Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-02-27


he had made of It, Before the coop
erative society was organized" he
said, "it was difficult to procure fer
tilizers. While the department of ag-
riculture analyzed the soils and
taught the farmers, by bulletin and
otherwise, the elements which must
enter into fertilizers it 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 manures pur-
chased of the regular traders is evi-
denced by the actual effects upon the
crops.
Cooperative 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 imple-
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, 1t 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
methods and practices employed in the
cooperative conduct of the business.
A Simple Organization.
The cooperative society has no
headquarters and consequently has 70
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 one share upon which
he has advanced about sixty cents.
The credit society, branch of the CO.
operative association, has 161 mem.
bers.
THE society meets" he said, flour
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
go over 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, manures and rotation OF
crops, exchanging ideas as to methods
of meeting various questions that
arise. There is no cooperative store
here and we never keep articles In
stock. We order seeds, manures Oh
implements and notify the farmer
when they arrive He takes care ol
them generally within twenty-foul
hours. We can do this because most
of our members are near by. We gel
everything little cheaper and of bet
ter quality than do the regular traders
In nothing, however, has the improve
ment in quality been SO marked as In
seeds and manures.
How a Farmers Bank Loans Money
| OuI OISdulZdIlOu LOduS money Ll
it's members at 5h per cent To de
positors we give three per cent. on al
deposits. We thus do business upor
a margin of 21a per cent On the 9th
er hand the joint stock bank neares
here charges 6A per cent. interest
but pays only 2A per cent. interest OF
deposits. They require a margin O.
four per cent. on which to do business
Not only have the joint stock banks
wider margin on the loans, but tn,
worst of it is you cannot get a LOAF
from joint stock bank for more thai
three months. They never loan fo
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. Thes,
banks are only in the larger places
Very often the farmer has to 20 som,
; distance, take his sureties with him
pay their expenses, give them thei
dinner, and l am afraid sometimes