The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-12-08
OPPORTUNITY OF GRANGE
Is Being Neglected Says st. Lawrence
Professor.

4 an opAN ! ~ SIG bAlN II diEEt NllG AAbSb
potent agency possessed by the farmers
to-day, passing daily its most urgent
problems without even discussion, writes
Dean Herbert f. Cook Of st. Lawrence
university in the New York Tribune
Farmer Is it possible that grange linn
itations are so thoroughly fixed through
long established custom that another or
ganization must arise to take up other
work than social problems? The grange
has done great work in remolding the
social and educational life Of our coun.
try homes, Proyidentiai- like, it seemed
to come among us with almost re-
ligious atmosphere. surrounding it.
wish the reader would stop a moment
and reflect upon this last statement, be-
cause it may be the solution of the lack
of readiness to take on purely business
problems
For years the order has taught the
children within its walls to hold only
to those things that are educational
from an academic standpoint. The
grange is an eastern institution, and
so-like our thoughts and movements
very conservative. | have scoded and
fretted, talked and written because the
grange did not take part in the bus
mess regeneration Of the farm; Others
have done likewise with about equal re-
suits, which leads to a semiconcmsion
that there are certain unwritten laws
that are engrafted upon the order that
may SAVIOR of the teaching in my early
days on the immutability of laws gov
erning the Modes and Persians. | am
learning daily that restrictions and linn
itations surround every man and every
institution. There are rules and laws
which experience and expedieney have
placed upon their books which cannot
be repealed without a revelation, and
so / query: Will we have to build an
other machine to organize the present
business needs of the farmers?
Our methods of cooperation are crude;
they are practically undeveloped. The
great gap between producer and con-
sumner has never received the first cul-
tiyation from the farmer, who is the
most concerned | saw recently a most
significant statement in the Rural New
Yorker that man who paid 81 for
barrel Of apples found a statement in
the barrel signed by the seller that he
received Is cents for the contents. OF
course, this acknowledgment would
seem to warrant the statement that he
was poor salesman. Nevertheless, we
know that here is field which needs
the finest business fidelity that the
country affords. As a class we are
wholly out of touch with the people
who use our products.
Tbia - mt Mt Tnpnupainrf fhn
middleman. He is at present a very use
ful and necessary factor in our bus
mess and really, il he should suddenly
step out, we should be almost hopeless.
" stranded He is in possession Of
all the machinery for distribution, and
we are presently adjusted to it. ii
we are to make any changes they must
be taken up from their organic base,
and we must learn, put into practice
and have it as a second nature just
what our captains of industry learned
years ago, namely, that the machinery
of production and distribution must be
related. Years have been required to
bring it about, but they have succeeded,
and wealth flowed accordingly. The or
ganic base just mentioned is the IS
Establishment upon each farm and in each
community OF those simple means Of
cooperation, like a knowledge Of each
COW, her capacity and profits of each
field, the yield and cash balance; and
then to have inaugurated a systematic
scheme OF neighborhood or community
breeding, whether il be plants or ami
mails, so that the locality would be
reputed for some one thing of superior
quality which would be attractive 10 buy
ers, and that is the object of this article.
Must we have another agency than the
grange to construct this new business
orderg VIII the schools and colleges
teach it, VIII it come from a fedora
tion Of business men who are rapidly be-
coming interested in land and crops, or
must some genius arise who will de-
velop an entirely new system of organ
ization, having in mind some business
methods of cooperative production and
distribution? The butter and cheese fac
tories are practically the only genuine
cooperative business having any breadth
or scope, except the fruit organization
of the Pacific slope and an occasional
local association. / realize that such
generalizing as this article does not be-
come very effective. II may be only the
expression Of an opinion and never sink
very deep into the minds Of men. /
know, as every one knows who is at
all familiar with things done, that hand
to-hand and face-to-face methods are
the only ones that count. 1t is the
bouse-to-house canvass that wins in
campaign
Probably the COW test association
is the nearest to becoming a real leader
in starting the work of community
breeding We have such an association
near us in successful operation The
logical outcome If it is perpetuated win
be to unity methods. The cows win
naturally follow lines Of breeding Of
those showing up the best profit, Men
will not continue to nay the cost of
testing and not profit thereby. They
will do better or quit Continued good
feeding and care will as surely follow
as improved breeding; in fact, they are
not generally separated, and then when
buyers are looking for stock they will
know where to 60. | am in receipt Of
letters frequently asking where fine
grade stock can be bought in considerable
quantities. 1t is always hard to answer.
About the only reply that can be given
is: Start out and drive until you find
or do not find what you want.
This inquiry is especially true Of Ayr
shire stock, for certified milk production,
or for good milk for any place or mar
ket. These cows are vigorous, econom-
zeal producers, and produce milk higher