Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-04-02

Berlin, Germany.-The German
farmer calls upon cooperation to sell
him his supplies. He asks it to mar
ket his eggs and his butter 1t dis
ills alcohol out of his potatoes and
makes wine for him out of his fruit.
Everywhere in Germany you will ind
cooperative elevators and warehouses
for storing grain, cooperative soci-
cites for improving the breed of live
stock, cooperative banks for furnish
ing loans to members, cooperative IN
surance companies for insurlng
against every imaginable damage. Co
operative societies are formed to meet
the needs of agriculture at every turn
producing the raw material, convert
ing the raw material into salable form,
and placing the finished product upon
the market
AGRICULTURAL cooperative societies
have become so numerous in Germany
as almost to jostle one another. Tnere
are at the present time more than 26,-
900 of them These are the words OF
Henry Wolff, the great authority upon
agricultural cooperation, and we have
found his statement true. These 26,-
600 societies have nearly two and a
half million members. Over half OF
these societies are credit associations,
which have al working capital OF over
100000 1000. Moreover the number
of societies AID the number OF MEM
beers pve constantly Increasing. The
German farmer who in his way is an
individualist and as Independent as is
the American farmer, has learned that
cooperation isI his salvation and be-
lieves in allyiIg himself with his neigh
bors foF the common economic de-
Tease.
How German Farmer co-operates.
Everything the German farmer does
he does comparatively. If he wishes
to purchase farm he gets 30 or %
wear loan from a Landschaften bank.
When he finds it necessary TO puy
implements or live stock, or SEEDS ne
uses money borrowed from co-opera-
tive credit society, making snort tlmo
loans. He gets his equipment OF CO
lucrative store which furnishes MIN
Guaranteed article at the lowest pos
sibleeNrice. For when co-operatloh seAls
to the farmer, everything from garuen
seeds to threshing machines is guar
anteed If he wishes to insure MS
property he goes to co-operatiVe IN
surance company, which will insure
his crops against loss by hail or wlho'
another cooperative insurance agency
insures his house against hre' Whlle
another insures his live stock against
sickness. accident, or legal destruc-
finn following the discovery OF tuper-
culosis or other contagious disease
His stock cattle come to MIN from
co-operatiye breeding farm. From Co
operative associations he gets his SCI,
entifc instructions as to the care OF
his cattle as to the best feeds, as 70
the cure of animal diseases, as TO the
valuation of crops, as to fertilizers
His milk and cream he takes 10 a Co
lucrative creamery, from which 1t Is
sold comparatively. His very mems
Law cooperative eggs which WITHIN an
bour after they are laid may bear the
stamp of cooperative organization
Even the farmers wife has a ten
dency toward cooperation and is as
) alive to it's advantages as is the farm
er himself. Everywhere we f1nd the
women intelligent and conductlhe
their domestic affairs as sclentlncally
as do the men their farms.
Water Supply Companies.
One form in which cooperation has
evinced its efficiency in Germany Is
n rather unique one, and is one which
NJ least in some parts OF the unltec
states is worthy of careful study bl
American farmers. Scattered through
ont Germany there are many co-opera
tive societies for supplying water U
its members. There are in the prov
ince' Of Hanover alone, for example, 81
s,ch companies. Whether the commu
nitv has been large or small, THESE
simply companies have generally sue
ceeded.
The advantages of cooperation II
attacking the, problem of water suppl!
have been thus summarized: BY CO
operation a sufficient sum OF none!
can be raised to enable a source OF wa
ter TO be tapped, unquestionable as Y
purity, softness and quality; q 90