Letter from Sydney Chase to N. D. Cloward (April 17, 1925)

Letter from Sydney Chase to N. D. Cloward (April 17, 1925)

Chase Correspondence (April 17, 1925)

Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941

Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948

Citrus fruit industry--Florida

Florida Citrus Exchange

Orlando (Fla.)

Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)

An original letter of correspondence written by Sydney Chase to N .D. Cloward. Cloward worked as a representative for Babson Park Citrus Growers Association in Lake Wales, Florida. In the letter, Chase is informing Cloward to recruit growers who dropped out of the Florida Citrus Exchange and join Chase & Company. This letter also shares some of the doubts and distrust Chase & Company felt toward the Florida Citrus Exchange, a state organization comprised of a large number of Florida citrus growers. While members who trusted the Exchange praised the organization as a united group of growers that promoted better distribution and marketing of their citrus products, growers such as Chase & Company were hesitant to hand over all of their power to a larger organization with poor marketing strategies and unregulated membership guidelines.

Chase & Company was established in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century.

Chase, Sydney Octavius

Original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to N. D. Cloward, April 17, 1925: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.10A, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

1925-04-17

Digital reproduction of original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to N. D. Cloward, April 17, 1925.

Chase Collection (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.10A, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Florida Citrus Exchange Collection , Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm.

application/pdf

1,715 KB

1 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead

eng

Text

Jacksonville, Florida

Winter Haven, Florida

Orlando, Florida

30.3167, -81.6500

28.021985, -81.732502

28.538084, -81.378593

1925-04-17/1925-04-17

Donation

History Teacher

Economics Teacher

Geography Teacher

Entire Chase Collection is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.

The displayed collection item is housed at Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.

Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida

Digital Collections (UFDC), University of Florida

Marra, Katherine

University of Florida, Special and Area Studies Collections

"The History of Seald-Sweet." Seald Sweet International. http://www.sealdsweet.com/welcome/our-history.php.

Warner, S.C. "Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida." Florida State Horticultural Society vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.

Florida Clearing House News, June 25, 1931. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00086639/00066.

Hopkins, James T. Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.

"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.

"The History of Seald-Sweet"

"Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida"

"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)"

CHASE & CO.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

April 17, 1925.


Mr. N. D. Cloward,
Winter Haven, Fla.

Dear Mr. Cloward:

I was interested in receiving carbon copy of your recent letter to the Orlando office regarding the withdrawal of Exchange memberes in your district. I would make a dead set for the two or three of these disgruntles Exchange members who have already withdrawn, and work them hard as you can to get them signed up with Chase & Company. We are not strangers in that section of the country, and I feel that our general averages for this season warrant your making strenuous efforts to sign up business at this time. We want you to focus on crops which are good sized and contain a large percentage of round oranges, preferably tangerines and valencias. I feel that you should have some friends in your district who are willing to follow your judgement and advice in the marketing matter. If you can get one or two prominent growers to sign up it will be much easier to get others.

I know it is not easy to do these things, but the exchange does it. Last year we laid off a but to give the Exchange an opportunity of showing what they could do if they had control of a larger percentage of fruit for 1924-25 than they had for the season of 1923-24. Evidently their results to date have not been highly satisfactory. Growers who have mainly valencias have come out good, but I am satisfied that their returns on crops consisting of grapefruit, some mid-season and late oranges will not check up with ours. If there is any personal assistance I can render call on me.

About how many more cars of fruit have you lined up for the Eloise house? Is there any chance of capturing any additional business for this season?

Yours very truly,

SOC:HMR

1 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead