The Green Forest tribune., 1910-04-29
OBJECT LESSON IN SUCCESS
Farmers of Michigan Community Make Decided Hit With Cooperative
 Enterprise-How Done.

Something like three years ago there appeared an account of the or ganiZation of a farmers cooperative enterprise at Greenvllle, Mich, known as the Greenville Cooperative Produce & Supply company, says Michigan Farmer. The details of the organiza- tion were given at that time. The idea originated in the local farmers club in that place, and a committee was appointed to solicit stock sub- scriptions to the enterprise. The orig inal plan was for each prospective member 10 subscribe stock to an amount which would equal approxi- mately ten per cent. of the value of the potatoes which he would market during the average year, potatoes be- the principal farm product to be han dled by the company. Thus the man who ordinarily sold 1000 bushels of potatoes was asked to subscribe to the capital stock to the amount of $10O, while the man who ordinarily mar keted only $100 worth of potatoes was asked to subscribe $1O, that being the
  i siderable portion of the capital stock of the company had been subscribed, however, it was found that it was diff ficult to maintain just this proportion and the bulk of the subscriptions were consequently small, ranging from $10 to $50 per individual, the largest subscription by any one individual be- in of the organization who have contrib uted paid up capital of about S4,500. The association has been doing busi- ness for nearly four years and last week held it's third annual banquet, 1t being the policy of the organization to get all of the members together for such an event once each year. A mem Der of the Farmers editorial staff was invited to attend the banquet and ad- dress the members present on the sub ject of cooperation among farmers. and was pleased to learn that this or ganiZation has met with such marked success. Its existence Is due to the fact that the farmers who organized 1t felt that the potato market at their shipping point was not maintained at an equitable price, it generally rang ing somewhat lower than at other nearby shipping points. The organiza- t1on of this cooperative company has brought about a marked improvement in this respect, the Greenville market at present ranging several cents per bushel higher than the values which prevail at nearby shipping points The amount of business which this coop erative organization has done on this limited capital is quite remarkable. the aggregate of it's transactions for the past year being around $90,000 So far the present year 104 cars of pota- toes have been shipped and the last years shipments of the concern aggre- gated 165 cars. When it is considered that considerable amount of the cap- 1tal stock is invested in potato ware house, office, scales, coal sheds and other necessary equipment for tran sacting it's business, and that aside from handling this large quantity of other commodities, such as binder twine, clover seed, fertilizers, agricul tural implements, etc., the showing is all the more extraordinary
 AS is usual in such cases, the local dealers undertook to put the cooper. atlve concern out of business by rais- ing market values to price which left little profit in their transactions
 But the purpose of the organization was not to pay dividends, hence it's | manager was able to compete, and the business has not only withstood these efforts of the opposition, but has in l creased instead of diminished in sue cessive years. Prices of the products which 1t buys have not only advanced, but prices for commodities which 1t sells have been reduced in that mar ket; coal, for instance, being about 50 cents per ton cheaper in consequence of the company's operations.
 It is not an uncommon thing in that community to hear some member of this association wondering why the farmers of other communities do not organize and conduct similar enter prises, since the benefits to be derived are so apparent and success so easily within their grasp. Certainly this or l ganization ought to be an object les son to the farmers of many other com munities.