Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-08-28
Editors Letter Box
A Valuable Suggestion

tons; where we know farmers nave pet
| ter protection from our laws than our
corporators, the farmers as a class are
not making much more than not very
good living. and the corporators are 90,
ing lot better. Just as sure as tne sun
shines, the time is coming when farming
will be organized, systematized and capl-
talized and the only way is by corporate
ownership. which means Simply. iot y.
people getting together their money a hae
been and is too much for any one 10 90,
but a lot of US can get together ana 40
big things. Some will say TOO much ae-
| ponds en- the weather. Rats. get ma
chinery and work nights. Some time
| some one will see motor pillow with
search light blowing at night. You ana
have seen more wonders.
Editor Kennebec Journal:
4 The above clipping from last week
Maine Farmer, written by Mr.. Maniey
of this city, appears to me too valu-
able a suggestion not to be given
broadest publicity. 1t is not always
that Mr.. Manley and l agree upon i'm
portant matters but here is where Mr..
Manley agrees with me. l have al
ways advocated cooperation. Corpo-
ration is simply cooperation CONNER
cialized. The days of small concerns
are passing away. The individual
manufacturer has nearly gone. Once
we had many ice companies on the
kennebec, long since passed; all
merged into great corporations. The
small dealers days are numbered. The
waste is too great. 1t has become an
age of conservation of products, OF en-
| ergy and life itself. How best to pro-
mote this movement is the one thing
paramount today. Our posterity will
find their problems to solve as well as
we do, but let's not ask them to solve
ours We want to leave behind us
footprints on the sands of time"
! AS Mr. Manley has suggested, most
| corporations are successful. Farming
is not incorporated and as a whole is
unsuccessful. There is reason. 1t is
the most impractical thing imaginable
| to expect success from thousands of
snail uEorganized individual farmers,
each one working in his own small
way struggling with the hundreds of
! difficulties before him. In order to sue
coed he must know everything from
| the raising of cabbage to the most
artful diplomacy and have ample finan-
cial backing to go with this inconceiv-
able store of knowledge. Such a con-
struction of human intelligence has
not yet been developed. He has no
influence in politics: he is exploited in
the market places; he takes what he
can get and gives what the other fell
low asks, excepting occasionally when
there is shortage in some article.
| Now when a thing has been thor
oughly tried and failed it would show
q lack of intelligence to continue the
same course indefinitely and ignore
better methods. To organize farmers
into units of corporations is the sim
plest thing imaginable. A corporation
| locality takes out stock to the amount
. of q fair valuation of his farm. He
becomes a stakeholder in a great cor
poration that he is intimately associ-
ated with. His services would be
needed much more than when he oper-
ated it himself because he lacked the
means to do with. He is paid a week
ly salary. He is sure Of some cash
| once a week, which he never was be-
fore. He could rent the very house
he now lives in. Some would argue
that he would lose the independence he
now enjoys. This boasted freedom is
a myth. 1t never existed. He is the
\
matte conditions. the money, lender,
the tax gatherer, how to raise his
crops, what to do with them if he gets
any, innumerable pests that he doesn't
| know what to do with, where to get
help, how to pay them, and the farm
ers themselves only know the many
others. The whole project of farming
today is too profound for any one man
| RI A
would divide the responsibility of the
whole into board of directors. a bust
Eess manager who would have general
supervision of the business affairs, a
treasurer who would keep accurate &C
count Of all receipts and expenses.
These different farms could be de-
voted to a speciality in which they We're
best adapted. The same as the man
could be used where best qualified to
serve. One farm could be usec for
wheat and oats; another for potatoes.
some for poultry, dairying. beef, sheep
etc. If one crop failed the corporation
would not go broke like the lone
farmer.
| Mans intellect isn't big enough to
generalize in farming. He must spe-
| cialize to succeed and an individual
|
much risk in Maine. 1t is very much
easier to finance a corporation than a
| lot Of individuals and financial back
| ing in farming is as essential as the
| coil, The great elimination OF waste
by cooperation is one great factor. The
| saving of equipment and horse power
There are so many points in favor of
such a move that any man ought to
readily grasp the great possibilities
of it.
| 1t would revo1utionize farming and
add hundred fold TO the farmers en-
| joyment However. the possibilities
cannot be realized only by the cooper
alton of the farmers and financial men.
There is no danger of a Moses coming
along and doing this thing for the
farmers or anyone else. 1t is a case
of work out your own salvation.
1t has been a number of thousand
years since Moses led the children of
Israel into the wilderness. He didn't
get them OFT and when they finally got
out their task of self government and
development had just begun. "Eter-