Norwich bulletin., 1909-11-20
A FARMERS TALK TO FARMERS
Minnesota Leader in Agriculture How Farming is Taught at the University-dow Cooperation is Dem- onstrated the Brightest Star in the As- rcutural Sky.

! ket at about the highest price which such butter anywhere commands. The leaders have insisted from the first, that only the very best, and, therefore. the highest priced skill should be em- ployed in making butter, and the patrons. have now come universally, to see that this is true economy in the end. Once in so often regular ''round-up' of the business is made and the patrons then get, in addition to the pay for their milk their pro rata share of the net profits made from selling the fanciest possible butter at the fanciest prices.
 That is, the Minnesota cooperative dairyman gets for his butter all it is worth, after the expenses of making and selling are deducted, and none of 1t is paid as toll to Mir. Middieman. And, if you will pardon the interjec- tion of a personal reflection, it cer- tainly is more comfortable and sensi- ble, if you don't like MT. Middleman, to just build a road round his toll-gate this way and leave him out, than it is to spend your breath denouncing him or your strength shying stones at his windows.
 Fire insurance is another of the CO., operative schemes carried on under this same general, university manage ment. All that need be said of 1t is that experience has shown the cost to be from a half to thirds less than usual premiums. Rural telephones are also installed in the same CO., operative way. The original cost varies accord ing to the distance over which poles and wires must be erected. but the average is about $40 This having al the fnlI0UfInU cost is never over and often under $6 per annum. So great has been the de- velopment of this telephone feature that the larger oft seeking compan- ies, which at first essayed to fight the movement, have now yielded to the inevitable and work with the co-op- erative lines, giving them town and long distance connection at equitable rates.
 From all these diverse lines the trend towards real cooperative stores soon became irresistible. and now consid- erable number are maintained. with constant additions. Two especially noteworthy facts in connection with them are that they do not seek to win by underseIling competitors, and that they employ the best expert help as managers. They sell at the same price others charge, but the patrons get their profits in the annual dividends regularly declared. The employment of expert management assures the avoidance of such losses as. are inev- itable when some inexperlenced farrper is put in charge, simply because he is big stockholder or will work cheap. So successful have been these co-op- erative stores that the idea Is taking root in all parts of the state. and a plan is even now in process of devel- opment for the establishment of whole sale houses to supply the farm stores. Tn other words, cooperation, having already saved to the farmer the re- tailer's profits. is now to save him, in addition, the wholesalers or jobber's tolls.
 Minnesota is not SO denseIy ropuIat ed as our eastern states. CO-opera- tion ought to be simpler and more sue cessful here than there- Yet it is evil dent that we of the older communities must go t. school to these western folks in this one pressing need of our rural life. No matter what the eco homie doctors may diagnose or the economic specialists prescribe, the whole trouble with farm life Is it's lack of profits. And it lacks profits because the farmer gets only a part of what it is worth for that which he
  worth for that which he consumes. He pays toll both ways, going and com ing. Of all the stars visible on the rural horizon that named "Co-opera- tion" is the only one which now throws any light on any possible exit from this "No-T -Thoroughfare." So long as the farmer has to drop 25 cents into somebody's till. in order to get 75 cents for his dollars worth of produce, so long he will be hard up. So long as he has to pay s1.25 into somebody's till for every dollars worth of goods he buys to consume. so long he will have to live on soggy potatoes and walk "on his uppers." When he gets the whole dollar for himself which lis produce is really worth and pays but the dollar for his goods which the goods are really worth he will have just about twice as much money as he has now. If. then. with his rights conserved and his profits in his own brooches pock- cts, he can't make farming pay it will be time to ransack the universe for some other cause and some other rem edy.
 My own impression is that farming pays. The cnly trouble is that it