the Growth of|Large Transactions That Contain a Lesson That Counts. | | Most the almonds are from the north and about all of the walnuts | from the south. The reader may make his own deductions from this table. In connection with the first table, it tells an interesting story. If The Call per- ists in its contribution of a page, once a week, to Californ industries—a most timely and important step toward advertising our resources—I will later on tell your climate bears to the distinctive fea- tures of fruit-growing here, including olives and figs and some other fruits not mentioned in the table, and wili demonstrate that, from an economic standpoint and from the readings of the thermometer, there is no substan- tial difference in the climate of Califo nia, from end to end, except as we | reach the higher altitudes of the moun- tains. I cannot in a single article cover all the questions relating to fruit-growing in California which naturally arise in | the homeseeker's mind. For example, he will ask, “Does fruit-growing pay?” | Are we over-producing? How are we |to best market our fruits? |story is a long.one and none of it | is fiction, and is just now interesting 1 many thousands of people. But it must | come in chapters. Let this answer for | the first. ;: COMPARATIVE VALUES. | The importance of an industry is de- | termined largely by its wealth-produc- | ing capacity and its profit to the people | engaged in it. The first consideration s to supply home consumption; sec- | ond, to produce a surplus for sale or ex- | change for articles of consumption not | produced at home; third, to put in bank as snug a sum as possible to be used in broadening and ennobling our | farm life. The farm value for 1902 of the prod- ucts mentioned in the table, exclusive of the income from home consumption, was about $35,000,000. This is $7,000,000 greater than the farm value of all the exported wheat, barley and wool and the farm value of all the hops and sugar beets grown in the State, I can remember when the fruit grow- | ers, in the ’'80’s, began to expand their of | | plantings, the wheat farmer looked upon the industry as a ‘“piddling” business. The wheat grower regarded the orchardist with a sort of com- placent pity and contempt. And yet a | little reflection ought to have shown these self-satisfied farmers of immense wheat ranches that, as State builders, they were a clog and hindrance, and that a large population would never be attracted to California to grow wheat ] alone, which, with equal profit, could be produced in many other States where land was cheaper. It was obvious to observing and thoughtful people here that the economic value of our climate and soil, making intensive farming of high- priced products possible, would be thrown away if we persisted in wheat growing to the exclusiion of a higher and more valuable culture. And so fruit planting and its concomitant, ir- rigation, went on and have made Cali- fornia famous throughout the civilized globe. Look at the wheat and sheep nearly all citrus fruits and most of the { abandoned lands around Riverside and nuts and a little more than half of the | other places south; at Fresno, Santa vegetables go from Southern California. | Calar, Vacaville and other places north. Sy ol readers what relation our | The | Previous to the formation of the Cali- fornia Fruit Agency, the citrus fruits of California were marketed by a multi- | tude of shipping interests, the largest being, of course, the Southern Califor- {nia Fruit Exchange, which was a | purely co-operative movement, they | controlling at the time this agency was formed about 40 per cent of the entire output. The remaining 60 per cent was han- dled by what were known as independ- ent shippers, including such firms as the Earl Fruit Company, the Fay Fruit Company, the Ruddock Trench Com- { pany, A. Gregory, the Spruance Fruit Company, Moulton & Green, A. G. Stearns, the West American Fruit Company, the Redlands Orange Grow- ers’ Association, the Redlands Eclipse Association and F. B. Devine. All of these independent | were antagonistic not only to each other, but also to the Southern Cali- fornia Fruit Exchange, thus creating a great deal of vicious competition, the | result being that California fruits not only had to fight foreign Importations, but under the system of marketing, they actually fought themselves to a far greater degree. The result, as this agency believes, could only be disas- trous to the fruit grower. Last February it became apparent to those best informed in the business that unless something was done to put a stop to the unhealthy condition then prevailing as regards competitive mat- inevitable conclusicn. Accordingly, leading interests put aside all feelings of jealousy and an- tagonism and patriotically came to- gether in a discussion of the conditions, and with an earnest desire to do what they might to remedy the evils that were at that time consuming growers. As a result of this conference this @ i O Would these happy and prosperous | fruit growers go back to wheat and sheep? VARIED ATTRACTIONS. If we eliminate