Seattle's Fruit Brokers Declared War on the Shrinking Apple Box

The commission men of Seattle have taken up the box question. So far as I could learn, that action was taken not on account of anything that has been said or done by the growers, but solely on account of the trouble that they have with the use of boxes of different sizes. I never knew before how many different sizes of boxes are used in this market. In the Yakima valley but two sizes are used—the Washington standard and the California—but in the Puget Sound country nearly every community has its own standard. There are many small mills throughout the islands of Puget Sound, and they will cut any sized box that may be ordered. Each community seems to go to one of these mills and orders the box wanted. The result is that some of the boxes are very small and are “growing beautifully less.” When a retailer can buy a little box of apples from Orcas Island for 65 cts and is asked 75 cts for a much larger box from Yakima County or Wenatchee, he will “kick like an army mule” although the larger box may be the cheaper. The buyer in such cases doesn't take note of the difference in size. Then another serious difficulty that arises on account of these different sized boxes comes in storing them in ships and cars in which they are sent out from Seattle. So much annoyance has come to the commission men of Seattle in this way that they called a meeting and discussed the matter and appointed a committee to report a uniform box. When this committee had its report ready, I was permitted to meet with them. After a careful consideration of the situation they had adopted the Washington standard for the apple box—a box 10½ x 11½ x 18 inches in the clear—and the common-sized pear box, which they say is 8 x 11½ x 18 inches in the clear. These boxes met with my approval and ought to be approved by all the fruit growers and commission men in the Pacific Northwest. An effort will be made to get the present legislature of Washington to adopt these sizes for standard boxes. I am not sure whether the last move will be a wise one. And if this is done I am at a loss to see what good will be accomplished, for the committee stated to me that it was not the intention to prohibit the manufacture and use of other sized boxes. Legislation is not suggestive but mandatory. A law that has no penalty attached to it is no law at all. But one thing is very clear, and that is that the effort of the commission men to secure a uniform box is commendable and should meet with the cooperation of all fruit growers as well as dealers.

It seems that the Yakima Fruit Growers' Union, in harmony with the action of the Inland Fruit Grower's Association, is taking steps to have a law passed to put all commission men under $5,000 bonds to make a correct accounting of all fruit sold for growers. This may prove to be a good law and then again it may not. It might catch a few “snides.” I think I know the Seattle commission men as well as any shipper in the state of Washington. I am perfectly satisfied that as a class there is not a more honorable set of business men to be found anywhere. It is a far too common practice of some growers to jump at the conclusion that when they do not get good returns it is the fault of the commission man. This is hasty judgment. I owe nothing to commission men and would just as soon censure them as any class of men. But we would do well to know what we are talking about before we go into the censure business. Commission men have their troubles as well as the rest of us mortals.