The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-06-16
CHAMBER or COMMERCE NOTES.
Secretary Reardon Discusses Market
Ing Farm Produce and Cooperative
Association.

The necessity for organized bust
ness methods and a cooperative mar
keting association to dispose
Irish potatoes. corn. peas, beans, and
other produce was so clearly empha-
sized in Sumter yesterday that The
managing secretary of the Chamber o.
Commerce felt it worth while handing
out for publication. While some
what ''voluminous" as they say o.
necessarily long articles. yet 1t Is
worth while reading by those who are
interested In crop diversification ant
observation-disclosures particularly.
A Sumter county farmer phoncd
the president of the Chamber
Commerce that he had fifty bushels o
Irish potatoes to sell and wanted t.
know what he could get for them or
the Sumter market. The presiden
called up the secretary and that OH
cial after phoning wholesale and re-
tail establishments found that the
Sumter market was "glutted" as al
OF them said, with Irish potatoes he
ing offered at so cents per peck o.
.wo dollars a bushel, and more being
offered daily. The farmer who phon-
ed the Chamber said he would take
not less than seventy-five cents per
peck and would let the potatoes ro'
before selling for less.
The secretary phoned the farmer
advising that the Chamber was trying
to get the South Carolina Produce AS
sociation to handle the fifty bushels
but the farmer said he had no bar
rels and didn't know where to ge'
any just then. even IL he was offered
anything by the Produce Association
This farmer also said that unless tn
business men of Souti. Carolina, ane
that included the Sumter business
men also, made some arrangement
for disposing of surplus produce o
the farms that the farmers woul'
probably become discouraged and
back to planting practically all cot
ton and importing corn, bacon. vege
tables, potatoes, and other food an1
feed stuffs simply because there is nc
market or practically no market foi
surplus produce Of many kinds.
NOW, right here" said the secre-
tary. ''is where the understandin
ought to fit i'm. but where the misun-
derstanding puts business on the blink
about this diversffication and marke;
ing of surplus products.
To begin with in the natural pre-
cess Of producing and marketing al
commercial commodities there mus
be some business at both ends Of tn
line. WIN the producer who produce
and offers for sale, as well as with
the middle man or business man wht
buys and resells produce.
To begin with the producer. selling
to dealers in bulk. meaning the farm
er, must make up his mind to sell nj
producers prices and not at retai
prices, because if wholesale house o
retailer has to pay farmer 70
produce as much or more than it ca
be resoId for by the middlemen ther
is no business in buying from a hon
farmer under such terms when tn
middlemen can have produce shipped
in here and pay freight on same an
resell at a. living profit.
Every producer must sell at mar
ket prices according to standard mar
ket quotations and not according t
what every farmer thinks he ought
get for his produce. They sell thei;
cotton according to prices fixed
Liverpool and New York and all SCI
for practically the same price. a
cording to grade. Not at what til
cotton- producer thinks it worth cit
er. as rule,
Then again the farmers should sys
tematically organize an associatio
with 4 selling agent in Sumter. If tn
farmers are going to produce surplu
for market in bulk. One or tw'
crates of peas and a bushel or two o
potatoes offered on Sumter market O.
not interest a produce dealer in Char
lesion, Baltimore or New York. Th
volume Of business or rather til
amount of produce offered on cer
tain day fixes the prices and guaran
tees O demand for same. among deal
ers.
Is II reasonable to expect q numbt
Of Sumter business men to form
stock company Of thousands Of dc
lars and employ professional age
to buy produce for reselling ut price
above what the market quotatio
are?- Can a bunch of business me