fruit growing as an attraction to tillers of the soil what have we to offer that may not be found elsewhere? Climate? Yes; but man cannot live on climate alone. Shall it by irrigated forage plants—as alfalfa? There is much to be said in favor of this occupation, but is it enough? Is | it sugar-beet growing? That, too, we | urge as an attraction, but it does not entirely suffice. ‘When you get away from the pro- ducts of the orchard, vineyard and | home builder there are limitations and objections at once obtruding. I con- 'tend that to intelligent fruit growing i proper selection of varieties with refer- ence to soil and climate, proper culti- vation of the soil and preparation of the fruit for market and co-operation in placing the product on the market— to such intelligent fruit growing there are no limitations. California is to be the orchard of America. “Fruit is destined to be the ultimate glory of California.” shippers | ters certain ruin for the grower was an | be stock growing and dairying, aided | garden as the chief attractions to the | in California—and by intelligent I mean | Benefits That bo-operation Has Brougfit} to the Growers of Oranges. BY G. W. FELTS, SECRETARY CALIFORNIA FRUIT AGENCY. | agency was formed, and the whole in- { dustry, or 'so much of it as is con- | trolled by this agency, was placed on a | co-operative basis. OPENING CONDITIONS. At the time of the formation of this we took over fruit that was in transit and fruit that was on track at various as a proof of the wisdom of the move- began business we were immediately !charged with the disposition of some- | transit unsold, not t6 mention the fact | that practically all of the Eastern mar- kets were then glutted. In other words, ‘x&hls agency inherited infinitely worse | conditions than had ever been known before in the history of the business. We were charged with meeting not only the conditions as mentioned, but | also with the organization of a system ! to handle the business, without having ‘prevlously had an opportunity to pre- pare ourselves to meet the great emer- gency. In addition to the difficulties mentioned above, we were instantly | confronted with the fact that specula- tors all over the United States had tremendous quantities of apples in cold storage which they had been holding up to escape great losses. About the first of April their case became hopeless and they were obliged | therefore to dump tremendous quanti- ties of that fruit on the markets re- gardless of what it brought. This of | itself was sufficient to demoralize the | fruit markets. Another serious diffi- culty we had to confront which I shall mention as another reason for our ex- istence is the fact that an unusual | quantity of our fruit had been held by |the growers for a late market, the | result of this being that between the st of April and the 1st of July, we | were forced to place on the markets double the amount of fruit that had | ever previously 'been shipped out of | California during the same period. In | further justification of the movement | one of our principal members made the following statement: “After carefully estimating what would have been the results to our | growers had the agency not been form- |ed, we have come to the conclusion that our growers have received at least | $100,000 more money than they would | have received had the organization nct | been accomplished.” This shipper sup- ! plies about 10 per cent of our holdings. ! SHOWING SOLID FRONT. { The vital difference between our or- ganization and others is that we now | have secured practically a sclid front ! to compete with foreign and other do- | mestic shipments, whereas before the | organization of the agency we were | fighting ourselves and every one else also. As an illustration of the condi- tions existing prior to the formation of this agency, will say that on the first day of April, we came into possession of the correspondence that had been carried on between our various pres- ent members and the Eastern trade, and It was simply appalling to note what we had to contend with. A dealer in the East would telegraph one shipper that another was quoting | | charged with the distrib lagency on April 1st, the present year, | Eastern markets, but yet unsold, and | ment I will say that when this agency | | thing like 1500 car loads of fruit in | THE RAILWAYS , v Recent Projects in . Counties Give Promise. | T, (e | Various Resources - Are Developing Surely. fruit at a certain price, and he would perhaps at the same moment wire still | another shipper entirely a different | statement, the result being that unnec- essary and ruinous price-cuttings pre- vailed as a result of one man making different statements to different par- ties, and that, too,” when the market and other conditions did not warrant any such procedure. | We confine our operations exclusive- 1y to the handling of citrus fruits, and the State of California is our fleld. A careful estimate at this writing indi- cates that this agéncy will control about 90 per cent of all citrus fruit shipments from California the present season