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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 1928)
PXOE THREE pre IE s mess iosopti J I 2r 1L 0 o MEDFORD MAIL" TRIBUXE, MEDEORD, OREOON, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1028. Modem ..j)US1 t f ? ? t Y OB r ijTHE year l!l2(! by jnson of unexpected activities on the pin t of tin- Department of Chemistry, the Rogue River Val ley faced the most serious situation that hud ever developed in the history of the fruit industry in Southern Oregon. Out of a clear hluiOky and without warning we were notified hy agents of the Department o'h'einistry that our fruit was urjt O"- huntun consumption by reason of arsenical spray residue. ' was a fa?t that for many years the fruit growers on icil'ie (Vast, reaching from the Canadian line to mid Federal ind so far as It the entire 1 Mexico, hud been advised and even compelled by Statt i: ,..' i . 4 i ...i.n:.... ...i. "niiiiiimcs iw use aisciiiiic s inn hi control i-ouuiiiij iiniii the growers or shippers weP concerned, they were innocent tif any wrongdoing. O Q o giVe will not relate tj harrowing situation that developed when we all were Confuted with a demand from Ihe Department of Chemistr.VQ that we either dump our fruit in Oregon or remove all traces wf spray residue from our fruit on a moment's notice. It was true no nunOoery for this purpose hud been devised or even thought of at thatQme. O It transpired that Ihe first car to he seized by the agents of the, Depart ment of Chemistry was one packed hy the Sunerest Orchards, Inc., which ear of friQiOns declared by the agents of the Department of Chemistry as w'cllis our local county agent to be as clean limits free of spray residue as any car leaving this valley we having installed one of the first 1 Stehli'r brushing machines in at was ever9scd in the fruit industry in the . entire Xorthwfet. o o We received notice in writing from thcounty agent that this car was being seized as aQ example or as a test ear. When the car in question - reached desination at Chicago it was seized by agents of the Department of Chemistry and finally destroyedTliy them without any due process of law and resulted iiQthe lossiot only of the. fruit, the packing charges, Oiut the freight and other chargeiQvere added to this loss. o Immediately following the de.sti uctiono this car of fruit, we notified the growers with WQom we had contracts, both in writing and verbally, to the cffecl that to all intents mid purposes their Quit had become con ., twbadr-llStQe qouUI 410 longer . uYc'cpT;'same as good delivery, 011 contracts. The growers fully understood the situation and entered into new agreements with us whereby any fruOthat-received thereafter would be handled under the following terms: That weQvould not be required to pay for the fruit in ease of seizure or condemnation on the part of the Department of Chemistry, aiiQ new written contracts were proOded incluOuigQlns clause. VERY fruit grower as well as cQy packer and shipper in Ihe Rogue River VMley wilty-call the strenuous efforts we made at that time to defend their and our property from what we considered unwarranted and unconstitu tional attacks that were being made againsHt by agents of the Department of Chemistry. , o All injunction whs obtained preventing further intey Terence, in operiiuon or our pacuing piaiu. .onvim standiir' tins injiincfton Federal agents continued to harass us at t'Q packing plant. Car numbers were taken of every car that we shipped, notwithstanding we had adopted and employed every known measure of cleansQg the fruit. . Fin'Vy-nnc ears were seized at one time at Eastern destination. Agents Q1111 the Department of Chemistry operating in nO parts of the Cnited States, especially in New York, Hoston, I'hiladclphia and Chicago, had been notified to watch for the (Men Rosa brand, to seize it and to east aspersion on it. as Q-ing especially unclean. and unfit for human con sumption. " .O We declared that all of these acts up to that time had heen illegal and unconstitutional on the grounds that our property had been seized' without due processes of law and that we were not given an opportunity to defend ourselves or our property in open court, a.