PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS. to permit them to do so. A large part of the labor on the ranches in California is done by machinery, while in Italy it is done by hand labor, and while a great deal cheaper rates are paid for labor the number of laborers is so increased as to cost the importer as much per box as a box of California lemons. As the foreign groves are in very small tracts and on account of so much hand labor the grove owners in Europe do not make large profits. The grower in California with 10 acres or more of lemons has a good income which is now assured by the customs duty, which makes it difficult for the importers to compete with except in small territory near the seaboard cities. The above being correct as to production, the cost of marketing lemons is scientifically done through mutual organizations, which share among individuals the profits and expenses, so that each bears but a small expense and all get equal prices, and the organization endeavors to control the prices as much as possible to do so by an equal distribution of the fruit. If you wish any verification of my sta ements, or parts of same with which they might be familiar, I would refer to A. F. Call, of this city; Mr. Woodford, of the exchange, or Mr. Teague, of the Limoniera Co.. and being satisfactory I would take charge of a lemon ranch of from 500 acres up, performing all duties of a managerial character, personally superintending all work on a contract with the following suggested provisions, viz: Salary, first to third year, $250 per month; succeeding two years, $300 per month; with a provision for renewal for a further period of five years carrying $300 per month and participation in the net profits to the extent of 5 per cent, also to be added expenses of travel connected with the business. Yours, truly, J. P. TRIOLO. Horse feed is just as cheap as in this country. Talking of horses brings to mind the fact that no horseflesh is used in cultivating groves, which is all done by hand, with a kind of an extremely heavy hoe; so maintenance of horseflesh is not an item that the Sicily grower figures on. Packing. The method of sorting and packing is practically the same as in California, with the exception that more care is used in sorting out any bruised fruit from fruit to be shipped. The difference in the cost of packing can be more readily figured from the basis that the women sorters in Sicily receive 1 franc per day, equal to less than 20 cents, whereas in California we pay them $1.25 to $1.50. Packers in Sicily are men, who receive a maximum wage of 3 francs per day, equal to 60 cents, whereas we pay men and women packers in Californía from $1.75 to $2.25 per day. Ordinary man labor around the packing house is paid 24 francs per day, equal to 50 cents, whereas we pay $1.75 to $2 for the same work. The results of the labor of sorters and packers in Sicily as to the number of boxes sorted and packed would be practically the same as the same number of men and women would do in California. Their shook and paper costs approximately within a cent or so per box of what we pay for shook and paper, so the charges for packing can be easily estimated when the rate of labor paid there is known. Transportation.-The writer was actively engaged as managing director for the Trans-Oceanic Line for seven years, and knows about what it costs to transport fruit. Practically all fruit is brought to the United States in chartered steamers. The charter price is figured out so that it will cost on an average of about 10 pence, or 20 cents, per box, actual cost from Palermo or Messina to New York or coast cities, New Orleans running slightly higher. The shipper is charged 1 shilling 4 pence, or 33 cents, per box, on which he averages a rebate of around 5 or 6 cents, and the balance of course being profit to the charterer and transportation companies, which makes the actual cost to the shipper from Sicily ports over the Altantic to ports in the United States of around 25 or 26 cents per box. This, as compared to California's 84 cents, shows a vast difference in favor of Sicily. Fertilizer.-In Sicily, as in California, this is an item that rests solely with the opinion of the grower, but I will say that commercial fertilizers, which are mostly imported from England and Germany, do not cost on an average of over 50 per cent of what the do in this country. This, of course, is due to the fact that the Germau and English labor, which goes into PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS. the making of the fertilizer, is paid a very small percentage of the same class of labor in the United States, and it does not seem necessary in Sicily to use as much fertilizer to obtain the same results as it does in this country. I have known of a grove of 12-year-old trees 20 miles from Palermo which never had a pound of fertilizer, that was bearing at the rate of 4 packed boxes per year to the tree, which I know will compare very favorably with the best groves in California of the same age that have had large amounts of money expended on them for fertilizer. Another item in which cheap labor increases the income of the Sicily grower is that they can produce citrate of lime, essential oils, and citric acid at a very low cost, and all cull lemons can be sold by the grower to these factories at never less than 4 francs, or 80 cents, per 100, and from that pay as high as 8 francs per 1,000 lemons for the use of this factory in making these products. In California, on account of the labor cost, it is impossible to produce these articles at a profit, so this is one source of income which we do not have. The writer does not know the present state of the Sicily labor markets. The rates of labor he is stating here were in force 10 years ago, but he knows that labor conditions have not improved in Sicily to the benefit of the laborer during the past 10 