PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS.

California fruit meets the foreign fruit at auction. By comparing the f. o. b. California monthly prices with the monthly prices received by the importers for foreign fruit in New York it will be seen that the California product has almost invariably brought the producers in California lower prices than has been obtained by the importers for their fruit in New York. Occasionally during the fall months, before shipments from Sicily or from California begin in quantity, the new crop from California has brought higher prices than the old fruit from Sicily which is sold in these markets at that season of the year. These figures include all of the fruit sold during this period by the California Fruit Growers' Exchange.

TABLE XI.-The f. o. b. California monthly selling price of lemons sold at auction in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore from July, 1909, to November, 1912.

PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS.

FLUCTUATIONS IN WHOLESALE PRICE OF LEMONS.

Occasionally the price of lemons rises to an unusually high figure for a short period of time. This condition is the result of supply and demand. Wherever the temperature is high the demand for lemons instantly increases, because the use of lemonade and other lemon beverages rises and falls with the condition of the weather. Extreme cold weather also produces an unusual demand for lemons to be used in connection with human ailments that are more frequent in extreme cold weather. During the fall months before the lemon crop of Italy is ready to harvest and when the California harvest is also lightest, the price of lemons may reach unusual heights, especially during temporary hot periods. These fluctuations in the price of a perishable food supply that is handled on a speculative basis are likely to be violent because the speculative dealer manipulates his supplies to take advantage of such conditions. They are particularly apt to happen in the lemon supplies of the 51,000,000 people in the eastern United States who have to depend on the imported lemon because the importer can not secure supplies quickly to meet an unusual demand. These violent fluctuations in price are growing less frequent since the domestic lemon crop has increased, because the California producer is just beginning to produce enough fruit to keep the eastern markets at least partially supplied whenever he can afford to meet the competition of the cheaper labor and the lower freight rate of Italy. Formerly the eastern markets were wholly supplied with fo eign lemons. Now from 20 to 30 per cent of the domestic crop is marketed east of the Alleghenies. The data following, compiled from the New York Journal of Commerce, shows the periods when lemons have brought more than $6.50 per box in New York since 1885. Practically all of these quotations cover imported lemons, the California fruit having sold in New York only during the last few years.

TABLE XII.-Fluctuation in the wholesale price of lemons, from 1885 to 1909, inclusive, $6.50 per box or more.

PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS.

TABLE XII.-Fluctuation tn the wholesale price of lemons, from 1885 to 1909, inclusive, $6.50 per box or more-Continued.

The retail price of lemons in the United States varies from 15 to 30 cents per dozen. Occasionally the retail price is temporarily higher for the fancy grades. The average retail price is about 20 cents per dozen. The retail price of lemons in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, St. John, or other eastern Canadian points is the same as it is in the United States, though the entire supply of lemons for that portion of Canada is imported from Italy duty free, and at a water rate of not over 30 cents per box. The table following gives the average retail price of the 300 size lemons in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, and in Toronto, Montreal and St. John, in Canada from May, 1911, to December, 1912. The data have been obtained semimonthly from three to five representative retail dealers in each of the markets named:

TABLE XIII.-Retail prices of lemons (300 size, in cents per dozen), as reported by district managers of the California Fruit Growers Exchange.

PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS.

TABLE XIII.-Retail prices of lemons (300 size, in cents per dozen), as reported by district managers of the California Fruit Growers' Exchange-Continued.

The imports of lemons into the United States, the rate of duty, the quantity, value, duty collected, unit value, and the ad valorem rate of duty, from 1898 to 1912, inclusive, are shown in the table following. Practically all of the lemons are imported into the United States from Italy.

TABLE XIV.-Imports of lemons entered for consumption in the United States during years ended June 30, 1898 to 1912, inclusive.

Imports and Duties, 1894 to 1907, by W. W. Evans, compiled under the direction of the Committee on Ways and Means, from Annual Reports on Commerce and Navigation.

Per cubic foot.

* Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Statistics: Imported Merchandise Entered for Consumption in the United States, and Duties Collected Thereon, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1912.

July 1 to Aug. 5, 1909; act of 1897.

Aug. 6, 1909, to June 30, 1910; act of 1909.

The imports of lemons are heaviest from April to August, inclusive, nearly half the imports, according to official data, arriving in May, June, and July. In the last 10 years during April the imports have varied from 8.4 to 15.4 per cent; from 10.8 to 19.4 per cent in May; from 14.4 to 20.7 per cent in June; from 10.6 to 22 per cent in July; and from 6.6 to 13.5 per cent in August. From 85 to 90 per cent of the imported lemons are received in the customs district of New York, about 5 per cent in Boston, and smaller quantities in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other less important places.

The average annual revenue collected on lemons under the Dingley Act from 1898 to 1909, inclusive, was $1,565,900.67. The duty collected in 1910, the first year under the Payne-Aldrich Act, was $2,233,527.87, or 43 per cent above the annual

PARAGRAPH 277-LEMONS.

average under the Dingley Act. The annual average revenue collected under the first three years of the Payne-Aldrich Act is 37.1 per cent greater than the annual average revenue collected under the Dingley Act and 37.9 per cent greater than the average of the three years preceding the passage of the act.

In considering the ad valorem rate of duty as shown on the preceding page, it should be remembered that the value of the lemons imported into the United States is determined from the invoices of the Italian exporters of lemons without an actual appraisement of the value by the United States Government. When the duty is at an ad valorem rate, the tendency of the exporter is always to underestimate the value of the goods exported in order to establish the lowest possible ad valorem rate. The duty on citrus fruits is specific per pound. The value of the lemons as given by the exporters bears no relation to the duty to be paid, and is given by the exporter as a matter of form, in compliance with the rules of the United States Treasury Department. The value is not subject to appraisement by the United States when the lemons enter, and is the value which the exporter places on his fruit when the invoice is prepared. The ad valorem rate of duty as given on a preceding page is therefore a theoretical ad valorem based upon the statement of the exporters rather than determined by appraisement by the United States Government.

FREIGHT RATES ON LEMONS FROM ITALY TO DIFFERENT PORTS.

The table following, based upon data furnished by the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Department of Agriculture, gives the freight rates on lemons from Italy to some of the principal cities in Europe and to New York. The data were supplied through the State Department by the American consuls.

TABLE XV.-The freight rates on lemons from Italy to different ports.

1 This rate, according to a statement furnished by the office of the American consul at Palermo, includes a rebate of 6 cents per package to the shipper whenever the number of boxes is over 1,000; also a rebate of 4 cents since Apr. 1, 1911, for defense of Italian lemon trade.