The Sentinel=record., 1912-08-11
DAIRY EXAMPLES
 FOR THE SOUTH
COOPERATIVE CREAMERY HAS PROVEN THE SALVATION OF
 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
Organization Is the Keynote of Sue cess in This and bn Other Lines
 as We'll.

Suppose we had in each county in the south two cooperative creamer- ies one or two farmers eo-o operative banks, and one or two CO., operative societies for the sale of poultry and truck; such development would correspond to what has been accom- plished ill Ireland.
 Of course. all thIs has not been brought about in a day. The move ment started away back in 1889, when MT. Horace Plunkett began to tell the Irish farmers that what they needed was less politics and more business--0r at any rate, a good deal more business along with their pol- tics. For a long time his voice was as that of one crying iii the wilder ness. He held fifty meetings and pleaded with fifty different groups of farmers, asking each group to join in some cooperative business organ ization, before single enthusiastic response varied the long monotony ot deaf cared failure. But Mr Plunkett vas an lrishman terribly in earnest; and anybody who is terribly in earn est is likely to go a long way-espe- cially if he is an Irishman.
 The Irish farmer. at that time, was the joint prey of landlords and "gom been-men," the latter phrase being used to describe class of credit mer- chants whose exoHbitant time prices kept the poor peasants in virtual slavery What profit the landlord did .nf 4,, -h of af1f nm been man got when the money for the farmers products came in Or to be exact, l should say that the credit merchant took the farmers goods at prices named by himself, and credited them on the farmers ac count, and about all the poor soil tilIer knew was that he was getting deeper and deeper into debt all the tune. 1t was our blood sucking credit system" of the south O. gen. eration ago in an even more abomina- ble form; and the 'gombeen men furnishing not only supplies but liquor as we'll often took further ad- vantage of the peasant after getting him full of drink,
 Tn word, mlddlemen were ab- sorbing all the profits of the irish farmer Nothing was done directly There was a circuitous route from the farmers produce to the city con- sumer, with tolls taken ali along the way. and there was circuitous route between the fertilizer maker or implement manufacturer and his farmer purchaser. with tolls taken along fhe way.
 Another thing that Sir Horace saw q say Sir Horace because the king Of England has since knighted MT Plunkett in recognition of his great serviceA was that if the farmers were to succeed, they must organize and co operate. Only a considerable number of farmers working together could sell their products to advant- age--a small farmer cannot profita- bly, ship a dozen or two eggs or pound or two of butter or a basket or two of vegetables, whereas, 1t is very different if hundred farmers together wish to ship their eggs, poultry or truck tand they must work together along very business-like and scientific lines He saw that the farmers were suffering not only be- cause the middlemen's tolls were excessive, but also because their fail- ure to unite prevented them from giving customers uniform, high quail ity products He declared they must furnish "one good kind of butter not many samples of bad and good kinds. a uniformly fresh egg a dozen stale ones of different shapes and sizes. with occasional fresh ones rubbing shells with their dingy neighbors and that they must fur nish regular Supplies at regular in tervals-not three long weeks of famine and then a week of surfeit.
 Better Farming, Better Business, Better Living this was the three fold program which Sir Horace pro posed for Ireland more productive farming methods, better methods of buying and selling. and a richer ru- ral life. And he kept everlastingly at it, in season and out of season.