News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1914-06-24
COOPERATION AN ACTUALLY
Nebraska Changers Have Apparently
Solved This Important and Per-
picking Problem.

| For years the Changers everywhere
have been seeking to work out some
scheme of practical cooperation, to
| aid the farmer at both the buying and
selling end, by putting him into effec-
tive business association with his fell
low farmers. Several well-planned
projects along these lines have ended
IN failure, but the seeking for some
thing tangible has gone steadily on.
1t has remained for the present year
to see put into actual operation in Ne
braska Grange undertaking of this
sort which bids fair to prove a posi-
1--we success; and upon the degree Of
the Natter will depend the introduction
OF the plan into other states, as the
patrons throughout the country are
watching the Nebraska experiment
with very deep interest.
Under the present plan, the sub
ordinate Grange is made the co-opera-
tive unit. Each subordinate Grange,
desiring to participate in the work of
cooperative buying and selling, is re-
CURED to elect business agent,
whose duty is to list and tabulate in
proper form all orders from members
needing supplies, or having articles or
products for sale, and to report the
same promptly to the agent of the
Pomona Grange, or Grange Co-opera.
tive association to which his subordi.
nate Grange Is attached. The agent of
the Pomona or Grange Cooperative as
ISOLATION places all orders and trans
acts all business for the affiliated
Oranges. He is required to give bond
is under control of a board of dirac.
tors and may be discharged by them
for cause. His compensation is fixed
by the directors, on a percentage basis
"a sufficient brokerage being allowed
on all business passing through his
hands to cover loss, shrinkage and
cost of handling. The business agent
of each cooperating Grange is made
director in the association. The ex.
ecutive committee audits all accounts
and presents balance sheet at each
annual meeting. A banking credit is
established by means of collateral
notes given by members of the associ I
alton.
These notes are accepted by the |
banks without question. One Grange, |
at its third meeting after organization, |
deposited notes to the amount of ST. |
900 in local bank as a nest-egg and I
is now awaiting the organization OF
other Oranges contiguous to its ship !
ping point, SO that business associa I
ton may be established.
On the 18th of January of the pres
ent year the executive committee OF |
the State Grange, together with one
duly elected representative from each
Pomona Grange and Grange Co-opera
tive association, met in Kearney and
organized the Nebraska State Grange
Bureau of Information, of which State
Master ]. d. Ream of Broken Bow is
president; J. A. Harris Of Willow
Island, vice-president; E. M. Webb OF
Galloway, secretary-treasurer, and w
A. Ewell of Kearney, business man
ager. The executive committee of the
State Grange acts as executive commit
tee of the bureau.
The purpose of this bureau is to
secure and diffuse such information
relative to cooperation as the best in
terests of the order may demand. II
is made the duty of the business man
ager to keep in close touch with the
general markets; to secure price quo
tations, freight rates, etc, on sucn
commodities as are needed or for sale
by the members of Grange co-opera'
tive associations, or individual
Oranges; to tabulate and issue conf
dental printed price lists, and render
at all times such information and as
sistance as will advance the work OF
cooperation and protect Grange inter
ests.
The expenses of the bureau are pro
vided for by membership fee of one
dollar per annum levied upon subordi
nate Oranges affiliated with co-opera'
tive associations, or desiring to obtain
the benefits of the bureau. This mem.
bership fee may be augmented by an
VI HOl W tAC66u / ,
lars per annum, levied at the discre-
ton of the executive committee.
All officers of the bureau are sub
ject to recall The annual election oc-
ours on the Monday in December pre-
ceding the annual meeting of the I
State Grange. All work of the bureau
must be reported to the State Grange
ct its annual meeting. Last winter,
In correspondence with E. B. Dorsett
Dverseer of the Pennsylvania State !
Grange and manager of the keystone
Grange exchange, it was suggested
hat the farmers of the West might
Drofitably cooperate with the patrons
Of the East in selling to them directly,
n carload lots, the grain, alfalfa, hay,
grass seed etc, which the West pro-
luces and they use; and in buying
rom them directly, in carload lots, the
PRODUCTS which they produce and the {
Vest uses-thus eliminating the mid 1
lleman.