The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-21
PRESIDENT Barrett Emphasizes Neces-
,it, OF Patronizins ~Co-Opefadve I'm
te,nrises and AlaAyzeS ReaSons for

m. OFFICERS and Members OF the
Faru1ers' Union:
In many addresses, some of them OF
rnccnt date, / have stressed the neces-
-i,, Of members patron-Zing our va
.;r,e business enterprises. While
~. re IS a steadily increasing tendency
~ this d~rectlon, t is not as broad or
,s universal as the principle OF n i
nroan .zation dictates.
IT - q logical assumption that any
rarmers Union enterprise shouId de-
n4nd almost exclusively for its main
finance and development upon, mem
hl-e of this organization. All Of them
srorn warehouses; to the smallest sell
ing and purchaS ne agency came INTO
.v,etance in response to enthusiastic
nromise Of support. None OF them
uonla have started business had not
4hpre been every reason to expect that
,ne demand among NJ for
their products was sufficient to insure
success.
If frequently happens that the
,kholuers of these. enterprises a.e
tn blame III that after having taken
stock they neglect to p~atronlze n ia
st,tltiGn in which they are interested
and to encourage others to do SO.
II happens also IN other cases hat
managars chosen, excellent from the
siandpo ut of business integrity and
personal ability. become easily dis
Outraged OF this negligence
On the part of the stockholders.
II is a mistake for any manager to
xield to tbs feeling Of discourage
nent AS it is q mistake for the stock
holder to fail to back up the man
ager n every conceivable name
II the manager finds that neither
stockholders nor members are rally ng
with the proper degree OF support to
the institutions success, it should be
A part Of his business to put ginger
into the situation. He can have heart
h heart talk with the stockholders,
point ng out their duty to them, not
once or twice, but until he has aroused
them to a full! sense of their duty in
the premises. He can also devise
plans to bring the membership gen
orally TO a realization of Their obliga-
ton to cooperate towards the well
fare Of the enterprise.
Whenever an enterprise is threat
ened by failure or manages to drag
out Il mere existence, it is Well for
those in charge to inaugurate an un-
Sparing invest cation. 1t often hap
pens that an INST tuition Of this nature
depends mainly upon enthusiasm to
keep it going. This is. Of course. a
gTieV0us error. I cannot too strongly
impress the fact that any enterprise OF
this nature that hopes to build sue
cess must compete in ual-ty, in bust
ness management, in business methods
and in price. with the outside world.
For instance, t Is time wasted to
appeal to members to ~patron1ze CO.
operative enterprises when they can
get better service by p~atrOniZing bust
nesses outside of h organization.
You may be a Methodist, a Presby-
terrain, or a Baptist, but you are not
likely TO be led into patron zing a
Methodist. or Presbyterian or Baptist
merchants just because he belongs to
Jour church. You require that he
contests for your business on the plans
II equality with the business world.
ldentically the same principle must
apply to Farmers Union enterprises.
one failure or a dozen failures need
not daunt the membership in creating
new enterprises either packed by
stockholders Or Of a purely co-opera-
tive nature. It must be born in mind
that every conceivable line of bus ness
and every great and small organization
IN the country has at times suffered
Woeful failure. The ones that nave
survived and made good are those tina
quit success upon the ruin of failure
and have looked upO each apparent
backset as contain ng a lesson for the
future. That is well to remember as
4 rule for guidance in oru own enter
priSes.
On the other hand we have had
abundant success in some States In
thls respect. That is principally why
l am hopeful regarding success in
every other State. What one set of
farmers has done, another set can do.
ANA II we have several score enter
pfises now in successful operation, say
ing money for their patrons and re-
turning a profit to their promoters,
ehere Is no eason why the idea should
not be materialized throughout the
organization.
deem It time we'll invested to reit-
crate these expressions at this moment
1ol the reason that / expect this year
20 mark a great impetus towards the
oISdnlZatlOu of a~nternriSac Within the