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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 1927)
i THE OREGON STATES3IAN, SALEM OREGOI TirURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 15, 1927 VALUE TOvCITYOF ITS 1 . CANNERIES DISCUSSED (Continued from prl) al line of cannery business or just what Hunt Bros. are doing for Salem 1" He then ' stated that he wanted the Rotarlans to, know what Hunt Bros, are; doing for Salem with the cannery business. This gave me a clue' that . it Is simply a "horn blowing" contest. and that eacn one or ns mignt men as ; William WaltoxwHenry blow his own horn as" mneh as he. Crawford and Charlie McNarri we - - the next, day from San Francisco to Saleou There -was a small can nery for sale In Newberg. It had gone broke. Mr. Hunt wanted to know If I would go pyer ; there and take charge of that cannery. We could not. agree, so he asked me If I would go-to Portland and start a cannery. . I told him frank ly that I wanted to build, a cannery in Salem. The result was that inn side of a couple of weeks, through the Influence and support of such There is probably no - business The canned strawberry business that has had such hazards, as can- was not very his at that time, an 3 nlng, and In a great many' com munitles it has failed because of the fact .that financing was - not handled properly.' It is r unavoid able to make mistakes, but the fi nancing end is the important con sideration, ' ' ; - : ' Salem Leads in Canning - we realized that , they were not giving satisfaction; that they were not going out as they should. We therefore set about to study new varieties, and to get a better quality for the market. It was n 1315 or,191 that we tried - oat seren ' varieties of strawberries. In comparing the canning Indus- and were very much 'impressed 5 mS: i t I -.pleased. But when I saw the an- --C. i the financial value of a cannery to the community L had the sus picion that somethi8gwaa. about ... . - m s to De siippea over on me, wr x am not much of a speecbmaker. So what I have tcrsay may not seem to fit into .the subject as signed to me, but anyway I can go on blowing my horjMn. Permit me to go into a retrospection in a personal way. If I am permitted to be in Salem the -first of this com ing January, It wCl have been 20 years since I came to saiem to make it my home. In that time I have seen it come up from a mud dy streeted. village ttf the city, it Is today, : when one. goes - arouna looking for a place to park, and considering the . beautiful show windows in. our stores, it all goes to prove that we really do -have a city. The first cannery was erect ed in Salem by the father of Paul Wallace. It was my 'lather and brother who bought' thisr cannery in 1898, and In i960 we' started to operate that cannery "r in a small way. Later I went-to Eugene to run a cannery, and-"rettLmed J to Salem in 1911 to .mats this city my home, and took eharge of the then Oregon Packing -company, ""a subsidiary of the, 'California Fruit association. J . '4. 4. :- Astounding Growths V ; -The pack In 1911 -was -39.000 cases, and the pack In 1926 was about a million cases. This shows the advancement of the cannery industry since that time. It was in 1913 that I had a slight differ ence with the California Fruit as sociation. I wired to Mr. J. H. Hunt president of the Hunt Bros. Packing company and asked him if he was interested in establish ing a cannery in Salem. He wired back that he was taking the train bought an idle cannery- equipment here and we began to build a can nery In Salem. On the first of Ju ly that year, we took an option on the property which is the" present site of the 1 Hunt Bros. cannery. and the following January we be- gaolhe erection of our plant. In 1114 our pack was 57,000 cases. the next year 1 72.000.' the next 125,000, and it gradually ex panded until in 1921 there were about 400.000 cases. The- pack this year Is not quite as much, due to a falling oft of the quantity of lo ganberries and cherries; although in. some items the pack is larger than last year. i ' T I -A. Big Operation It might be interesting to give Just a few points of what. Hunt Bros, were doing this year. ' One week we had '841 people on the payrolls in our. factory. During the peak of operations our payroll ran up-pretty' close to 320000'' a week. To pack, the quantity-dur-ing the heavy part of -the season required three carloads'' df cans; a carload of sugar and 175 tons7 of fruit", each day. We " have turned out as high ' as ten icarloadaV of canned goods In one day, aid our biggest week. was 50 .carloads of a thousand , cases each in a week. We have a -platform : down, there that will take , rare of . 2 5 r f 'at one tme. During" the rush jart- of our season we were unloading 250 rigs after 6 o'clock each evening, and had to work 24 hours a 'day. - A lot of Money That 'all means the' distribution of a great deal of money scatter ed in a great many directions for labor and tor the fruit. Ton will see from this that the cannery re quires quite a considerable quan tity of money, and the financing of operations la of very great im portance. - i try of Salem with any other sec tion of the northwest, we would find that Salem has developed in canning resources faster -than any! other point. One of the very im portant reasons Is the fact that it is adequately financed by. Insti tutions which have made a busi ness of - developing canning throughout the whole country, and have learned a little bit more about the business. This has per mitted Salem to grow faster than a great many otner sections, -it has permitted other canneries to be established here, and the in dustry has been greatly expanded. and instead of the one cannery in 1911 there are eight canneries In Salem now, and all of them seem to be " doing well, Although it Is not. all. roses along the path , of the cannery industry. There have been a1- lot of troubles : that we have had. The' Industry all along has not been free from them by a long ways. I venture the state ment that should the canneries be able to solve the problem of pack ing berries, as easily as' peaches, pears; and other commodities, the pack of berries would at least be doubled. Those are the ' problems that our very life blood depends upon. There has been a great amount of ; money spent to solve these - problems. ' The J American can ' company has spent a .hund red .thousand dollars a year in studying - just - such problems. When, all these problems are solv ed, then we -will ad ranee very rap idly: ' . -; with the Etterburg 121 -variety. This was of a higher quality than any other, variety that we had at that time, and I remember Mr. Wilcox. ' who is manager of the canned goode department for the Sprague-Warner - company, who had been out on the coast, and we : were talking of the different varieties. I asked aim- if he were Interested ( In the canned "straw berry, and he frankly said he was not. -"So I had a dozen or so of cans of our Etterburgs with me, and opened some of them for his inspection. I said to him, -How many ot those can yon use. He replied that he could ' use all we could pack ot that kind. He had changed his idea of the quality of canned strawberries. In our dis trict. It was a great deal of satis faction to say that, from that time to this, his firm has been a steady customer of ours in buying straw berries..1 M' think everyone-: has been highly pleased, with the Et terburgs.; notwithstanding the fact that we have had a great deal ef trouble getting growers to estabH lish the Etterburg. ' And they were pretty badly discouraged . up to 1920 In 1920 there was quit a crop of these strawberries, and they eeemed to do pretty well on all kinds of land. At this time think that 75 per cent of all our strawberries canned are of the Et terburg variety. The pack has ex? panded to a- great extent.' It is now an item that I consider one of our standards In berries, and the growers are getting more anx ious to increase their acreage of Etterburg strawberries, so that the poductlon is getting ; to ' be pretty large. It happened this of- the wonderful cooperation that we have had at the hands of the growers' in .producing' stuff. "An other thing that is of particular Importance Is that; here In Salem there; are 3000 to" 35.00 women k?hoJe trained to work in can neries and I believe If a toll were laenf every other hons in Salem wouTd show one or more women LwheViived there have been cannery workers. It is due to their skill and the training ot labor here in Salem, more than the number of dollars In machinery wherein lies the secret of our success. We are enabled to get started on. short notice, and to run at high capacity n a Terr few, days after the crops come on the market, and if it were not for this help it would not be possible to do this great work. -r-; The loganberry Another thing that Salem has done, . has been to develop the lo ganberry. Qur canneries have had to carry the burden of developing the - market on loganberries. ' A great many of the y. large chain stores in our country are not handling- loganberries. We at tempted to introduce loganberries in. England, and in 1924 there were 125,000 eases distributed in England. This proved to be too many for .there haa been some re action, and we are experiencing Just a little trouble because of the fact that they, bought too .many. .These have been some . of - the undertakings tnat nave been re quired in order to bring the can ning industry up to its prsent state. We can look back over the past years, and profit By our mis takes, and perhaps in 15 years Pioneering Work . ;;- It might be of interest to know something of the detailed workday that we began contracting the that Is required to get the busi ness in Salem into a workable condition of the work that, has been done In finding markets. In finding the best methods otpack ing the different 1 varieties of fruit. When I came here in 1900 we were buying - strawberries of the Wilson variety at 3e per pound Etterburgs early in the fall, and believe that I am safe in'saying that when we have gone tot the) customers, we - have . not , ap proached one custoirier who has not signed a contract for 1928 de-J Uvery. - - - .. Cooperation of Growers This only leads back to the fact - 1 1 1 11 1 11 mmmm mm 1 11 :. . - V..' : v I ; i :. i . - "' ' .-- ' I 1 yi a r " " . uiU i ;...' i -t . . f jmsLb. r A ' B . ; y ' . ,, f'iX':MSi ffiX ; . 1 ' - - A 1 4v -!v."Y: .if j , . sMn 'V5v zd - - i , r:- , . p: l I,;,, v" zrZ&i - ? ( -r-. -Vti' -" Kxi - vz-- I hoose ilis Gifts nJw . . -A .Man'sisixia:L:- M 2 ' ; .Here you win find one of the largest - jStX TjT and most complete stocks of smartest . ' S j' .tt'il. K , "togs.' . ' " '.-; . &fc$Wi : Just the gifts that are sure to please? ' w V Ladies you will find- it a pleasure in C , ' jQ ' shopping here always the best in Values v' - 1 - and Service. . 