Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-03-25
The Gall for Co-Oberat10n
Am0ng Southern Producers


operation among the food and fruit
- growers of it's State, the Florida Times
Union offers counsel to which the entire South
may protitably give heed Competition, our
contemporary truly remarks, is not the life
Of trade. On the contrary, enterprises in
every way worthy have languished and died
because the individuals engaged in them have
been disposed to go it Alone particularly
with reference to the marketing end of the
business"
Georgia peach growers will bear emphatic
witness to the force of this principle In
years gone by, when they proceeded, every
man for himself, relying upon aggressive
competition for success, they suffered handi-
caps and losses which threatened the very ex-
istence of their industry. But when they
came comparatively together in the so-called
Fruit Exchange" they gained individual OPP
portunities as well as common advantages
which increased the proftableness and the
security of peach growing ten and a hundred
fold. It is noteworthy, moreover, that since
the Exchange began operating, the markets
and the consuming public have been served
far more satisfactorily than before; co-opera-
ton of this kind makes for all-round eff
cheney and is good for all concerned.
The same principle is happily illustrated in
the development of CALIFORNIA; walnut grow
ing industry, which in the last two decades
has increased from some eight million pounds
valued at four hundred thousand dollars to
more than thirty million pounds valued at
eleven million dollars. It is chiefly to their
cooperative associations, which they began to
form in 1900, that the growers attribute this
remarkable advance, for, as they point out,
prior to 1900 they had been very much at
the mercy of the spectators and seldom re-
ceived for their crop even the actual cost of
production" Of it's own State the Times
Union observes that whilst there are co-opera-
tive associations in Florida, particularly
amongst the growers of citrus fruits and veg
At3b1RS aS
it should be- However: "There are indica-
lions that inspire hope that cooperation is
gaining a Roadway which sooner or later
sooner, we trust-will lead to better things,
to cooperative organizations so general, so
thoroughly supported by farmers, truckers
and growers, that in no line of the agricul-
tural or horticultural or live stock industries
will there be any failures avoidable losses
at the marketing end of the industries of this
great Commonwealth"
There are cheering evidences that the en-
tire South is awakening to the need of CO.
operative methods in its agricultural inter-
ests. Especially significant is the cordial and
extensive Endorsement now given Mr.. w. P. G.
Harding's proposal that Southern farmers and
merchants organize a -million-dollar cot
ton exporting corporation. Mr.. Harding
cogently stated the merits of this plan and
of agricultural cooperation in general when
he said:
Livery large MISUNDERSTANDING ana MIN
ing concern has a well-organzed sales
department. 1t would be suicidal for
any large manufacturer to devote his
activity to production alone. Of all our
great industries cotton, I believe,
is the only one which has no organized
sales department. Yet many millions of
people are engaged in its production. A
farmer or merchant who has cotton for
sale must either take the price offered
him, or he must hold his cotton in the
hope of obtaining higher price, and he
has assurance that he will get
higher price by holding. The cotton
sDinners have their own organization,
but those with cotton for sale have
none"
The specific and immediate benefits realiz-
eble from the proposed exporting corporation
would mean SO much to the cotton growers
and TO related interests that the plan should
be carried vigorously and promptly into exc
cutiOn. Moreover, the example of co-opera-
ton on this wide scale would be intellectually
valuable an incentive to the organization
of cooperative marketing societies in every
field of agricultural pursuits. AS Georgia and
her neighbor States progress in this course
and this spirit, they will grow in strength
and prosperity.