a form of organization was elaborated and agreed upon, and leading growers selected to incorporate the society and serve as directors for the first year. This done, a form of contract was prepared to be signed by individual growers, which gave to the California Raisin Association absolute control of the crop of 1898. The contracts of growers whose crops were mortgaged for advances must be endorsed by the mortgagee, whose claim would be satisfied by the association. A carefully prepared list of raisin-growers and acreage was made, and the contracts were not to be binding until signed by owners of at least seventy-five per cent of the acreage. They were then to become binding upon the growers who had signed, after which the association had a certain time in which to exercise its option whether or not it would accept the contracts and itself sign. This was for the purpose of permitting the association to complete its contract with the packers, which could not be done until the association itself had something to deliver.

The movement, as stated, had the support of all the large growers but one or two, and of the entire mercantile and financial elements. An active canvass was commenced, and in due time, and after the greatest effort on the part not only of the directors but a large number of others, the requisite percentage was secured, and, after further protracted negotiations between the association and the packers, a committee of disinterested bankers being frequently called in to arbitrate upon matters of detail, the contracts on all sides were closed, and the association began business. It is unnecessary to follow the history further. The details of the management would hardly be understood by the general reader, without lengthy explanations, and are not essential. Like all new enterprises, the association had its troubles, not the least of which were underselling by the few who did not sign, and who had no confidence in the ability of the association to sustain itself, and who wished to avoid the avalanche which they expected to follow its speedy dissolution. But the affairs of the association were in the hands of men of great ability. They established a thorough system of inspection and branding,

and the association brand at once commanded a preference, as a guaranty of an honest pack. The directors had the confidence of the banks, and thus could command capital, and when foolish men put their goods on the market at cut prices, the association, through its brokers, secretly bought them in, inspected and branded them, and resold them at a profit, thus making a laughing stock of the outsiders.* The prices fixed were very reasonable, not such as would pay interest on inflated values of property, but such as thrifty men could live by and save a little. Interest was generally paid on mortgages; old store bills were paid off. Some who had exceptionally good crops paid off, or made payments on, mortgages. The sum distributed to growers up to April 1, 1899, was two cents per pound for average raisins in the sweat-box, a rate which no more than pays costs on the poorer lands, with a further dividend to be expected later.

In 1899, the contracts having been for but one year, a new canvass was begun, this time for two-year contracts, which, at the time when these pages are printed, is understood to have been successful. The association itself has reorganized for convenience, under another law. The new contract with the packers involves a reduction of twenty-five per cent in packing charges, and nearly thirty-three and one-third per cent in commissions on sales, with more stringent regulations for the prevention of irregular practices. These reductions involve very large sums, and show the effectiveness of organized action and financial independence. They appear to have been a compromise on the part of the packers to prevent a proposed increase of cooperative packing.

The history of cooperation among raisin-growers very well illustrates the manner in which all classes whose interests conflict, may, and in the future are generally likely to, compro

*This was a very dangerous departure from the principles of cooperative marketing, justified, if at all, by the peculiar circumstances of the case, and the exceptional ability of those particular directors. They did not err in judgment of values, but some other board might. It will not do to let outsiders get the idea that they can force the cooperators to buy their products.

mise upon clear-cut agreements to mutual advantage. The commission packers are doing work which must be done by somebody, and for which they are at present better equipped than the growers. They have, doubtless, been getting higher pay for their services than the business justified, but it required only united action by the growers to secure rates which are entirely reasonable.

CHAPTER V.

A

THE DRIED FRUIT AND NUT ASSOCIATIONS.

LMOST simultaneously with the beginnings of cooperative effort in the San Joaquin raisin district, producers of dried fruit in Santa Clara County evolved a class of organizations which have thus far proved very successful, although they have never yet controlled the crop, or approached the effectiveness of a Trust. Although originating in Santa Clara County, the example has been followed in all parts of the state, and there are now a large number in successful operation. These societies do not differ in principle from the cooperative raisin-packing societies already described, but they were, for some years, far more successful than those societies, mainly for the reason that, situated in the midst of an older and richer community, they have had no financial trouble. They also had the advantage of beginning while the fruit business was still remunerative, and, while they have not been able to arrest the downward movement in prices, inevitably following the enormously rapid increase of production, they have greatly steadied the descent, and assisted to equalize the pressure among all engaged in the business. Their character and methods will be better understood after a brief description of the dried-fruit business.

The Santa Clara Valley lies south of the southern arm of the Bay of San Francisco, San Jose, the commercial center of the valley, being fifty miles distant from the city of San Francisco. Originally a great wheat field, some of its inhabitants were prompt to see the attractions of the fruit business, and to engage in it. The plums known to commerce as "prunes" were found to succeed admirably, and large areas were rapidly planted to these trees, as well as to apricots, peaches, pears, and, in fact, nearly all deciduous fruits; but the prune was largely in the lead. The apricot grows and

bears well, but is longer maturing than elsewhere in the state, thereby obtaining a thicker and firmer flesh, but ripening too late for profitable shipping, as the apricot, fresh, does not sell well in competition with peaches, excellent varieties of which are in the market from the earlier districts before the Santa Clara apricots are ready. The peaches and pears, also, from this district are said not to bear the long overland journey so well as fruit from interior districts. These conditions, with the fact that the prune, which is almost exclusively a drying fruit, was the largest fruit product of the valley, naturally led to the drying or canning of the greater portion of the crop. This business for some years proved very profitable, and the industry increased until large districts in the valley were almost completely covered with orchards ranging in size from five acres to three hundred acres, and San Jose became by far the largest shipping-point in the state for dried fruits; of prunes, especially, it supplied for some years almost the entire output of the state, and while, with the enormous increase of the industry elsewhere, its relative importance in the trade has diminished, as late as 1893 there were shipped from San Jose seventy-five per cent of the prunes and twentyfive per cent of all the other dried fruits exported from California.

The fruit for drying-except prunes-is pitted, under sheds, placed on shallow wooden trays usually three by eight feet, bleached by exposure to sulphur fumes, and then dried in the sun. Prunes, of course, are neither pitted nor bleached. To secure uniformity in drying, prunes are graded by machinery before drying, and other fruits either by machinery or by hand. To handle the pitted fruits properly, a good deal of extra labor is required, and a few days of unusually hot weather coming on may require the picking and pitting force to be suddenly doubled in order to save the fruit, and this extra labor is not always available when needed. Considerable vacant space must be left in the orchard for drying ground, and on small farms this space was grudged from the orchard. The investment in trays and machinery was considerable if the fruit was to be properly cared for, and the labor of feeding