Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-04-02
BY ERWIN r. BURNETT

You men and women of middle age
have during the past twenty or
twenty-five years seen nearly every
commodity you have to buy pass
from independent hands under the
control of organizations called trusts,
for the purpose of controlling and
manipulating the manufacturing and
marketing of their products.
All this time the selling end of
the farming business has gone on in
ldependently without effective organ
ization and without insisting on
fair price for your products. In fact
so far as results go your methods are
just as crude as those of our great
grand fathers time.
Our government has helped us to
make great strides, yes wonderful
advancement in the production of all
kinds of farm produce which is very
commendable, yet what is the use of
pushing the producing end if when
your crops are ready to sell you are
compelled to be at the mercy OF
gamblers in the fruits of your hard
labor who frame up on you ma
nipulate the prices and give you as
much or little as they choose for
your products.
Take for example the wheat situ-
alton in Kansas in 1914. During the
natural marketing time the farmers
got anywhere from so to 20 cents a
bushel; then as soon as those who
were pressed for mony and compel
led to sell had gotten rid of their crop
the price advanced and made lovely
cleanup for the manipulators.
Another thing that was peculiar
th Arlr nf nj
orado: Until the sugar beet season
was over the price of sugar remained
reasonably low, however as soon as
the beets were all made into sugar
the price of sugar advanced from a
dollar to a dollar and half per hun
dred.
We have seen these same stunts
pulled off for many years in all lines
OF produce: and of course it may be
incidental. but ] rather think that il
is because, while you are breaking
your backs to produce good stuff and
lots OF it, bunch of silk stock
inged' individuals in the Eastern
market centers are lying awake
pens because in your desire for pro-
ducing big crops you are entirely
the big two-thirds OF
your business, that is the selling end.
Again let me repeat: What is the
use OF raising big crops if when you
are ready to sell, the prices are so
low that you have nothing but the
exercise to pay you for your seasons
hard work?
Take our cantaloupe situation last
year (you all know Rocky Ford can
taloupes) thousands of tons went TO
waste, rottedi in the fields for alleged
lack of market, while in Denver these
same camaloupes were selling for
10 cents each. and | will wager that
IL you had called for cantaloupe
other eastern city you would have
paid from Is to 25 cents, depending
on the class of hotel or restaurant
you patronized. This may be a
natural condition but it looks to me
very much like somebody's graft
1t all goes to show the deplorable
weakness in the selling end of the
farming business, does it not? There
is but one answer. and that is organ
ization. and that to be adequate.
must be of national scope.
| would suggest the division OF
each county into say four districts,
with a supervisor chosen by the
farmers of each district. then a coun-
county seat, then a state supervisor
with offices in the capital city OF
each state, and national supervisor
with head offices at Washington,
d. c.
This is big proposition, but in no
wise unreasonable or impossible, and
the farming business being the big
gest and most important industry in
the world, / think is worthy OF a
big organization.
Consider for moment the Steel
trust, Standard Oil trust, Harvester
trust, Smelter trust, Lumber trust,
Beef trust, and dozen more that |
might name. These men did not
organization job, and your farming
business is bigger and more import
ant than all these other industries
combined, so why such an important
job has not been done long ere this
is beyond my comprehension.
There are several reasons, l think,
why smalled agricultural organiza-
tions have not been more successful.
One is that these organizations were
confined to too small a territory to
make themselves felt in the mar
kets. Another, and / think principal,
reason is that most of their members
were OF course men OF limited means
and being. pressed for money to meet
their debts, were compelled to sell
whatever produce they had for what
they could get to meet these obliga-
tions. OF course the cry has always
been that the farmers would not
stick to their agreements made with
their organizations. This condition
do not believe is due to dishonesty,
or disloyalty on the part OF the