The Harrison times., 1914-04-04
Coz Operative Farm
| Products Marketing
| How 1t Is Done in Europe and May Be Done
in America TO the Profit of Both
Farmer and Consumer
| MATTHEW S, DUDGEoN
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COOPERATIVE GERMANY.
BY MATTHEW S. puDoEoN.

purity, softness and quality; 2. Co
operation ensures extreme economy In
maintenance and management; ), Co
operation enables the smallest commu.
nifty to provide itself with really
good water supply"
II Is not impossible that there Is in
this German experience a suggestion
for the irrigation companies In western
America whore mismanagomen and
graft seem to have prevailed, Ger
tainly truly cooperative association
gani2ed upon the one man one vote
plan, freed from all motives Of excess
sive or speculative profits, and man
aged with the efficiency that Is tradi.
tional In cooperative concerns could
never have made shipwreck Of 30
many fair prospects as have some Of
the irrigation companies in the west.
ern states
Flowing by Steam,
The owners Of the big wheat farms
In the northwestern parts Of the United
States might sit up and take notice OF
some Of the cooperative power plow
companies which are operating In Ger
many, At present there are d6 such
societies, The entire power equipment
is owned by tho society, and It's mem.
bers, oven though they occupy com,
paratiyoly small farms, are by this
means enabled to have the benefit OF
the improved and cheaper work OF the
power plow Experience here shows
that the power plowlng plant, consist
ing OF n sot Of plows, tackle and steam
or electric power, cannot bo main.
tainod economically unless II has
something like 1000 acres upon which
to operate, Tho concerns are most care.
fully managed A good maohlnIst In
always In charge OF tho outfit, In ad,
ditIon to his salary ho Is allowed n
commission upon every acre powed,
He has entire charge Of the operations
and requires all members to remove
all obstruotlons before work Ia undor.
taken, The rates are carefully graded
according to the soil, the depth and
the Accessibility, In some cases, also,
q less charge Ia made for powing dur.
Ing the slack periods, the price being
raised as tho demand for services OF
the equipment increases,
Cooperative Societies Federated,
Tho cooperative spirit has not
ceased when II has led the farmer to
cooperate with his noghbors to form
n local cooperative concern The Ger.
man genius for organization has led
to n most elaborate eyBtom OF co'or,
dInntIon between the various local co.
operative associations, For example,
all cooperative dAlrioa within prov
inco will be united together IN u cen.
tral association which unlAoa and har,
monlgos the work Of all the local or
ganlaatlons, These central provincial
societies are In turn In an empire
wide federation with headquarters at
berlin, You will therefore In that
city find several central concornB,
each Of which ls allied with hundreds
OF local societies. Thls Capitalization
scheme haa many advantages Il pro-
yides for supervision, inspection, and
audit which leads to good accounting
syetems and good business methods,
The central once serves M a bureau
Of Information and advice In case Of
marketing the central society, by rea'
son OF its size and financial resources,
gets into markets which would be al
together inaccessible TO the little 10
cal concern Without Capitalization
German cooperation would bo much
losu effective than II In.
Increased Quantity
Here IN Germany, as elsewhere, co,
operation has not only enabled tho
farmer TO mako the most out Of what