The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-02-18

Omagh we came upon a shrewd faced
Irishman who was very ready to talk
about cooperation. He was evidently
a man Of some intelligence and, judg-
ing from his manner and address, a
man Of some experience and success
in business. So we engaged him In
conversation about cooperation and
its effects.
81" am against It," he said. There
Is no sense in It." And he gave US in
forcible and picturesque language the
story of how he had been personally
injured in his business by co-opera-
ton. 1t developed that he had been q
buyer Of farm produce-a commission
merchant in a small way. Nov there
is no money in It," he said, since the
margin between what the city man
pays and what the farmer receives Is
cut down. The farmer sells through
the cooperative organization directly
to the city merchant" Reluctantly he
admitted that maybe-it was better for
the farmer and better for the city con-
sumner who had little with which to
buy food. "But it's hard on US COM
mission men. It's putting us on the
rocks. 1 am not buying butter at all
any mor The cooperative creamery
here has run me out"
We asked him if cooperative butter
making did not make the work of the
farmers wife and daughter easier.
"Of course it does" he said. "And lit
tie good it Is doing them. They don't
have to skim the milk and churn and
mold and salt the butter now and so
they 60 galavanting over the roads on
their bicycles. They don't stay home
at all any more. They're worse about
gadding than city women" and he
shook his head with misgivings.
So, If 1t be true, as our Irish friend
in his self pity proclaimed, that CO
operative butter making and butter
marketing is going to make it cost the
consumer less and net the farmer
more, we suggest that both maker and
eater will be for 1t, the ex-commission
merchant to the contrary notwith-
standing. They will both In city and
country be interested in seeing COOP
Grafton accomplished. Certainly the
country woman who feels the burden
Of butter making will welcome a pro-
cess by which she Is TO get an oppor-
tunity to see something besides the
top Of the cook stove and the inside of
the big churn. And we do not believe
that the ordinary American farmer
will object to cooperation even If 1t
does give his wife and daughter time
to get out upon the road in buggy or
on bicycles. .
The omagh Creamery.
When we learned that the Omagh
Cooperative Creamery system Of mar
keting wal cutting down the margin
Of price between farmer and consumer
was both raising the price to the
farmer and lowering the price to the
consumer, we concluded that it was a
nee worth considering. Even the
accusation that made 1t possible for
the farmers wife and daughter to get
out on their bicycles occasionally did
not unduly prejudice US against it. The
Omagh creamery is capitalized by con-
tributions from 600 members who in
vested from five dollars, up to $3.50
each. But the voting is not by shares.
1t Is on the one man one vote plan.
The five-dollar man votes just as often
and as forcibly as the ~$250-do61ar Fan.
The members voting thus eieo: a
board Of directors. These In turn have
the best man they can get as manager.
But he must be more than a butter
maker. He must be a good business
man and an expert in marketing. No
matter how much money is made, It
must all go back to the members in
proportion to the butter fat delivered
to the creamery after a dividend not
exceeding five per cent. is paid to the
stockholders. Five per cent. is the
limit of profit to shareholders. This is
the rule in all cooperative enterprises
in Ireland. ]. is organized primarily
that profits may go to the man who
~ ll69 III Liz = ! hOI ioLhCu
as a particularly fine investment for
the shareholder.
Differs From American Creamerles.
We find the mechanical processes of
butter making much the same as those
in the best up-to-date American butter
factories. We do find, however, that
this cooperative association has had
an output that Is Of more uniform ex-
cellence than that of the American
! factory. Here each member seems to
realize more fully than does the Amer.
lean farmer that the utmost vigilance
must be exercised in keeping the milk
and cream fresh and free from all i'm
purities, that keeping up the quality Of
the butter is as much his business as
the butter-maker's. Therefore he
breeds and feeds and cares for his
COWS and handles his milk on scientific
lines suggested by cooperative instruc-
tors and inspectors. The farmer is
saving his own interests, Of course, for
a falling off OF quality and reputation
means a falling off in the: price OBJ
tanned for butter. The creamery tests