The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-05-23
PITFALLS in Marketing.

|ytt PITFALLS in Marketing. i,
Clemson College. May SIT is de-
Plorable to note how susceptible
many growers are to the bait that is
hung for them by INSCRIPTIONS men,
bers Of the trade. Farmers and
growers complain of being imposed
upon and robbed and yet they are &C.
tually to blame for the existence OF
certain evils in marketing. Instead OF
being loyal to their interests and Civ
ing 1t their wholehearted encourage
ment they continually listen to bribes
that are offered them by individuals
who are trying to keep the farmers
disorganized.
The State Market Agent was es-
pecially struck by an incident that
took place in the asparagus dis
tricts. The more enterprising grow
ers have been organized into a
splendid cooperative association anu
have adopted the best method of
marketing in existence, taking ev-
erythtng into consideration. This
step s:among the growers has OF
course broken UP the highway rob
berry that they were exposed to in
past seasons Never before have the
,srowsrs. been SO successful az; now
after having organized and adopted
nUdern system Of marketing,
Certain interests in the, trade of
course saw that their past lucrative e
methods were almost eliminated ~
they decided to do everything to
break up the association. Their IA
vorite method Of breaking up a.
association is to get a weak-kneed
individual and pad his sales. that is,
give him little more thaaf the
nlarket price. This weak-kneeL in
dividual goes about the members OF
the association and brags about how
much he received from such and
such a party. The parties who pad
these sales hope to bring about dis
satisfaction among the members Of
the association by the reports that
the weakened grower spreads.
Growers should be very careful
OF such bait. They should realize
that any one handing a bribe has
an ulterior motive and will get all
his bribes back and a lot more, to
the detriment of the growers en-
terprise. Growers should fight shy
OF any reports that are not in keep
ing with that of the governments.
Only last week some very honest
and loyal members Of the South
Carolina Asparagus Association were
almost fooled. Reports were COM
ing in to these growers that a GER
tain Arm sold packing house refuse
asparagus for more than the best
grades that the association members
realized. The State Market Agent
produced the original copies of the
wires for that day in the market
where this inferior grade was sup.
posed to be selling SO high and con.
| vinced the growers that this was
not the market quotation but the
quotation of only one individual who
wished to get the growers to ship
to him. If this individual was sc
anxious for asparagus why did he
| not order through the association
manager and get the best grade OF
asparagus for the same price that he
offered for poor grass" Any grow.
er with the least bit of intelligence
can easily see when quotations are
offered out of the association which
are out of line with the government
wire, that something is wrong.
Growers should be loyal to theil
associations. In fact growers who
are not in associations should boost
an association for when an associa.
tion - present prices are toned up
Take out an association and grower.
will quickly see how easily they viii
be imposed upon.
L