As i at the time of agency about 60 was scattered various shippers, before. th indicated t rmation ¢ | per of the among a multitude of ent the majority of which was under no | contract hat Since that time enough of this 60 per cent has been placed under a term contract to give | this agency the control something like 90 per cent During the scason 1 there were shipped fruit. This you will was shipped by all par the busi- ness during the year, between 10,000 and 11,000 carloads of which was mar- keted prior to the formation of the The probable output for the present en endi re shipments. & October 31, 425 cars of understand season has been variously estimated | from 27,000 to 30,000 carloads, and it is estimated that this agency will be tion and dis- posal of something like 25,000 cars. I | will say, without fear of contradiction, that with the large percentage of the output now in our control, there is no question that we will be able to | give infinitely better results to the | grower than could possibly be obtained wighout such an organization as ours. | The net returns to the grower will depend very largely on conditions that cannot at this time be auticipated. Weather conditions, trading and flnan- | cial conditions, importations from for- eign countries, the supply from Florida and the islands, and a multitude of other conditions too numerous to men- tion, will directly or indirectly affect the prices we will be able to ebtain. In a general way I may say that the proper distribution of the shipments | and apportionment to the various mar- | kets is of the first importance.. Then | the question of the law of supply and | demand will materially affect results. | The indications at this writing are that | the fruit will be of exceptionally fine | quality, and if it shows good carrying | and keeping qualities, the difficulty of our task will be greatly decreased. In conclusion, permit me to say that particularly in this movement the measure of success is the measure of control. We are directly and entirely the agents of the grower. With his unanimous support we cannot fail to immensely improve his condition. In the organization of the agency, shipping interests which have been in business since the very beginning of the production of citrus fruit in this state, patriotically met the ccnditions confronting us and sacrificed their standing in the business world to the extent of literally going out of busi- ness, merging and hiding themselves in this agency, and that too on a basis of less profit than they have been accus- tomed to enjoy, and with the positive knowledge that they were sacrificing without réward their reputation in the business world that is always a valua~ ble asset to any successful concern. AL WORK IN THE VALLEYS. Development Association Wants 14 Counties to Pull Together. The Sacramento Bee tells of the pur- poses of the Sacramento Valley Devel- opment Association as follows: The Sacramento Valley Development Asso- clation has for its purpose a praiseworthy ob- ject, one that must have the commendation of all thoughtful people. It embraces fourteen cotnties Iying above the waist of the State, in the valley and along the foothills. These coun- ties, through the agency of that most powerful of all forces—union—are now working together by various methods and devices to publish to the world In a practical and rational way the eclaimy of the valley and its borders for desira- ble population and investment. The mere fact that there has been achieved unity e counties in itself wholly comper or all that has been dons to this time. The valley and foothill sections ute @ vast territory of common interests, hich are the counties. To have visions into common brought these several subd: agreement to work for the benefit of each and and promise for the whole all fs full of mea region known as N Whatever else ma; people of | closer togeth: view the charitably d things alone | Valley, since | of mere polit n | of the people of the v common high purnose. NOTED FRUIT AUTHORITIES. The Oroville Register tells of the orange industry in Butte County. The | season has fairly begun, says the Reg™ ister, and there are between fifty and a hundred men, women and girls at work at the packing-houses of the Califor- | nia Citrus’' Union boxing the fruit for shipment East. Daily three or four cars will be sent from Oroville and the same number from Palermo, according to the statements of the superintendent of the Citrus Union. The fruit is of unusually fine quality and the trees are loaded. be accomplished, at least isposed toward each other. These mean much for the Sacrament: indicate the breaking ries and the unification in common effort for The Visalia Times remarks that | “George Halstead, who resides at Goshen, states that from one English walnut tree on his place he will this year secure about 200 pounds of nuts. As the market value of the walnuts is about 11 cents, the product from the one tree would net if sold about $22, About fifty trees can be planted to the acre, which at this rate of production would amount to about $1100 per acre.”