Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1916-09-19

hamuS down TO many mere SaTuei
plots, the average holding being two
to three acres. What Mr.. Paulhamus
was trying to do was to get all the
people to work with one another in
stead of working against one an
other. And the constitution of the
society made it obligatory upon each
member to deliver all of his products
to the society. A stockholder dis
posing of any of his products else
where was dropped from the associa-
tion.
Thus combined, the fruitgrowers
were able to control a situation that
had formerly controlled them. Their
combined products made their trade
worth having; so they were able to
secure agents of the best kind to rep
resent them in the various cities to
which their products were shipped.
Henceforth, instead of selling their
fruit individually to commission men
for what they could get, the associa-
tion members sold it collectively di-
rect to wholesalers for what it was
worth. They allowed their agents a
commission of two and one-half per
cent on all sales. Under this new ar
rangement the producers receive more
than twice as much as they did under
the old plan, and the price to the ul-
innate consumer is not increased. The
association has merely eliminated
lot of speculative middlemen. In 1911,
for instance, the association members
sold their raspberries at an average
price of $1.45 a crate-certainl not
an excessive sum for a producer to re-
ceive-as against less than seventy
five cents a crate received before the
society was formed.
Strangely enough, no sales were
made by the society itself. The So
ciety does not buy products from its
members. 1t sells products for its
members. That is its purpose. 1t
does not take their products and at
stated times declare dividends, as the
average cooperative corporation
might. Instead, it acts merely as the
collecting and selling agent, handling
the combined products as a unit, but
turning the proceeds from their sale
directly over to the owners. Thus,
instead of getting dividends, each
member receives the direct income
from his sales. He gets his pro rata
share from all pools to which he has
contributed fruit. Thus, for instance,
a producer might have berries to sell
on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
only. In that case he would share
only in the money received on those
days, and only in proportion to his
contribution to the total amount sold.
This plan insures absolute fairness.
The man who by diligence has early
berries gets the profit from the great
er return. He does not have to strike
an average with some slothful pro-
ducer whose berries come later. Thus
each person gets the full rewards of
his own diligence. The only part that
the association plays in the sales is
that it pools all products day after
day, selling them as unit. The pro-
ceeds go, not to the society, but to
the individuals who contributed to
the pools.
One inevitable result Of the in
crease in prices that followed the for
nation of the association was a great
er production of fruits and berries.
Producers had now an incentive to
labor. More people became produc-
ers, and old producers increased their
acreage. The market became glutted,
and the cooperative effort appeared
to be endangered by its very sue
cess. But President Paulhamus--for
Mr.. Paulhamus became, and still is,
president of the association-found
way out of this difficulty. He built
a cannery to take care of the sur
plus.
Just as soon as products become so
abundant as to depress prices badly |
the cannery begins operations. That
relieves the glut. Beginning with the
end of the fruit season, late in the
berry season, the eannery runs until
fall. By its help the price of pro-
duets is kept at a fair level. Furth-
ermore, every particle of fruit or ber-
ries produced is thus used. No Pu-
yallp products go to waste. What can
not be sold fresh are canned. Thus
the cannery, which tends TO keep pric-
es up for the producers, tends also
to keep them down for the consumers
by conserving the supply.
Ordinarily there is little of interest
about a eannery. But the Puyallup
,annery is out of the ordinary-at
least in the manner of its genesis.
The Puyallup eannery is a $4,000
plant. 1t is owned by a corporation
With a capital stock of only $1,000.
And the members of the corporation
have never paid one cent toward its
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