1 Jl)l " : See Our Windows J i i 'I... in', i. " 1.-1 n ir L in, if ioi uim L ... 1 1 - ' ' I . '-E2iCss!s7 " i- JIeS! nusltslw ' : ; r. y 4' --. - v i ,; -"V-t-Mi' ... - - " ' ' Jf t . - .' :;'.. . M from now we can tsIU find room pr improvements. No definite program haa been followed, but a steady growth has developed along with our community. Xot Wild Dreams If it were possible to form a corporation with the . organizing abiUty of President Lee, with the perserverence and ,, determination of Bob Hendricks, and with the! versatility of Charley - Archerd, and with the money of Will Wal ton, and with the common sense of the whole community, I vea ture the assertion that a canning industry -would be put over that would amount to a million dollars to Salem. .- These dreams are not entirely wild dreama. A great deal of the development of the community' ha? been along the promotion ; line. Our' prune Industry. was started out years ago by reason of the fact that we would develop 'wealth in this country; the loganberry and cherry, industry and everything that we have was organized with the thought that we were going to reap a great big harvest. Sup pose, we reverse the picture. With our natural climatic conditions. one cherry tree in the door lot of every home m this town would produce a tremendous supply. -r There ' was an j old cherry tree (Continued on page 19.) Eisino lit re Burns z Mclntyrc The Golden Voices Musical Comedy Stars Vaudeville Sat. Dec 17 Matinee & Night Read the Classified Ads fez Ifci I 111 I I I 11 I Our first motor stapes were pion eers on Oregon roaos of yesterday. Our new, "modem coaches afTord a safe, sure, punctual and com fortable meant of travel on the wonderful highways of Otcgon today, Fer f emioyaUs rt ' tmfcmsorfileawirt , tmi Am Big RED TOP Stagnl m sT Q)regon toes gvstem ff .TKAVEL BTUOTOB. STAGS - For Information Inquire at - STAGE TERMINAIi HOTEL 185 N. High St. Phone 60 B Burnett Bro9.Jeiceler8"Pay Us As You Are Paid?9 Twelve stores on the Pacific Coast From Everett to Hollywood Not only the largest, but (we hope) the best! 'Never Mind the. Money" This is not an empty advertising "slofirin." The Burnett stores all alonff the coat extend credit to everybody save the foolish few who' have already shown that they are ndt to be trusted at all. And this credit is based, not on what a man has, but on what he is. Not on worldly goods and possessions,; but on character. Didn't the Wise Man say three thousand years ago that "a good name was bet ter than great richestand has it not been shown that a reference card from any one of the Burnett Jewelry Stores will entitle the bearer to credit in any store in the land? - Therefore we invite" you -every reader of this newspaper to join the goodly company of Business and Professional nien and women who have found that the Burnett BudgetjPla the Happiest and the most Economical way ; of securing Gifts; thatiEndure and Endear. ' " " " . .. zLZr , v- . Bracelet .Watches - All the best makes are here at the lowest cash prices Benrus Bulova lffin Hamilton and . Brunvil. Prices range from ri90 to $50. Set with dia monds 155 to a hundred dol lars. And every watch we sell we guarantee. Take any one for the cash price and arrange the payments if or next yearJ . a dollar or so a week Dress Watches Nowadays a man has to have two watches a strap watch for daytime and business and ; a dress watch for evening wear.. Ask any college lad he will tell ; you- We have here the best in the world Hamlltons, Walth &ms, Elgins, Illinois. Priced from $19.50 to $100. Take any watch for - a dollar payment and pay the balanee next year. - a dollar a week Strap Watches Here is the gift that most ladie3 are. buying for their lords the strap watch maybe he will not even hint that he wants one ' but all the important men are wearing them. We show them a. Elgin, Walthanis, Illinois, Benrus, Bulova, BrunviL Prices range from $17.50 to $75. Take any watch for $1 Pay of ter Christmas $1 a week . - - :. j ' ' .:-..... -:--. v ..; ,' ., ,vw ... 1 , - - -k- . -. - - ... ,. , . Dinner Rings No matter how many diamonds a woman might have she Is al more." And the gift -of aMinner ring never comes amiss. ; We show this year a wonderful col-. lection. New and lovely- white gold mountings set ""with dia monds and with combinations of diamonds, j emeralds and - sap phires. Prices range from $50 to $S0O. Take any one at.th cash price and pay for it Cn the Bur nett Budget Plan" next year. ' . Silverware. Practical Gift We offer none bat the - best makes - such as Cerhasi, Sogers Conununltv, -Holmes and Xdwards, and AWln. And these may he had at. the naUenaDy . Imairn casli prices. Ysu may start with any pattern and Jtsa In as sedal er family needs lacrsase. ; Th may buy a set ef Wm. fiogtrs fa- bm risces ef e!'hfOat tlrt sf . everrtiUaf for fSaJ.3. Or yea may la : dalfre ta tterUa aver at aheat serea- t7-2v CTJLSm setT&i a3 s r-rrr yea seed for a teZtr to I iy " tS'Kyt " 7 ChrS deSar er se a, Solitaries shew Besides the macmificent ing of Dinner Rings we . the finest' diamond engagement rings to be met with in the - northwest. A select group cf - fine stones at prices .that era ; only made possible by reason cf the fact that we buy for a Czzzn stores at a clip. IZ0 to .'- A v. i. v.. . . 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