St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-12-20
Cooperation Among Changers.

Cooperation Among Changers.
The annual meeting of the Yer
mont State Grange was certainly
good one and one of the good fea-
lures was the annual address of the
State Master, G. F. Smith of Nor
risville. In reading it one is i'm
pressed with the large amount of
space given to matters of political
nature This is not a fault as the
Granger is as vitality Interested in
| political questions as any citizen and
it is proper for them to discuss such
matters at their gatherings. We
note that little space is given to
suggestions about the actual con-
ditions of farm life and the posi-
bilities of improving them. While
the subject of cooperation was dealt
with we think Farmer" Greasy,
state master of the Pennsylvania
Grange said some things regarding
the farmers condition and the de-
STABILITY of cooperation that may
interest the Vermont Changers and
we take the following excerpt from
his annual address.
In recent years there has been
started a "back to the farm move
ment' which is being used, l am
sorry to say, to fleece many people of
their hard-earned cash, through land
schemes that have been pictured off
as gold mines.
Many of our city friends are led
to believe that farmers do not IN
derstand their business or are max
ing lots of money and denying it.
believe l am safe in saying that
every nine out of ten persons in
vesting in farms and who do not
understand farming, or can not over
see the work, lose money. 1t does
not follow that the high cost of liv-
ing can be solved by the back to
the farm movement" and it is dan
gerous fallacy; dangerous alike for
the general economic world and for
the farming interests. The soil of
our country is not the virgin soil
of the years gone by. Not only is
skill required in farming, but CAPT
tai, and capital not in the reach OF
the average farmer of this genera
ton. The maintenance of soil fer
tility, under present business condi-
tions, is an expensive question if the
farmer is to realize in money as
other businesses realize. One-half
the farmers of America today are
scarcely making ends meet and the
farmers of this country are not max
ing three per cent. upon their invest
ment. Should the farmer charge for
his work the same that similar work
costs, and count the labor of his wife
and children, there would be no di-
vidends.
Carefully tabulated statistics prove
that the American farmer gets but
40 cents of every dollar that the con-
sumner pays. Nor does the injustice
stop at this for the farmer gives
three dollars in value for every two
dollars worth of goods he gets.
There has been set apart a special
order for cooperation during this
session. I trust every delegate will
be in his or her seat when this i'm
portant subject is presented for
Grange action.
Business methods have changed.
We are face to face with conditions
which affect the welfare of every cit
iZen and we are big enough as an
organization to meet the RESPONSE
lily and to cope with it successfully.
These things are necessary in sue
cessful cooperation: First, thorough
organization; second, the proper
appreciation of community needs /;
third, the abandonment of selfish
ness to the general good; fourth, re-
liable information upon crops; fifth,
the development of communities as
producing centers for those things
to which the community is especially
adapted; sixth, conservative bust
ness judgment.
The subordinate Grange is equip