Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-10-17
UNION OF FARMERS.
NEARLY TWO MILLION MEM
BERS NOW ENROLLED.
TiIIers of the Soil All Over the Coun-
try Now Banded In Great Educa-
zatfon.

The Farmers Educational and Co
operative Union now claims a member
ship of 100000. representing, approx
imately. One-eghth of the States. In
Arkansas alone there are $4,000 meu-
bers Of the Farmers Union. and Texas
claims 225.0OO to 275,000. Every south
ern and many western States have d
large membership.
Not only is the organization strong
in numbers. but it is developed in or
ganization. from the State association
down to the district, county aud local
associations, each having its charter
10 do business in the name Of the m
ion. Every State has a business agent,
whose duties are as well defined as
the duties of Il State Auditor.
Yet the movement is in its infancy,
as to years, having been started in an
out of the way place in Texas less
than decade ago. Newt Gresham,
father of the Farmers Union" called
the first local together, few years
ago. in the town of Point, in Northeast
Texas.
One of the basic principles of the
Farmers Educational and CO-opera-
tive Union is that business is bust
ness in short, that cause and effect
must be taken into account and that
system must underliesthe plans of the
farmers, the same as the plans of oper-
ators in any other business. Long DC
fore the idea of warehouses was given
publicity the men behind the Farmers
Union had evolved a scheme covering
actual construction and safeguards
against Obstructing factors.
The average Farmers Union man is
not full of the sentiment about what
the farming class ought to have, but
he has reached the conclusion, by rel
soning along business lines, that the
farmer can make things happen.
For the first time in the history Of
the cotton growers, for instance, they
have discovered that cotton is not
merely a bag of fiber, valuable only
after it has reached the hands of the
manipulation, but that it has represent
atiye value, as well as a real value,
and may be used as collateral the
same as a check or a gilt-edge prOmis-
sorry note. Upon this idea, largely, is
based the success of the warehouse
scheme. The farmer, should he be too
poor to hold his product against low
market, may house the cotton and
n 70 1ap
centage of its value.
Warehouses are scattered over the
country by the hundreds. 1--WE are
able to store away for an indefinite pc
riod 100000 bales of cotton if need
be-" said Il prominent Texan, land
new warehouses are going up every
day"
The union is not only strong in the
South; it is rapidly gaining in the
North and West At the national con-
yention two years ago there was hard
Iy delegate or a visitor from any sec
ton except the cotton growing States.
and in the setting of values cotton ard
cotton-seed products were practically
the only things considered.
At the recent convention not only
was there a delegation from the Mid
die West, but even from Washington
and California. The comprehensive
scope is also shown in the nature of
the committees now Endorsed by the
union. There are committees on cot-'
ton, grain, stock, strip and canning
products.
There is Il committee on legislation.
As corollary to the haphazard policy
of state legislative committees the ma
tional association took the stand of
favoring a lobby at Washington, and
a strong resolution setting forth this
idea passed the convention. Hereafter
three of the shrewdest men in the or
der will look after the interests of the
union and will obtain headquarters at
the national capital.