Norwich bulletin., 1916-01-22
DISTRUST THE WEAK LINK IN THE
 COOPERATIVE CHAIN

larger crops may not be quite so tickle. but 1t is uncertain beyond computa- ton or prophecy. Potatoes, for in-
 stance. which began selling in my mar sket at $2,00 bushel for extra carries
 last July, dropped in September to | 35 cents and are now going at S1.00 and $1.10. Some New Jersey tomato growers, who sold their first early I bushel, had to close out their late crops at Il cents a bushel or blow | them under, which many did to save the loss from picking and packing. Then come the materials the farmer | has to buy. In fixing their price he has not word to say. It is Take 'en or leave 'em." The price is set by the other party to the transaction, and set without argument solely in his that other partys. interest. When the far mer pays it he usually pays for the
 goods which he is to consume and, in addition, pays such profit as the man. ufacturer can obtain, and all the pro- fit the big broker can extort, and all the profit the wholesalers conscience will permit him to abstract, and all the profit the retailer can get and keep his trade. These profits and tolls by the road not infrequently amount to more than one-haIf of the bill the farmer finally pays In every such case he pays a dollar for half a-dollar's worth of material. As things are now, the farmer regu- larly makes bet of two to one that he can beat the world, the feshand just as he, once in a while. digs up a pot of gold in his backyard But he doesn't win often
 It isn't intended that he should.
 He is the .easy markp of the busi-
 
 goaded on the .'haw' side and gadded on the s.gee" side till he drags the other fellows profits off his own farm and lands them at those other fellows bank vaults.
 In two many cases he is such a Simple Simonn that when his ex- ploiters, out of contemptuous good na- ture or shrewd reckoning, toss him an occasional dime or dollar out of their winnings from him, he actually that he made it by his good farm ing!
 Oh, we'll, what's the user Why re- tell thousand times -to1-tale? Why epatiate Q nwrongs that are irremedi- able.
 No doubt many of you have that thought
 Simply because the wrong is not ir- remediable: simply because it can be remedied whenever farmers choose to remedy it.; simply because tt is be- cases.
 Out in Benton, Yates county, N. Y, is an organization of 10T farmers, who have decided to take the bull by the horns Here is one of their announce ments. as I find it quoted in a recent letter to The Rural New Yorker:
 We believe in the Allied Powers.
 list The Power that farmer has of making a profit on the produce that
 .2nd The Power he has on making a profit on the produce he sells.
 3rd. The Power he has of making profit on the materials that he buys
 Of course, if you're such a good farmer that you make all the profit that you want. producing. don't read this, read the baseball news Producing is but one part of our business. and it's a gamble The sec ond and third ways are just as much our business as the first, and yet the farmer is such a good sport that he has said to his dealer. Here, you take the two safe ways and I'll gamble on the third'
 Oyer 100 men at Benton. the value of whose farms totals over one mil lion dollars. have said. We want those other two profits
 Though they didn't organize till last April and didn't have their building done till last September, they report a business turnover of $30, 900 up to Jan. 1st. This, despite the fact that the main money crops of the locality were almost total failures, last sea- son.
 Now, you may not believe it but I do. that one main trouble with far-. mers is their lack of confidence in each other They are actually afraid of their neighbors. Wherefore, they. won't do what they individually be- Heve they ought to do for fear some. body else won't do it, too. Once when we were planning a grange fair. the question arose of premiums. T. maintained that we didn't need to offer money prizes: that we were all neighbors. actuated by sense of neighborly rivalry, perhaps, but nothing worse, and that this spirit helped by a fraternal desire to help a common cause along would insure a good showing and satisfactory at- tendance. At once the cry arose that the plan wouldn't be popular; that it wouldn't attract exhibitors; that most