Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-04-10

farmer calls upon cO-CNseFdtlon " ooiA
him his supplies. He asks 1t to mar
ket his eggs and his butter. 1t dis
tils alcohol out of his potatoes and
makes wine for him out OF his fruit
Everywhere in Germany you Will mo
cooperative elevators and warehouses
for storing grain, cooperative soci-
cites for improving the breed of live
stock, cooperative banks for furnish
ing loans to members, cooperative IN
surance companies for insuring
against every imaginable damage. Co
operative societies are formed to meet
the needs of agriculture at every turn
producing the raw material, convert
ing the raw material into salable form,
and placing the finished product upon
the market.
Agricultural cooperative societies
have become SO numerous in Germany
as almost to jostle one another. There
are at the present time more than 26,-
600 of them These are the words of
Henry Wolff, the great authority upon
agricultural cooperation, and we have
found his statement true These 26,-
900 societies have nearly two and a
half million members. Over half of
these societies are credit associations,
which have working capital of over
$400, ,000,0 900. Moreover, the number
of societies and the number of mem
bers are constantly increasing. The
German farmer who in his way is an
individualist and as independent as is
the American farmer, has learned that
cooperation is his salvation and be-
lieves in allying himself with his neigh
bors for the common economic de-
tense.
How German Farmer Co-operates.
Everything the German farmer does
he does comparatively. If he wishes
to purchase a farm he gets so or 60
year loan from a Landschaften bank.
When he finds it necessary to buy
implements or live stock, or seeds, he
uses money borrowed from co-opera-
tive credit society, making short time
loans. He gets his equipment of CO
operative store which furnishes him a
guaranteed article at the lowest pos
s.ble price. For when cooperation sells
to the farmer, everything from garden
seeds to threshing machines is guar
anteed. If he wishes to insure his
property he goes to a cooperative in
surance company which will insure
his crops against loss by hail or wind !;
another cooperative insurance agency
insures his house against fire, while
another insures his live stock against
sickness, accident. or legal destruc-
ton, following the discovery Of tuber-
culosis or other contagious disease.
His stock cattle come to him from a
cooperative breeding farm. From co
operative associations he gets his sci
entific instructions as to the care of
his cattle, as to the best feeds, as to
the cure of animal diseases, as to the
valuation of crops, as to fertilizers.
His milk and cream he takes to CO
operative creamery, from which it is
sold comparatively His very hens
lay cooperative eggs which within an
hour after they are laid may bear the
stamp of a cooperative organization.
Even the farmers wife has a ten
dency toward cooperation and is as
alive to its advantages as is the farm
er himself Everywhere we find the
women intelligent and conducting
their domestic affairs as scientifically
as do the men their farms.
Cooperative Education.
The very education of the people is
il part cooperative. During the win.
ter the local cooperative union gives
them an opportunity to study the ad-
vantages of this system of organiza-
ton. Here for example is sample
of the schedule of subjects that will
be brought up, lectured upon. and dis.
cussed at winter session of the Co
operative union
I'd The history of cooperation, one
hour; ~ The organization of coop.
erative societies, one hour; t3) Credit
societies and their organization, two
hours; (4) Purchase and sales soci.
cites, two hours; 81 Cooperative SO.
cieties of other kinds, one hour; (s)
Social and economic questions, one
hour
And with characteristic German
thoroughness, these subjects are
taught, SO that the farmer will not
only know what to do, bat will know
why he does it.
Good Farming Result of Cooperation
1t is cooperation, too, which seems
to have spurred the German farmer
On to an effort for the highest possible
excellence il every line. Henry Wolff
says: Fifty years behind our own.
culture Jagged miles behind our own
81. Now, barring live stock breed.
ing, In which we still excel-German
agriculture is undoubtedly ahead of
ours. For the moment German
agriculture leads. There is more va
riety in it than in ours, more adapta-
.Hn-Il nnIhrRso