years, so that he thinks that the cost of labor to-day and 10 years ago could not be any more, and may be less. Yours, very truly, J. P. TRIOLO. Mr. Teague, the president of the Limonera Co., was one of a committee which made a signed statement to the Ways and Means Committee (Hearings, Schedule G, p. 3857), in which he claimed that the average interest on amount invested realized by the Californians was 4.3 per cent. The report of the manager and secretary to the directors and stockholders of the Limonera Co. of January 1, 1910, gave the following information as to the finances of the company: Dividends paid to stockholders during 1909. Dividends paid to stockholders during 1908. $100,000 100,000 140, 000 The average price received for all fruit shipped during the year was about $2.77 per box f. o. b. Santa Paula. Statement of company's net profits for the past eight years: Total net profit for the year 1902.. Total net profit for the year 1903.. $24, 756. 81 31, 673. 41 43,995. 53 135, 545, 40 200, 757.49 240, 110. 30 123, 904. 43 167, 486. 76 PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS. All the arguments before the Ways and Means Committee in 1908 and 1909 were based on the following statistics: Citrus industry in California for 11 years-Average production, selling price, cost of production, and profit of an average grove per acre. Total profit on investment, $43.19 per acre. Average cost of 1 acre, $1,000. Average interest on amount 4.3 per cent. It will be noted that there is absolutely no information given in this table in reference to lemons alone. The figures relate solely to oranges and lemons in combination. Mr. Hampton also testified in case 3.000, on direct examination, before the Interstate Commerce Commission, that during the period from 1902 to 1905 many lemon groves were budded over to orange, the acreage of lemons decreasing about 6,000 acres, or 40 per cent. On cross-examination Mr. Hampton could not, when pressed, give the name of one grove that had been budded over from lemons to oranges. LEMON IMPORTING AN OLD ESTABLISHED BUSINESS. The importers of lemons desire to call the attention of this committee to the fact that the business of importing lemons from Italy to the United States has been in existence for many years. The business is well established and the machinery for transacting it and the actual handling of the lemons have been fully developed through years of experience. It includes importers, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, and in fact an entire system in which thousands of native-born and naturalized Americans are engaged, who look to it as a means of support. If this business system should be broken up it would take a long while to reestablish it, as lemons, unlike most merchandise, can not be imported offhand, but all facilities for handling them must be previously organized, as, owing to their perishable nature, they can not be kept and dealt in as is other merchandise. The great majority of importers of lemons are American citizens. The fact that the lemon is a necessity of life is so obvious that it requires no argument. It is used in cookery and flavoring, in hospitals and medical practice, in prisons, asylums, reformatories, and all similar public institutions. It is universally used among the people, rich and poor alike. It is an essential in the sick room, in hospitals, and in medical practice. The importers respectfully submit that the facts as proven in this brief show there is no need of a duty on lemons to protect the California lemon from the foreign lemon; 78959°- -VOL 3-13-55 PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS. that the lemon being a necessity of life, in which there is a constant shortage of production in this country, is not a suitable product to raise revenue from if it can be obtained from other sources; that a duty on lemons results in forcing the American people as a whole to pay a bounty to six or seven counties of one State, while at the same time raising the price to the whole American people of a necessity of life which is in general use throughout the entire country and among all classes of the population. Therefore we believe lemons should be placed on the free list. Respectfully submitted. G. DOMINICI, CARL BRAUN, Shipments of lemons from Southern California (Pacific Fruit World, November, 1907, Nov. 6, 1909) versus imports (Powell). and 1 Commerce and Finance, and computed 84 pounds to box, 312 boxes to car. Tariff duty-One cent per pound until August 5, 1909, when it became 14 cents per pound. Boxes extra at all times; at present 30 per cent ad valorem. Charge since 1899-1900, Southern California production increased: Cars, 328 per cent; imports decreased, pounds 10.9 per cent. Declared values of imports for 11 months of 1909, ending November, and for years 1908, etc., for lemons and oranges, from "Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance of the United States," published by the Department of Commerce and Labor. Accepting the citrus fruit growers' statement that it costs $1.48 per box to produce lemons in California and place them on cars (see schedule G of tariff, and brief of facts submitted), and adding thereto 96.6 cents per box for freight at $1.15 per hundredweight, the cost at destination would be $2.446 per box of California lemons. Using the average cost of imported lemons shown in 1908 of $2.86 per box for 992,946 boxes imported by New York dealers (see Tariff Schedule G, p. 4035-4), deducting 14 cents for wharf labor and auction charges, and adding to this 42 cents increased duty we have cost of imported lemons at New York of $3.14 per box. Assuming a distribution via rail and water route (cheapest) in carloads to various points, the following contrast in laying down a box of California versus foreign lemons in various groups, presents itself. (Rail and Lake rates taken from LV ICC B-2800). |