Riverside County CA Archives History - Books .....California Fruit Exchange 1912 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 3, 2006, 10:59 am Book Title: History Of Riverside County California CHAPTER XIII. CALIFORNIA FRUIT EXCHANGE By E. W. Holmes Riverside has reason for pride over the many things which her people have successfully worked out that have been of immense value to the state at large. Among these not one has proven more beneficial than the formulation and adoption of the method of co-operative marketing of her fruit crop known as the California Fruit Exchange. Its success has been so marked and the results so beneficial to all connected with the citrus industry, as well as to all departments of horticulture throughout California, that the story of its inauguration and growth deserves detailed mention in the records of Riverside. With the rapid increase in the orange crop, due to the immense area planted to citrus fruits, the weakness of the early marketing methods was thoroughly demonstrated. The commission men who at first handled practically the entire crop were more concerned about their fees than in developing larger markets. Or if they sought these their experiments proved costly to the individual grower, whose fruit they sacrificed to that end. The tariff tinkering of the political theorists, throwing working-men out of employment everywhere in the populous manufacturing centers and thus compelling them to retrench in such things as seemed in the nature of a luxury, lessened the demand for oranges, and for years a large proportion of the growers failed to receive for their product sufficient to pay for its packing and transportation. The large shipping concerns not only secured illegal rebates from the railroads, but owned or controlled all the refrigerator cars, so that they made a profit, not only from their cheaper railroad rates, but through their ownership of the cars were able to know of the markets into which their competitors were shipping, and thus be able to fill such markets with their own goods before the arrival of that of their competitors. It was, indeed, a grave situation which confronted the men who had invested their all in orange groves and had waited years for them to mature, and it forced a study of the problem which resulted, after years of effort, in a method of marketing which has been of inestimable value, not only to the Riverside growers, but to the people of the entire state. While many others worked with him to secure the formulation of a marketing plan which should enable the grower to obtain a just return for his labors, no man so thoroughly deserves the credit for the perfection of the plan which has worked so beneficially to the state, as does T. H. B. Chamblin of Riverside. Being as modest as he is efficient, he has not paraded his part in this splendid work, but the records show that his colleagues have fully recognized the value of his service, for before his retirement from active work they, by unanimous vote in convention, thanked him as the formulator of the plan, and later he was given a beautiful loving cup, which the family will long prize as a material evidence of the appreciation shown him. The Pachappa Orange Growers' Association, of which Mr. Chamblin was manager, was the first organized effort at cooperative marketing. Its experience suggested the larger organization, which was effected at an enthusiastic meeting held in April, 1893, known as the Riverside Fruit Exchange. At this meeting plans were made for the formation of eleven local associations, whose representatives should be the directors of the central exchange. The plan promised so certain a help that a large proportion of the growers promptly affiliated, and later the growers everywhere showed their faith in the plan, and an enthusiastic convention of growers was held in Los Angeles, where a third organization was effected, called the board of control, or marketing department, to be known as the Southern California Fruit Exchange. After a few years of successful marketing of the products of the orchards the organization was enlarged to include the whole state and handle other than citrus fruits, and is now called the California Fruit Exchange. Just as Riverside had formed its district exchange from the numerous neighborhood associations, who packed their own fruit under brands of their own choosing, so it was with other fruit-growing centers, each having its central exchange and sending representatives to form the central body which attended to the marketing. The great central exchange employs a salaried manager, a necessary office force, and sales agents in all the great marketing centers. The foundation of the organization is the local association, a strictly neighborhood affair. Each member gets exact credit for the fruit he contributes, and the same price for his fruit as does his neighbor for the same grade. His fruit is packed at cost, sold at cost, and through the pooling system may obtain the average of the markets for the entire season. The associations do not pool with each other, each locality being required to rely upon the merit of its own fruit and the honesty of its pack for its standing in the market. The results during nearly twenty years testify to the success and value of the organization. For ability and fidelity in management, together with achievement of the end sought in marketing a perishable product, it stands without a parallel, and clearly demonstrates the fact that tillers of the soil are fully capable of ''attending to their own business." Where formerly it was impossible to market successfully five or six thousand carloads, some 50,000 carloads are now marketed at a price sufficient to maintain the industry on a sound basis. The first trustees of the Riverside Fruit Exchange were: T. H. B. Chamblin, D. W. McLeod, H. A. Westbrook, A. H. Naftzger, George Frost, J. B. Crawford, J. H. Wright, M. J. Daniels, A. Keith, S. C. Evans, Jr., and R. W. Meacham. A. H. Naftzger was made president of the organization; M. J. Daniels, vice-president; S. C. Evans, Jr., secretary; and since 1900, John Jahn, Jr., has been the Riverside manager. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF Riverside County CALIFORNIA WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY ELMER WALLACE HOLMES AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1912 File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/riverside/history/1912/historyo/californ154gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 7.0 Kb