Oxford Democrat., 1913-10-07
< SOUTH PARIS sMAlNE, TUESDAY, OCTOBER l. 1913
Essentials Of Cooperation.

Essentials OF Cooperation.
The following is an abstract of an ad.
dress delivered by Dean 81. G. Price Of
the Ohio College Of Agriculture before
the North Carolina Farmers State Con-
vention at Raleigh, August 26ih, 1913:
Organization is the slogan of our
times, but in agriculture We have not
yet realized the benefits that may be de-
rived through organization. The pride
of our existence has been the independ-
ence of our farmers. We have develop
ed on the principle that every farm
should be sufficient unto itself and every
owner dependent upon no one but him
self.
We have overlooked the advantages
that result from individuals working TO-
gether for common end. But In the
meantime other industries have organ
lied to protect and develop their own
interests. Labor organizations, manu-
featuring organizations, transportation
organizations and in fact, every line Of
| industry is found organized. Agricul-
ture, on the other hand, has held aloof
and complained at the organizations of
trusts and combinations Of capital but
ization with organization.
do not want to be understood to be
c0untensncing for moment or justify
ing organizations for the restraint of
trade. 1 refer simply to the legitimate
organizations for increasing the efficien-
cy of the industry by the introduction OF
more economical methods of business.
Cooperation is not the panacea for all
our problems In agriculture, but 1t will
90 long way in solving many Of them
and will revolutionize our present meth
ods Of distrib buting farm products If prop
erly eveloped.
Cooperation is fundamentally based
On equality. 1t stands for full and equal
rights TO everyone without special privi-
leges to any. That is principle which
every good citizen endorses, but 1t Is not
the principle on which the business of
this country always has been transacted
in the past.
To succeed in cooperative associa-
citation the members must have COM
mon interest. That is the reason CO.
operation has been more successful In
The past in sections that produced spe'
cal crops, as vegetables, fruits, tobacco,
etc., than IL has been in sections where
general or mixed farming has been fol-
lowed.
There is another fundamental factor
of successful cooperation to be recog-
nized. The farming population must
be stable. Successful cooperation can
not be built upon a shifting tenant class
such as prevails to the detriment of our
auriculfnra in manu- sackinna
Successful cooperation must be built
ON uniformity of condition and congen-
iality of members. People of different
nationalities, particularly when they do
not like one another, seldom are able to
maintain cooperative associations.
People of different classes where any
class distinctions exist are not adapted
to cooperative efforts. Cooperation is
simply the extension of the principles OF
brotherhood, and people who are not in
clined to be friendly in other relations
cannot expect to succeed in co-opera-
ton.
Cooperation must be built on necessi
ty. On this point Mr.. Powell says,
"Among farmers, who under existing
conditions are already prosperous, the
need of business organization Is not usu-
ally felt, even though the costs of mar
keting and the extravagant profits OF the
middlemen might be greatly reduced.
They must feel the pressure Of need be-
fore they will launch successful bust
uess association. When the farmers buy
their supplies at reasonable prices aud
sell their products readily at a good
profit, they do not feel the necessity of
a. Mi hao
ence Of the past that they must feel the
need of getting together to meet crisis
in their affairs, and the realization of
the need must spring from within and
not be forced on them from without by
the enthusiasm of some oppOrtunist who
seeks to unite the farmers on the princi-
pie that organization is good thing"
This accounts for the fact that our
most successful cooperative marketing
associations have been organized for
selling perishable products that have
to be shipped long distances to market.
For example, the orange growers Of
Southern California and the apple grow
ers of Oregon, Washington and Colora-
do, have co-operated because they had to
or go out of business, not because they
a
farmers of the East and South.
We have passed the individualistic
stage of agriculture and the next great
development will be the organization OF
our forces. No farmer liveth to him
self. Men must see beyond their line OF
fences and have an interest wider than
their own families and their own live
stock.
We need men above sect or creed who
will work for the rural church, the rural
school and every agency instrumental in
promoting rural life. Such men will be
discovered, trained and developed
through cooperative organization OF our
rural life, and God speed the day when
our farmers will be bound together in
thoroughly organized cooperative Orga.
nizations, working for the common end
"a better, richer, broader farmlifs.