The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-02-25
BY MATTHEW S. DUDGEoN

he had made Of 1t. Before the coop
erative society was organized" he
said, ut was difficult to procure fer
t~ilizers. While the department Of, ag-
riculture analysed the soils and
taught the farmers, by bulletin and
otherwise, the elements which must
enter into fertilizers 1t was absolutely
impossible for the tenant to procure
Of the dealers fertilizer containing
these elements In proper proportion.
Fertilizers were high too"
Now, as he explained, the co-opera-
tive societies buy the elements going
into the fertilizers and themselves
mix them in the proper proportions.
The cooperative association not only
guarantees the quality of the fertilizers
furnished to their members, but sells
them at a greatly reduced price. That
they are better than the manure pur-
chased of the regular traders is evil
denced by the actual effects upon the
crops.
~Co-OperatIVe Credit
1t was evident that in Meeghan's es-
timation the greatest benefit to the
members Of the local organization Is
from the credit society branch Of it.
The farmers in this vicinity had been
well taught and were anxious to i'm
prove their stock to get better tmple-
ments, to use commercial fertilizers
properly compounded, to plant better
seeds. Before the cooperative credit
association was organized they were
unable to do anything OF this sort.
Since the cooperative organization
has been in operation, however, it is
easy to get from the society a small
loan for any Of these purposes and the
farmers were In consequence steadily
improving their property. In other
words he seemed to think that the i'm
provements In rural agricultural meth
DDS which we see everywhere would
have been absolutely impossible with
out this little local credit society.
Meeghan himself through loans Sc
cured of the cooperative credit society
had been enabled to purchase blooded
stock and had bought improved imple-
ments and tested seeds.
We found upon our return to the vii
lage that school was just closing and
Quinn went with us to his home, which
although modest, was as trim and com
Portable as any village home which we
have ever been privileged to visit In
America. He talked freely Of the af-
fairs of the society, showed us the
books and records and explained the
cooperative conduct of the business.
A Simple Organization.
The cooperative society has no
headquarters and consequently has no
rent to pay. The home of the secre-
tary is the Office of the society. There
the banking business as well as the
other affairs Of the society are con-
Quoted by him out of school hours. The
little society has 500 members, each
member having mi share upon which
he has advanced about sixty cents.
The credit society, a branch Of the Co
| operative association, has 161 mem
bers.
"The society meets" he said, -four
times each year. At those times the
members give us orders for these
goods which we handle comparatively,
including seeds, manures, implements
and occasionally other articles. We
60 yer the old accounts and arrange
for their payment or extension. We
talk over the plans Of the society. We
consult about local farm problems,
about seeds, anure and rotation Of
crops, exchanging ideas as to methods
Of meeting vaMous questions that
arise. There is no cooperative store
here and we KEEP articles in
stock. We order seeds, manure or
implements and notify the farmer
when they arrive. He takes care Of
them generally within tW~enty-four
hours. We can do this because most
Of our members are near by. We get
everything a little cheaper and of bet
ter quality than do the regular traders.
IL uOlulu6p llOWeFST, las the improve
ment In quality been so marked as in
seeds and manures.
How a Farmers Bank Loans Money.
Our organization loans money to
It's members at 81 per cent. To de-
positors we give three per cent. on all
deposits. We thus do business upon
a margin Of IN per cent. On the 9TH
er hand the joint stock bank nearest
! here charges 6A per cent. interest,
but pays only 2A per cent. interest on
deposits. They require a margin of
four per cent. on which to do business.
Not only have the joint stock banks a
wider margin on the loans, but the
worst Of 1t is you cannot get a loan
from a joint stock bank for more than
three months. They never loan for
longer than that time although some
times, Of course, they will grant re-
newals. The trouble is that these re-
newals are hard on the farmer. These
banks are only in the larger places.
Very often the farmer has to 20 some
distance, take his sureties with him,
pay their expenses, give them their