Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-04-18
JUST REWARD FOR FARMERS
Standing Shoulder to Shoulder With
His Neishbor He Has Opportunity
to Better Himself.


to Better Himself.
The individual farmer is at the
mercy of organized buyers, shippers
and transportation companies. Stand
ing alone, he cannot say what the
price OF his goods shall be nor can he
modify the transportation charges, be
they ever so exorbitant. Yet, as a
producer of various foodstuffs anc 9TH
er necessities of life the farmer is en-
titled to living wage and fair profit,
says the Country Gentleman. II under
the present system of marketing it be
regarded as a fair policy for organized
buyers to fix the prices of farm prod
ucts so that they pay little more than
the cost OF production, and sometimes
not even that. then it is a fairer prop
osltion Tor producers to aim to get to-
gether with a view of maintaining
price for their good that shall at
least pay the cost of production. in
terest on invested capital and a just
proflt. This is what cooperative mar
ketlng among formers has aimed to do
One of the latest champions of the
farmers right to cooperate and Of the
advantages to be derived therefTom is
Prof. John L. Coulter of the Univer-
sity of Minnesota, who is now acting
as agricultural expert in the bureau
OF the census at Washington. His re-
cent book, Cooperation Among Farm
nTE - Ig GfUlnd hn lynx Of ral
prosperity. He emphasizes that what
the farmer wants ought to have and
will seek to obtain by every legitimate
means is a just reward for his labor
and invested capital. In the present
state of organized society the lone
farmer stands helpless, but standing
shoulder to shoulder with his neigh
Dors who are engaged in the produc-
ton of similar goods the individual
farmer has the opportunity to help
himself to better financial condition.
In other words, the cooperative
movement among farmers has enabled
them to have something to say as to
the price of their products, to market
them to better advantage, and to Sc
cure better transportation facilities
and cheaper rates. These results are
confined to no one line of agriculture;
they are shown to have been achieved
by farmers engaged in the co-opera-
tive marketing of butter, cheese, meat
animals, grain, vegetables, poultry.
eggs, citrus and other fruits, and nuts.
MnronUnr fhn Cd
cess Of cooperative stores for farm
ers and rural communities as conduct
ed in Minnesota and several neighbor-
ing states, where membership is
growing at the rate of 500 a month,
convince Professor Coulter that dur
ing the next few years there will be
hundreds OF these stores organized,
and that these will be connected with
cooperative wholesale society"
In Europe cooperative buying or
CARNATIONS among farmers are quite
numerous and have been very success
,ul. They bring various advantages to
farmers, such as cheaper prices, bet
ter goods, lower shipping rates and
the saving of time and labor on the
part Of the members as a result of
buying in bulk the feeds, fertilizers
and other materials used by farmers.
In buying. our American farmers
nave not been very active and we
have but few successful examples of
such work.
The aim of cooperation is to make
farmers better business men and bet
ter farmers. Without these we can
not have better living, and we must
have this better living in the open
country, or the movement to the cities
will not stop and farming will be
looked down upon and scorned." But
cooperation does more than this. 1t
removes the feeling of distrust and
suspicion all too common among farm
er neighbors, increases the opportuni-
ties for social intercourse through the
regular meetings of the organization.
raises the standard of products, low
ers the cost of production, increases
the selling price of goods and teaches
better methods of marketing. Profess
sor Coulter goes even farther: he rec
ommends the erection Of local storage
plants and the cooperative control of
factories for the canning, preservation
and manufacture of the more perish
able fruits. vegetables and dairy prod.
ucts. While telling farmers that they
ought to organize and how to 90 about
it. he cautions them not to think that
the cooperative society is a cure-all
for every i'll of the farming industry.