-, it were, and chal lenged the (idvcrimient to proceed in a proscribed manner and to seize and libel our fruit, thereby giving ns an opportunity to he heard ill court. .lr. .lardine, Secretary of Agriculture, accepted the challenge and (lid seize and libel a large block of fruit stored in the I'niied States Cold Storage plant at Chicago. This gave us our first opportunity to be heard, in defense of, property that washing destroyed on all sides through secret processes. ' O We employed counsel at Mfidford who in turn engaged prominent legal assistance in Chicago, who appeared in the Federal courts and ably defendedQur property. The shameful mid disgraceful methods employed against us by Federal agents at. this triO, Ihe glaring abuP ot ihe high office of the Federal judge who heard Ois case, the abusive treatment of our witnesses and everything else that goes to make up a fureial trial was provided for us, andQie (Jovermcnt found'' against us. OGo o We then pu up a cash bond for the release of these cQs under libel, which cash bond bus noVer to this day been returned to us, and uiO'r this bomlQie fruit was released and wc were permitted to forward sage to our agents at Hoston to be. sold under 'Federal observation. Our agents at Boston vQrcd us immediately oithe Vrrival of the fruit that the fruit iJOW I am gePmg lQ'k to the text of this statement, viz.. .Modern Business-Philosophy." O As a result of the forgoing circumstances the Run crest OrchurdsQlne., suffered a loss on the basis of purchase price of the fnjjjt of n total of $76",000, covering the season's opernQjns 111 the Rogue River A'allcy for 1!lLMi. When wc closed-ourjilaiit and started back for California about N'ovenioer T, lfl'.'O, we were indebted to the growers in the ogue River- Valley, basis' coiOa(t price, 111 a total ot ifoj.unu. e. iqi already paid to iiicm approximately $150,000 on contracts and had turned over to them every penny that we had received, including all that we had received on our .own urge cronsTwitli tile result tnat wnen rx siarieu soiun we nau 1x O vi Medford, Oregon, October 23, 1928. . O S$esolutidn WIIlPiEAS, Tn the pear harvesting season of the year l!)i2(i the Rogue Rq-ci-A'alley experienced unexpected difficulties in marketing its crops ($ pears and apples' hy rcasoii of inter Oferer.ce on the part of agentsOd" the Department of Chemisy, and o WIlKREAS Our fruit, was declamPto be unfit for human consumption bvrOon of arsenical spray residue, and WUKRKAS, Conti-Qts which had been cQered into with d the Sunerest Orchards, Inc., became mill and void, thereby necessitating new contracts, which provided a clause absolving the Sunerest .Orchards, ,lnc., from all liability for the purchase prieof the fruit in caso of. seizure or condemnation on the part of agents of the Department ft Chemistry, and q VQIKR'OAS, Seizures did take place in the marketing of our crops resulting in tremendous losses.Qnd WIIKRICAS, The Sunerest Orchards, Inc., of it own voli tion' has elected to assume tljo full burden of the losses and to pay'in full, and WHEREAS, Such payments have now been made inOull, F.K IT THEREFOR 1? RESOLVlO), That ge, the tinder sigid, hereby express our full appreciation and full recog nition of the principle that Poverned the Sunerest Orchards, Inc., in assuming the fullurden of this loss. Hill Estate Howard A. Hill Bert Anderson Ifcirrv l'ellett Xycrchard, by S. O. B. yU (Tow Oiris WofTf ' cParlciC'. Stney Bcrtholi BHrnunt ' I;.. M. LolTiiiid ' O D. D. Harris ' A. Nye C. W. Isaacs' ; Walter Jjeveretle Chris Obtleib' o o was in perfect condition and they would have no difficulty in selling it at big prices. Wo later received a wire from them stating that they were having sonnylifficulty in cleansing the fruit to meet the requirements of . 0e Department orChemistry. Still later wo received .ml vice from Boston that notwithstanding they had washed this fruit three times' in a solutjjyi of muriatic, acid that Government ol'Oiials had denied them the privilege of selling, with the result that the eiire (iiintity was eventually dumped, not only Cowing us a loss otlic fruit, packing, freight and cold storage charges, but in addition Q' w,,-e required to pay $400 per ear demurrage which took place while the strupOe was going on in Chicago and Bos(on to cleanse this fruit to meet the demand of thn Depart it of Chemistry. O '" , Briefly, the agents from the Depart mcnl of Ciii-iiilstry, goaded on hy Secretary Jardinc, had literally and vindictively followed this fruit , A') the grave. scarcely enough money to purchase fQioline to propel our ears into Cali fornia. This statement is literally true. O o ,..