Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-03-19
SOUTH CAROLINA COOPERATIVE. Pr AN
One of the Days Best Cartoons.
nY FItIGDIsMIC J. HASkIN.

| bN
COLUMBIA. s c.. March ia few
days ago Il long. lean Inountaineer.
with virgin stand Of red whiskers
covering his face and dusty. home
made cowhdc boots on his feet, called
TO see Colonel T.. j. Watson. the com
missioner Of agriculture for South
Carolina Told that the official was
busy, he said he would wal, as lon,,
AS necessary.
amt been Ia town FIR seven or
c'Rht years now" he explained. AN
jos walked In forty miles his
'nawnin to thank the kunnel for
aellin' that litter o. hound nuns for
me"
selling litter OF hound pups for 4
mountaincer may seem IAN unusual .r
| tlVity for a State commissioner or M
| ricuitnrc. To Colonel Watson II vas
merely routine incident in the dav,s
work He has built -up a system nv
which he will sell literally anything
lo' amy FARMER in the State OF South
tarohna' whether il be a setting OF
| eggs vr forty-acrc farm \ noodle
| DOG ana pair of monkeys were among
'he articles recently listed in his re-
mhrkable bulletin; The other day he
Effected a swap Of 3. sewing machine
ior "a disc harrow: and the only mcr-
chanGisc he has refused to date was am
lNorS-handled revolver, which tho
State law prohibited him from selling
me benefits OF Colonel Watson's
unique selling scheme have been
mutual widespread and GRATIFYING
When the cotton crop Was tied IN and
The small planter faced starvation,
inns cooperative market enabled him
to sell q calf few eggs. bushel of
seed corn, or anything else he might
nave that would bring in few life
saving dollars.
Helped Cotton Situation.
The commissioners market helped
! 10 save the cotton situation, and incl
dentally made IFS own reputation in
doing so. II now handles a business
or couple OF millions a year and
much Of this is business that would
otherwise go outside the State. Sew
eral large corn dealers who used to
import all their stock are now gettin.,
II from South Carolina farmers. who
! place their offerings with the commits
sioner 4 number of little grist mills
! that could not otherwise exist are get
! ting all the corn they can grind from
the same source. Most welcome Of all
7 is the stream OF cash which this unique
market has turned toward the woman
on the farm. II she has butter or eggs
or preserves TO sell, be her product
: ever so small. she can have II listed
( in five newspapers without cent OF
! cost to herself, and she can almost
| surely make Il sale, or trade
! How is the thing done? Well, TO
| begin at the beginning. there is the
! remarkable personality OF Colonel Wat
! SON. a man OF unusual inventive ability
{ and one who lives for his work. He
/ made special study of the movement
/ for cooperative trading among farm
/ crs which Is sweeping the country, and
! arrived al the conclusion that the rca =
( son most of theih had no wide success
/ was that they failed to appeal to
, "Bii Smith, individual, r. l.. D., num-
! her blank, i'auper County. -Anystate."
| Large cooperative schemes which re-
! quire Bill and his neighbors to form
! am organization. charter freight ears,
( find markets. and otherwise exercise
! Initiative and executive ability, VIII
| not work. Bill is too busy blowing.
! If YOU want to help him, you must go
1 to him personally, or at least by mail.
! and say:
Look here, Bill. here is the address
! OF n man that wants to trade Poland
! China SOW for safety razor anu TWO
/ bushels OF alfalfa seed. You've always
| said you we're going to raise hogs and
YOU know that safety razor you Dough
I'm Columbia Won't make dent III
YOUR beard; now, here Is your chance
/ Bill will rise TO that kind Of a lure
! like bass in May. lie particularly
loves to swap II he can acquire some
| thing lie wants without paying any
money for IT, he Ia decidedly tickled
Found system I'm Germany.
Colonel Watson looked around the
world for "a method to reach Bill,
and found il in that land OF a million
| MISUNDERSTANDING The German CO.
| opcratiye selling scheme is govern
mcnt organization in which the town.
| shin is the unit. The township sccre-
tary OF the Chamber Of Agriculture
lists everything offered and bid foi
in his little territory. and makes what
trades he can. The offerings that dc
/ not sell in the township are passed OF
to. n similar organization In the coun-
ty. What is too big for the county
| goes to the provincial secretary, and
If none Of the lesser organizations car
handle large proposition, the national
! government will sell it.
! OF course Colonel Watson could not
| build up any such intricate system
| single handed, but he quickly perceived
| that the essential of the German plan
was the individual appear. Every op-
portunity to buy and TO sell was laid
before every individual farmer and
dealer In tho township. This Colonel
Watson determined TO do and has done
for the State OF South Carolina. Doubt.
less. the personality and reputation oi
tho man have had much TO do with the
carrying power Of his scheme. Never