The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-04-30
Living Issues.
AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS IN
FRANCE.

Q i've Farmer we referred to a recent
Consular report discussing at some
length the growth and work of
French farmers organizations. We
have just received a copy of this re-
port, and, believing that it will be of
great interest to our readers, pub
lish it herewith. The reports signed
by John @. Covert, American Consul
at Lyons, France, and is as follows {:
One of the most conspicuous fea-
lures of the Third Republic of
France is the organization of sOcie-
ties of. a semi-sOcial and business
character which, in their wide scope,
include all classes of society-em-
ployers and employees, the wealthy
and the poor, from the child of six
years OLD to the oldest citizen of the
nation. They are based upon the
principle of fraternity, the develop
ment of which, it is cOntended, is
the especial province of the Third
Republic, a duty bequeathed to it
by the First and Second Republics,
under which liberty and equality are
supposed to have received their
fullest practical application. In re-
ports from this consulate to the De-
partment entitled "Workingmen's
aid societies." dated January 10,
1900, Labor conditions in France,
dated July %, 1900, and "French
silk industry" May 10, 1900, 1 gave
an outline of several movements
started with a view to i~naugurating
a closer fraternity among the French
people. The progress of this move
ment in the organization of agricul-
tural syndicates, Or farmers ALI
ances as we might call them, is in
the same channel.
sYNDICATEs.
Associations of farmers called
"syndicGteS GgricOLeS'' have been or
ganized all over France since the
passage of the law of March 81, 1884,
their aim being to further the eco
nomic, industrial, commercial, and
agricultural interests of their mem
bers and to attach the farmer more
closely to the country. They are
organized under d general law which
authorizes any twenty persons of
one trade or of several similar trades
to combine in a society. The dues
are fixed at from 10 cents to 81 per
month.
The syndicates r empowered to
possess such realty as is necessary
for their meetings, library, and lee
ture rooms, to establish among their
members banks to provide pensions
to their members or relief in sick
ness, and to open offices for the find
ing of employment for the unem-
plOyed. They may become a center
or school for the discussion and study
of all questions pertaining to their
special calling, and they may organ
ize d tribunal for the solution of all
contentious among wOrkingmen or
between capital and labor. A mem
Der of u syndicate can withdraw
from it whenever he pleases, but is
bound by law to pay his dues for
the current year. A retiring mem
Der reserves the right to a pension
and relief from the fund which he
has contributed to create.
ShOnld a syndicate exceed its au-
thority in acquiring realty, those in
terested may call upon the P%recUreur
de la Republique Cthe district at
torney) to annul the purchase, or,
if purchases prove a burden to the
syndicate, the same law officer may
be called upon to dispose of them. In
the event of dissolution, the property
viii revert to those who contributed
it, their heirs or assigns.
The law officer of the Department
or commune where the syndicate is
located may call upon the court to
dissolve a syndicate and to annul all
purchases or other acts made in
violation of law or of the will of d
majority of it's members. False
declarations made by the officers or
any violation of laws provided for
the organization and government of
these syndicates are punishable by
fines of Is, 200, and 500 francs (S3 Il,
$38 go, and $96.5O). The organic
law upon which these societies are
based is applicable to the French
colonies of Algeria, Tunis, Guade
l0upe, Martinique. and La Reunion