-...'-.. .. We were then bcinjT characterize as irresponsible, tin-horn specu lOors. Statements of the most damaging nature were being circulated on all sides of how we had failed to meet our obligations with tho growers. O What were weQo do With reference to the $51,000 Klill duo tho growers, basis full contract Qices? Were wc to fall back on the clearly specified terms ofnur ccQtNiets which provided that the growers should stand all of the loss by reason of seizures and condemnations? If so, this would not only wipe out the full $51,000 but we would also have olaims against tho growers f,or large amounts of money already paid Miem on these contracts. ' q s . O O Viewing ourjiicture as iLwholc amLtnowiug more about pur financial ability than dia our 9ritic; wo realized that notwithstanding the legal aspects of our contracts with the growers J,lnt we wcrP. tar moro "nl to accept Ihe full responsibility of this loss thnnthcy were- . o o Wc furt Wr realized that if we were to fall back on tho full. meaning Od tho intention of our contracts that some of the growers, at least, 9vouldQictu01y lose their property, as they were then badly involved. It would furl9er provide for misunderstandings, hard feelings, inter ruption of pleasant business rclationsliipioiiul the tearing down of tho very ideals that wc had endeavored to Bustain sinco rust iug our lot in, tho Rogue Rives Valley. Under these circumstanccs'we decided to accept full responsibility and to pay our growers 100 cents On the foliar. V ; It required not oifty patience and steadfastness of purpose to accom plish this but it also required a portion of the crops wo produced on our ; own orchards in Cnlififtiin and Oregon to liquidate this tidy little deficit of $51,000. . ' I - 1 Wc wish that our lading bankers would talff notice of tho foffowing . statement : The growors to whom wo were thusly indebted on contracts IiikUio security whatsoever. They were not even fortified by a moral of legal obligation on our part, and yet they have:bccrt paid in full 100 cents on the dollar and here is where the modern business philosophy Qiplios. Does this philosophPpay in business? Wo answer most emphatically it does pay and wo would not aAhiH moment trado the h!ghcsteetrOin wliieh wo' hold these growers, and which in turn is aooorded to us by Qlhcin, for any monetary consideration., We have not suffered one par ticle, excepting of course by tho unwarranted abuse and attacks which have been leveled at us by certain of our: competitors who consider it good business to strew; our pathway with thorfti instead of roses, but we soon become accustomed to tho thorn and could traverse them' on our upward journey with a smilo and proper sympathy. At this point wc wish to correct a wrong jjtpression that seems to preQiil in fnQi circles in the Rogue River Valley. We have been credited with saving the Hill estate, which in 1926 was in the hands of a receiver. The Hills themselves, through their own capable management, have saved their own estate. Mr. Dillon Hill, before ho died, had finally taken the "bull by the horns" and was shaping his affairs for eventual success. Since his death Mrs. Hill and Iter three sons have with the same stcad fastness continued his policy, and have Hold their fruit for cash, which has resulted in a short three-year period in placing their cstato 00 a sound foundation! ; We have not paid the Hills ally more nor, any less than we have any other growers in the valley, therefore aro not entitled to any credit whatsoever. ' ........ A resolution adopted by the growers themselves and published herein, 1 setting forth the faithfulness of the foregoing statements, is worthy of profound thought. (P $51,000 Has Now Been Paid in Full uncrest Orchards, Ine By Llewellyn As Banks . jt, ., WMM-w W