Strawberry Growers Face Pressure to Unite

Slow ripening and short yield are the two things which saved the strawberry market this year from demoralization, says P. R. Parks, manager of the Spokane Fruit Growers company, who are again marketing the berries for the Kennewick-Richland Marketing Union. Although the Union controls a large percentage of the Kennewick-Richland crop, there are still enough independent berries to undermine the market. Mr. Parks says that unless the berry growers can be tied together tighter than they are this year, his company will not undertake to again market the crop. It is a peculiar paradox that there is not one of the independent growers who is not a strong booster for the Marketing Union and a regular howler for co-operation. He knows that stability of the market depends upon price control which can only be secured through co-operative selling. But still he stays out. He’s a slacker. He wants to do the shouting and let somebody else do the fighting. He wants to play around the edges and reap the benefit of the other fellows’ efforts. He wants to sponge off his neighbor to the extent of 15 cents a crate which it costs to market the berries through the Union. The grower who today is selling his berries independently and refusing to align himself with the majority is pursuing a policy of 'the community be damned' for the sake of a paltry 15-cent handling charge. The community should reciprocate to the extent of adopting the same 'be-damned' attitude toward him.