The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-09-12

A we'll attended and enthusiasts
meeting was held in the Court House
today for the purpose of taking under
consideration the formation of a mar
ketlng association for Sumter county
farmers. The meeting was represen.
| tative of the entire county. q largo
majority of the crowd being from the
county outside of the city and ey-
cry section of the county was repre-
|sented. The meeting having been cali
ed under the auspices of the County
Council Of Defense, Chairman A. C.
| Phelps called the meeting to order
ana stated the object of the meeting
in general terms. after which he in.
/ trodlced Or. w. w. Long, of Clemson
College. who is in charge of the Farm
Z tension work in the state, DR.. Lons
outlined the need of marketing or.
gani1ations by means Of which farm
RS may dispose Of their products to
advantage. lie said the government
and other agencies had been preach
ing diversified farming to the people
Of this STATE for years, but had never
taken any sters to assist them to fin !
mar:cts for these products. The
farmer" lad not taken the advice to
diversity, to any great extent, and
they had been wise in this policy, for
without markets, diversification meant
loss. This had been proven by the
experience Of those farmers who had
attempted to diversify-they had
usually met with loss. not because
they were unable to produce crops
other than the staple crops of thc
section, but because there was no
! market. Therefore now that diver
sifcation of crops has become an alb
solute necessity it behooves the farm
ers to bcstir themselves to organize
associations to provide markets for
their products There is Il mark ct
and a demand for all that the farm
ers Of this section can produce, but
without agencies to bring the pro-
ducers and the consumers in touch
the farmers may as we'll not diversity.
The foundation of successful divcrsi-
ficatiOn and marketing is to be found
| In n,-o-;.oA.-
operation. Standardization and dis
tribution. From the general theme
Of diversiGcation OF crops and Cooper
ativc marketing DR.. Long proceeded
to a. discussion Of the practical details
OF organizing and conducting q mar
keting association explaining tho
methods and prac'i .es that have been
proven successful and profitable in
other sections Of the country. He said
that marketing association should
be organized with sufficient paid in
capital to provide the necessary
equipment and to carry on the busl-
ness. An experienced man should be
employed as manager of the associa-
ton. who would do for the selling en-
OF the farmers business practically
what the farm demonstration agent
does for the producing end--give ex-
pert advice and supervision and als1
act as the agent for selling the pro-
duce. DR.. Long emphasized the fac
that he was not advising or urging
the farmers Of Sumter county to form
a marketing association at this par
| ticular time. he was merely discuss
ing the necessity Of such an organi-
zation In every county where there arr
products to be sold-truck, eggs, poul-
try. live stock. dairy products. corn
velvet beans, or in fact any other pro
ducts other than the staple crops
cotton and tobacco-for which there
now exist regular and certain mark
| The question Of forming an associa-
ion at this time or at some later date
is matter for the people Of each
particular locality to decide, for they
have a more intimate knowledge o.
the local situation than he had. But
as concluding thought he stressed
the statement previously made that
diversified farming cannot succeed in
the absence Of a we'll organized MAJ
keting association.
Mr.. J. M. Napier Farm Demonstra
tion Agent for Darlington county. who
work in his county in organizing the
farmers and in establishing marketing
agencies for their products. was next
introduced. He told briefly what he
had done and how he had done 1T.