United labor bulletin., 1910-12-08
FARMERS WORKING in UNISON
Many Ways In Which Agricultural
People Can BENEFIT One Another
by Cooperation.

BY Cooperation.
We like to tell of the common
things OF every day life. especially
when we have tried them and know
that they have been of special help
to US.
We had nineteen hogs ready to go
to market. and to ship them to Chi
cago at a profit would require at least
sixty more, writes Fred G.. Miner in
Farmers Review. Looking around
to see what could be done, we found
one neighbor with forty-five and an
other. with fifteen and this would
make out the load. But before l got
the matter adjusted a local buyer
came along and persuaded the neigh
Dor with forty-five to sell. Now the
Combination" was broken. Did you
ever try this plan and just as you
were about to win out, have some
one quit because he thought he was
going to get a better bargain? The
one who drops of course loses and
causes like loss among his neigh
bors. This loss goes to the local
shipper who. by the way, might be
Ch6d6cu III Soiut OlutT iluc VI WOih
But we do not wish to condemn
the local shipper. He is here be-
cause of our stupidity. and will con-
tinue to get his living from us just
as long as we see fit to give it to him
then tried to sell py lot. but to my
dismay the price had dropped a quar-
ter of cent. / am not fond of Civ
ing up. 1t some way doesn't seem
just right to give up at a little OBJ
stacle. l found the man with the
fifteen hogs had made other disposi-
ton of them So we had to COM
mence anew.
We were not long in finding three
other men who wanted to ship some
hogs. So we got busy This time
all agreed to stand pat" At the
suggestion of one we called up a
shipper to see what he would do.
To our surprise hogs had advanced
a quarter of a cent per pound. Not
on the Chicago market, but the local.
After a little consultation we came
to the conclusion that the local man
was trying to keep us from shipping.
SO we sold out. In this instance we
sold because we believed that the
shipper was offering us more than we
could realize. Later developments
proved the correctness of this belief.
for the hogs did not realize the ship
per any money.
have gone into the details of this
incident to show how cooperation
frequently works out and how those
who cooperate are benefited.
A few years ago we had no tele-
phone. A local company was organ
lied which charged its patrons thirty
five dollars per year for telephone
service. This was an exorbitant
price. and few felt able to have a
telephone
A few farmers decided to build a
telephone line and each patron own
his own stock. In other words co
operate in the building and operating
of line and get telephone service al
cost This was done. We now have
day and night service. and many
other advantages, at cost of about
six dollars per year. This caused the
old company to put their price dowr
! to nine dollars per year for day serv
ice only. with no night service at all
Some farmers own their own ele
vators and these are nearly always &
success. where they are managed or
the cooperative plan. The small far
mer gets as much per bushel as does
the larger. II is sure to make the Ole
companies pay more than they did
before the cooperative elevator
| opened for business
In some fruit sections farmers CO
/ operate in shipping and selling theiI
fruit This plan has made some sec
tions very prosperous that were for
merly unthrifty settlements Why,
Because they co-operated and eacI
worked for the good Of his neighboI
as well as himself.
Some sections find the cooperative
creamery very successful But al
the patrons must work for the bes,
interest of its creamery. When this
is done and there are enough patrons
| with the cows to back them ii has
been found very profitable.
We could learn mucn from the
Danish farmers in this regard. These
people are nearly all small farmers
but their butter, eggs and bacon com
mand the top price on the English
market At one time they received a
meager price as compared to what
they do at present for their products
and they decided to cooperate to dc
better things and have better prices
for their products. They have sue
ceeded far beyond the expectations
| of the most sanguine. l do not be
lieve that these people are any more
intelligent than are our American
/ farmers. nor are their markets any
h,,,a- than what we might have