Counterfeit Yakima Potatoes on the Sound
A Tacoma paint dealer tells the valley's paper that Puget Sound merchants were passing off second-grade Western Washington spuds as Yakima's prized crop — and that in a full year he got the genuine article only three times.
A. S. Johnson, senior member of the firm of A. S. Johnson Co., wholesale and retail paint and paper dealers of Tacoma, while in North Yakima this week looking after the business interests of his branch store and fruit farm, visited the office of Ranche and Range and called our attention to the fact that the greatest injustice is being done to Yakima valley farmers by unscrupulous commission men and retail merchants of the Sound cities, who are taking advantage of the reputation our potatoes have made by selling the second-grade Western Washington tubers as the Yakima valley product. Our potatoes sell readily for 25c per sack more than those of any other district, and customers have become incensed at the outrageous manner in which they are being duped. Only three times within the year has Mr. Johnson succeeded in getting genuine Yakima potatoes, although he always called for them — the dealers giving him a substitute. Dealers who make a practice of this sort of thing should not be patronized. It would be a good move if farmers would generally adopt the plan of stenciling each sack of potatoes before shipping with the name "Yakima" in large letters, together with the name of the grower. Reliable farmers could soon establish a reputation for the tubers they raise in this way, in much the same manner as Thompson Kain's brand on an apple box is a guarantee of first quality.
“Only three times within the year has Mr. Johnson succeeded in getting genuine Yakima potatoes, although he always called for them — the dealers giving him a substitute.”
Yakima's name was already worth 25 cents a sack more than anyone else's — enough that Puget Sound dealers faked it. The valley still lives on the market power of a place name, from apples and hops to the appellation fights now fought with labels and lab tests rather than stencils.
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