Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Mayo Dade (April 20, 1925)

Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Mayo Dade (April 20, 1925)

Chase Correspondence (April 20, 1925)

Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941

Arcadia (Fla.)

Citrus fruit industry--Florida

Florida Citrus Exchange

Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)

An original letter of correspondence written by Sydney Octavius Chase to Mayo Dade. Dade worked with Chase & Company and was a respected professional in the Florida citrus industry. In the letter, Chase urges Dade to continue recruiting former Florida Citrus Exchange members to Chase & Company. With an increased membership in the company, Chase hoped that including more growers would help balance out the less productive crops in the previous growing season. The 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.

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 Mayo Dade, April 20, 1925: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.10A, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

1925-04-20

Digital reproduction of original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Mayo Dade, April 20, 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

1,652 KB

1 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead

eng

Text

Jacksonville, Florida

Arcadia, Florida

30.3167, -81.6500

27.216014, -81.858544

1925-04-16/1925-04-20

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.

"Mayo Dade Offers Helpful Aid on Fruit Picking," Florida Clearing House News, August 25, 1930.

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"

"Mayo Dade Offers Helpful Aid on Fruit Picking"

"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)"

CHASE & CO.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

April 20, 1925.

Mr. Mayo Dade,
Arcadia, Fla.

Dear:

Referring to your letter of the 18th in which you state that you wrote me fully under date of the 16th regarding Welles, etc. This is to advise that I never received your letter touching on an interview with these gentlemen, and would appreciate it if you would let me have your carbon copy, which I will make a copy of and return same to you. The only reference I have seen in your correspondence regarding the Welles family was a carbon copy of a letter you wrote to the Orlando office in which you advised that the Welles were connected with the Hollingsworth combination, and that they did not think favorably of Chase & Company.
Keep plugging away after any old Exchange business, or any prospective business, no matter where. We have to have business in order to pay expenses. Last year we did not obtain such results as we would like to obtain for growers, and inasmuch as the Exchange were making a drive for new members on the theory that if they could control a larger percentage of the business they could stabilize prices we were more or less half hearted in going after new business, or holding onto our old business which was wobbly. The time has come now to work hard for next season's business, We must have it.
Glad to note that you have been having some good showers. Incidentally you might report on the damage, if any, noted from aphid infection in the Arcadia district,

Yours very truly,

SOC:HMR

1 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead