The Fruit War in the Valley
Local growers revolt against aggressive sales tactics by warehouse companies.
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.
During the past thirty days, propaganda has been carried on among our stockholders to apparently create dissatisfaction with our selling arrangements. Said propaganda was carried on by a representative of the White Bluffs Warehouse Co. and a representative of the Northwestern Fruit Exchange, who printed a withdrawal form with addressed envelope to the Perham Fruit Company, Yakima, Washington. Representatives of these firms went from grower to grower in our district, using what we consider very unfair tactics in inducing our members to withdraw their contracts from the Perham Fruit Company. At a meeting of the stockholders of the Hanford Horticultural Exchange in assembly at Hanford, Washington, on April 7, 1923, we most emphatically condemn these underhand and unfair methods and go on record in stating we feel the Perham Fruit Company has rendered our growers faithful and satisfactory service.
“We as stockholders of the Hanford Horticultural Exchange consider these underhand and unfair methods.”
Agricultural cooperatives and corporate middlemen have long locked horns over the control of harvests in the Columbia Basin. This resolution reflects the intense pressure independent growers faced during the consolidation of the fruit industry in the 1920s.
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