Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company Members (April 10, 1925)

Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company Members (April 10, 1925)

Chase Correspondence (April 10, 1925)

Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941

Florida Citrus Exchange

Citrus fruit industry--Florida

Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)

An original letter of correspondence written by Sydney Octavius Chase to employees at Chase & Company in Orlando. The letter identifies that Chase & Company played an active role in recruiting dissatisfied members from the Florida Citrus Exchange in order to build and extend their own business throughout the state. 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 Chase & Company Members, April 10, 1925: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.10A, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

1925-04-10

Digital reproduction of original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Chase & Company, April 10, 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

1,357 KB

1 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead

eng

Text

Jacksonville, Florida

Orlando, Florida

30.3167, -81.6500

28.538084, -81.378593

1925-04-09/1925-04-10

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.

CHASE & CO.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

April 10, 1925.

Chase & Company,
Orlando, Fla.

Gentlemen:-
Attention Mr. Mouser.

I have yours of the 9th enclosing copy of letter which you have mailed to all of the district men in connection with the solicitation of Exchange growers. This is a good letter and should put some pep into the outside men, however you failed to enclose a copy of the form letter which you sent Mr. Dade and others which was to be used in even the grower expressed a desire to withdraw. Let me have a copy of this at your convenience.

Yours very truly,

SOC:HMR

1 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead