Business & Finance: Strawberry Kingfish

Louisiana, mostly in the five "Florida" parishes north of New Orleans, is the world's biggest strawberry grower. Last year's crop was estimated at 3,500 carloads (Oregon, 2,500; Tennessee, 2,000). Last summer 200 strawberry growers around Hammond, La. got a lawyer named James Hobson Morrison to organize them into the Louisiana Farmers Protective Union and protect them from the chain stores. James Morrison took a sound truck around the State, before long had 10,000 members. By last week he had made almost every chain "kiss a pigeon"— which in Louisiana means to knuckle under, to cry Uncle.

What the growers wanted James Morrison to do was stop the chains from using strawberries as loss-leaders to get customers into their stores. First thing he did was to forbid buyers to use the Hammond Auction for anyone but their own chain.

At the start of this year's strawberry season, which lasts from March till the middle of May, James Morrison petitioned the National Chain Stores Association to forbid its members selling berries at less than 1½¢ profit a pint, 36¢ a crate. Last week Kroger Grocery & Baking Co. said it would do as Mr. Morrison's Farmers Union asked.

Strawberries are an expensive crop, costing $1.50 a crate to grow, 17¢ more for inspection, packing and auctioning. They are now selling for $2.20, due chiefly to James Morrison. He wears overalls at his farmers' rallies, waves his arms and lets the wind blow through his hair. "I am the Kingfish," he says proudly, "of the berry business."