USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 60
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 60
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T. H. B. CHAMBLIN, FATHER OF FRUIT EXCHANGE
While the growers were struggling along, the larger packers were making money by profits on packing and commissions and by getting illegal rebates on freight from the railroads that were all striving to get the larger share of the freight, which was a profitable source of income to them. Even in the earlier days of the Exchange some of the higher officials of the Exchange were said (by some who appeared to know) not to be above taking rebates from the railroads and putting them in their own pocket. These rebates continued after the Exchange was in full working order until Congress put a stop to the abuse by stringent legisla- tion. Then again packing companies made money out of the use of refrigerator cars which they owned, or by their hire from others.
While a few lucky growers made money from their orchards the great mass of those who had small orchards were on the verge of ruin
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and but for the formation of the Exchange, the orange industry was doomed to failure.
There were, however, many men of more or less means who had business training back in their Eastern homes and they were not idle. Many of them had come for the benefit of their health, and they did not propose to sit down idly and let ruin overtake them.
Among the leaders of these men and most active of all, was T. H. B. Chamblin. He might well be styled the first one to move in the efforts of the orange growers to relieve themselves from the exactions of the packers, middlemen and commission men. He was one of the many who were able to buy themselves a home, but were depending on the returns from their orchards for a living for themselves and families. The orange grower suffered from the first from his isolation, rendering himself an easy prey to the middleman.
The profits realized from packing and shipping oranges in the begin- ning of the orange industry were very considerable. For instance, it was reported that one of the large packing houses would for the season realize a profit of $40,000. This rumor may or may not have been true, but it was enough to set the growers to thinking, and as a result some of the growers combined and packed their own fruit satisfactorily and profitably. The organization extended their efforts to shipping as well, which at first was very successful.
The first organization of this kind was called "The Pachappa Orange Growers' Association." and Mr. Chamblin was made manager of the association. The packing house with appurtenances was either rented or owned. All of these co-operative efforts on the part of the growers, although not at first incorporated, were finally incorporated. It may possibly also be credited to the good sense and business acumen of Mr. Chamblin that none of these doings of the smaller bodies, nor finally of the Fruit Exchange, which was a merger of all the smaller corporations ever came under the provisions of national laws passed to prevent com- binations in restraint of trade, for they were all for mutual protection and not for personal profit. So successful was the Pachappa organiza- tion that many growers from the outside came to the Pachappa officials and begged to be admitted to the benefits and profits enjoyed by them.
This was the beginning and it compelled all of the other packers to combine and form what was called the Riverside Orange Growers' Pro- tective Association, of which the Pachappa Association formed a unit. This association did not in the end prove of any advantage to the grower and hostile organizations began to be formed in the East that arranged when consignments of fruit came from California to be sold, either by auction or commission, that buyers would not bid against one another and in that way each buyer bought at his own price. This, however, did not benefit the consumer, for he paid just the same for his fruit. Some of the larger packers were powerful enough to control prices at both ends. This was the situation when Mr. Chamblin took hold to try and get mutual co-operation among the orange growers.
Mr. Chamblin is another of those Riverside men who have helped introduce some of the good features in our settlement that have been of benefit to all. In season and out of season, almost day and night in spite of defamatory statements and absolute falsehoods, he kept on and on. meeting with encouragement on all sides by the grower and the greatest opposition by those who were profiting by the lack of co-operation by the growers. For several years Mr. Chamblin worked without money and without price, going everywhere trying to show the orange grower how co-operation was the only thing that would save him until almost
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the end, when success was an assured fact when he got enough to pay his expenses. The result of which is the Exchange (not altogether as we have it today, for experience has suggested many changes), but some- thing that showed a silver lining to the cloud of discouragement facing the grower. There was the further difficulty that ultimate success demanded that the growers everywhere else would have to co-operate to protect themselves. Riverside then was the leading orange center, and being inland and freer from discoloration of fruit from ocean fogs and scale insects, naturally thought that her fruit ought to bring more money than orchards that did not produce fruit with such a presentable appearance. These and other difficulties between different places and even among individual growers themselves had all to be met and over- come, but in the end the almost perfect system of today has been worked out that gives each grower and locality the relative value of his fruit.
The first beginnings of this great effort of the growers was in 1893 and the first incorporation was April 29, 1893. At first there was quite a controversy as to the method of selling, whether delivered on board the cars here or shipped to the East and sold at the other end. It was found on the whole that selling in California was not always satisfactory on account of variation in the amount of decay in transit. The matter of decay in transit is getting less and less on account of improved method in handling and quicker delivery.
The Exchange has three general ways of selling its fruit. Sales for the Pacific Coast and the Northwest are usually made free on board cars in California at the point of packing. In the Middle West it is gen- erally sold at the point of delivery by its own agents, while on the Eastern seaboard and for some distance inland it is sold by auction. Being in control of the situation, the Exchange regulates the quantity shipped to any place to the requirements of that locality so that there is no glutting of markets or demoralization of prices in consequence. In consequence of enlargement of the field of supply the name was changed from the Southern California Fruit Exchange to the California Fruit Exchange, which now takes in fruit from all parts of the state where oranges are grown. It now controls something like 75 per cent of all the citrus fruits grown in the state. The shipments for the current year will approxi- mate 20,000,000 boxes.
In addition to packing and shipping the fruit the Fruit Growers' Supply Company does a business of supplying orchard and packing house supplies of nearly $10,000,000.
The Fruit Growers' Supply Company was organized in 1907 by the members of the California Fruit Growers' Exchange for the purpose of purchasing the orchard and packing house supplies for its members.
The particular economic necessity which brought the Supply Company into existence was the problem of meeting the box shook situation which came to a crisis late in 1906. An abrupt 70 per cent increase in the price of this material brought squarely before the grower the necessity for pro- tecting his industry to the extent of insuring an adequate supply of the essential materials at equitable prices.
The Exchange has now about 75,000 acres of timber land in the northern part of the State. The most recent purchase embraced 41,414 acres. The following concerning it is taken from the most recent report of the Fruit Growers' Supply Company :
"The construction of the Lassen plant at Susanville is now nearing completion and should be ready for operation on or about January 1, 1921. Logging operations are now under way and it is planned to have sufficient logs in the pond for the mill when it is ready to operate.
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"The building for the first box factory, the annual capacity of which is 50,000,000,000 feet of lumber, is completed, and the factory will be ready for operation by the time the lumber is available. A second factory of equal capacity will probably be constructed during the coming season or as soon as it appears necessary or advisable to build it.
"The mill is designed to cut one hundred to one hundred twenty mil- lion feet of lumber annually. The plant will generate its own electricity and the mill and box factories will be electrically driven throughout. When completed, it will be one of the most modern and efficient plants of its kind on the Pacific Coast, and will have cost approximately $2,000,- 000. The mill pond occupies 30 acres and the entire manufacturing plant, including yards, occupies 356 acres.
"The logs are delivered by the Supply Company over its own private rails to the Southern Pacific Company at Westwood Junction, located two and one-half miles from the timber. They are hauled from that point by the Southern Pacific Company twenty miles over their line to the plant at Susanville at their established freight rate. The Southern Pacific Company supplies and maintains the logging cars which are used in the logging operations. This arrangement relieves the Supply Com- pany of the burden of the large investment in logging cars and cost of their maintenance.
"This 41,414 acres contains 1,000,000,000 feet of timber, 71 per cent of which is white and sugar pine. It represents a most timelv investment by the Supply Company members and could not now be duplicated for double its cost. It is intermingled with and surrounded by virgin Govern- ment timber which possibly may later become available for purchase as required."
In addition to box shook and other wooden supplies the paper and nail requirements of the Exchange are very large. The Supply Company furnishes pedigreed buds from the best types of trees and fruit to its members who either wish to change trees from a poor grade to the highest possible, or for nursery stock. Nursery seed is also furnished from the best sources. Seed for cover crops are also furnished at a saving to orchardists, also fumigation supplies and fertilizers and in addition to all almost all that the members may need in any line at a saving.
T. H. B. CHAMBLIN is one of the men who came to Riverside in the earlier days of the orange industry that gave of his unstinted time freely to put the growers in a position to reap more fully the fruit of their labors, the results of which have been the establishment of the California Fruit Exchange. It is gratifying to know that before Mr. Chamblin passed away that he was blessed with the knowledge that his labors had met with success.
He was born in Morristown, Ohio, September 30. 1834. He came of French and Holland stock and was engaged more or less in various occu- pations in several States, but the best part of his life was spent in news- paper work with an experience from "printer's devil" to full ownership. The training he got here was doubtless the foundation of that versatility of talent that carried him so successfully through as leader of that struggle on behalf of the orange growers that resulted in the establishment of the California Fruit Growers' Exchange.
Mr. Chamblin, like so many other of the early settlers, came to Cali- fornia for the benefit of his health, and the fact that he lived here for thirty-three years in comparative comfort is the best evidence that he obtained what he sought. He came from Galesburg. Illinois, in 1880, and passed out from his home in Riverside on July 12, 1913.
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Heretofore there has been no special record of his life published and what is published has been scattering in various newspapers and in publi- cations of the Exchange.
After his arrival he settled down as an orange grower and, like his neighbors, with a reasonable degree of success. In all previous experi- ence of fruit growers each man marketed his fruit as best he could and being near the place of delivery could have more or less supervision over the commission man or seller, but here in California was a new problem that had never arisen before. Here was not only one settlement but numbers of them that were devoting their whole time and compara- tively large means to a single specialty that was yearly increasing by leaps and bounds and thousands of carloads being shipped in the spring and summer months. The grower was handicapped by distance from market and lack of knowledge of methods of marketing, not to speak of handling of the fruit before shipment such as picking, packing, etc. This led to associations of the growers for purposes of packing and shipping one of the earliest of which was the Pachappa Orange Growers' Association, of which Mr. Chamblin was secretary and manager, and experience gained here showed the necessity of closer supervision over the fruit in its pas- sage from the grower until it passed into the hands of the consumer. After an immense and intense struggle the California Fruit Growers' Exchange was the result, but let Mr. Chamblin tell the story himself as furnished from papers in his possession :
"During the latter '80s and early '90s (1880 and 1890) Southern Cali- fornia was confronted with a serious and perplexing problem. The orange industry-our most promising and valuable asset-was not only threat- ened with disaster, but actually on the verge of bankruptcy. Several attempts were made to avert the impending calamity through organiza- tions of various kinds, each and all of which, however, embodied the spec- ulative element and consequently were inefficient. Fortunately, however, in the meantime a few orange growers had bonded themselvs togther in a co-operative pooling association known as the Pachappa Orange Growers' Association, packing their own fruit under their own brand, sending it to market under a pooling system and for several years had obtained prices entirely satisfactory to its members. The position of secretary and manager afforded opportunity to study marketing methods then in vogue. From this viewpoint it seemed quite apparent that the impending calamity could only be averted through a general organiza- tion on a co-operative pooling basis, embracing all the orange growing districts in Southern California, together with selling facilities at the market end of the line. Eventually in April, 1893, at the solicitation of a large number of prominent orange growers and business men, a plan for the organization of Riverside district was submitted and most heartily received and endorsed, and a campaign inaugurated resulting in the organ- ization of ten associations and the first District Exchange, known as the Riverside Fruit Exchange. During the progress of this work appeals for help began to come from all parts of Southern California where oranges were grown, coupled with an earnest desire for an extended campaign and a general organization. The call was accepted and a general cam- paign inaugurated. The growers everywhere responded promptly and heartily to the presentation of the plan and with great hope and cheerful- ness fell into line. The movement spread so rapidly that by the middle of August associations and exchanges were organized in all districts and on the 29th day of that month in the old Chamber of Commerce Assembly rooms, then located on Main Street, Los Angeles, was submitted to and adopted by one of the most enthusiastic meetings of the campaign, a gen-
Vol. 1-29
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eral plan for merging all District Exchanges and Associations under a third organization to be known as a Board of Control or Marketing De- partment, eventually christened and known as the Southern California Fruit Exchange.
"The plan under which this third body was organized provided solely for the marketing of the product and embodied two methods of selling, viz: what was then known as f. o. b. (free on board the cars) and the proposed new plan of selling delivered through direct representation in the markets as suggested in the beginning of this article. The new plan was substituted for the f. o. b. in 1895 and is still maintained."
The controversy in regard to selling here on board the cars or deliv- ered lasted many years, but has been fully indorsed by the experience of the Exchange since its formation. It was found that buyers would not come here from the East to buy, necessitating taking the fruit to the market, except in the case of nearby markets on the Pacific Coast.
Lest the readers do not get a clear understanding of the situation at the founding of the Exchange, at the risk of repetition I submit a further communication from the pen of Mr. Chamblin, also under date of Feb- ruary, 1911 :
"I have frequently been asked to tell the public why and how I organ- ized the Fruit Exchange. There was urgent need that something be done to save the orange industry from absolute bankruptcy. The returns from fruit were so meagre-red ink returns so common-that capital was seek- ing other channels for investment and loans.
"As manager of the Pachappa Orange Growers' Association I had opportunity to familiarize myself with the methods of marketing and mature a plan which I felt confident would solve the problem. I was finally urged to prepare a plan for organizing Riverside under the pro- posed new method. This was accomplished with a marked degree of success. Soon, however, I was besieged with calls from other localities to extend the work. I hesitated because of ill health. Finally under increased pressure I consented and made a thorough canvass of all the orange districts of Southern California. With what success the general public know by looking up the history of the Southern California Fruit Exchange (now known as the California Fruit Growers' Exchange). The change of name was made to meet the wishes of orange growers north of Tehachapi.
"Before beginning the work I was urged to name conditions, which I did as follows-I would make the campaign wholly on my own account and at my own risk. If I failed it would be my own failure, if otherwise the orange growers should determine the matter of compensation.
" The result is generally known. Whereas the industry was practi- cally bankrupt with an output of only 5,000 or 6,000 cars as the then prevailing methods of marketing, we now in 1910-11 expect to market 35,000 or 40,000 carloads with profit to producers, as the result of the new method under the Exchange system.
"My expense account for the campaign of organizing in 1893-4 amounting to something over $250, was paid. My compensation for originating and preparing plans and ten months' campaign work was fixed at $1,000, and paid."
The fact that the Exchange is run today on precisely the same lines as laid down by Mr. Chamblin is the best proof of his ability and wisdom. Some other organizations in other parts of the State having been obliged by the Interstate Commission to modify methods it must be confessed, however, more at the instigation of interested parties, whose profitable business was cut short by organization of the growers. The Exchange
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originating in Riverside has been drawn attention to and its. methods copied by other producers extending even to the East.
The following from the California Cultivator, under date of Feb- ruary 1, 1901, and entitled "The Father of the Exchange," will be a fitting tribute to the man who did so much for the orange industry :
"As we wrote the name T. H. B. Chamblin a few weeks ago in con- nection with the starting of the Fruit Exchange, it brought back many pleasant memories of talks with him and recalled his earnest, eloquent pleas for co-operation, pleas that had the result of lifting the orange business out of the slough of failure and placing it on the crest of success.
"We were then more than pleased to renew the old-time friendship on Wednesday of this week when Mr. Chamblin walked into our office and greeted us with the same cheery smile and hearty handshake as of years ago.
"For the past two years he has been East in search of health, the terrible strain under which he labored for many years breaking him down completely. We are glad, however, to say he has entirely recovered and but for a few added gray hairs here and there, he looks the same.
"'A prophet is not without honor save in his own country,' is too often true, but in this case we are pleased to note the reverse is the case, for Mr. Chamblin's return seems the signal for the hearty greetings of friends on all sides. These have been so universal that he has asked us to publish the following as a slight expression of his gratitude."
The following is in part his response :
"I therefore desire to return most sincere and heartfelt thanks for the kindly greeting. The very frequent reference to my work in planning and organizing the Southern California Fruit Exchange would also seem to call for a word. While it is gratifying to note the recognition and kindly appreciation of my part in the matter, and while I esteem it to be no light honor to be known as the 'Father' of such an institution, there should be no underestimate of the loyalty and courage of those who stood by in the stormy days-the veteran defenders of the faith. The achieve- ments in the field of commerce should go to those who were called to the management. In the main the growers have chosen wisely. * * * They are now less indebted to those who have stood and are now standing at the front and directing the forces in active conflict in the markets."
HORTICULTURAL CLUB. The settlement of Riverside by people of edu- cation and of small means and the lack of experience naturally led to more or less inquiry as to the best methods to be pursued in order to attain success. In no sense of the word was Riverside founded as a financial speculation to come here and make money and go out again in the world and make a parade of wealth. The Fortyniners, as the early gold seekers were called, were to a great extent men who came to make a "stake" and go back again to the old home. Many of them did that, but on their return home were not satisfied and married and came back to California, being attracted by the climate and the idea that there were other pursuits in California than gold mining. The partial working out of the placer mines had its effect in turning men's minds from mining to farming and other pursuits. Wheat growing was the great staple in farming when California was at a disadvantage on account of its isolation from the rest of the United States. One thousand ship loads of wheat went "round the Horn" per annum to Europe and a good part of a year was spent in the round trip. Communication across the Isthmus of Panama by the Panama Railroad brought California in closer union with
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the East for passengers and special freight, but California grew slowly in population until the completion of the Union and Central Pacific rail- roads. Southern California was at an even greater disadvantage on account of greater isolation from the rest of the United States. but had a greater reputation on account of milder climate. When the first rail- road was built and people could come here in a few days then popula- tion began to come in in greater numbers. Those who came to Southern California attracted by the climate and for health had but little choice of occupation for there was neither commerce or manufactures, and in the great scarcity of fuel, but little prospect for the future. Fruit rais- ing was about the most promising pursuit then, as it is now. For the greatest and most attractive industry raisins and oranges were by far in the lead. They were both new to the Anglo-Saxon and irrigation was a necessity for success. There were no books on the subject nor anyone with any experience. When the settlement was small and the postoffice and stores were open to 9 o'clock at night and before there was any mail delivery or delivery wagons for stores or butchers' shops, the farmer could after work come in for his mail and the necessary family supplies, and a few neighbors could easily talk matters of common interest up and show what the soil would produce in a semi-tropic clime under the influence of water where months would pass without a shower. These were conditions which had never been encountered before.
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