The Great Apple Price Mystery
Local orchardists notice that while they receive pennies for their fruit, consumers pay dollars, leaving a massive profit gap to be absorbed by middlemen.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The spread between the price received by the grower for his apples and that paid by the ultimate consumer is a subject that is and has been much discussed by everyone interested in the business and has received the earnest study of government officials from Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, down. Everyone agrees that this spread is too much, but there is apparently no general agreement yet just where a cut should be made. Mrs. M. Wheeler received a letter a short time ago from relatives in Waupaca, Wisconsin, telling of the purchase of a box of Winesap apples grown on the McCord Taylor orchard in White Bluffs. There were 138 apples in the box and they were purchased on the basis of 5 cents each. It is doubtful if Mr. Taylor received one cent for each apple in the box. That leaves 4 cents for each apple for 'de ducks' to absorb, which everyone agrees is too much.
“It is doubtful if Mr. Taylor received one cent for each apple in the box. That leaves 4 cents for each apple for 'de ducks' to absorb.”
The frustration over agricultural supply chains—where the farmer earns a pittance while the end consumer pays a premium—remains a central tension in Washington's fruit industry today, echoing the same 'de ducks' concerns from 1923.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.