River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1920-10-07
iHE EQUITY COOPERATIVE
PLAN AND MR..
HANSON'S REASONING
By J. Fred Larson

the present Equity plan for a CO.
operative marketing system he SAYS
that he did not, in his former article,
say that Pierce county had reached
the limit Of cooperative effort. and
that they would not cooperate with
ether cooperative associations. How
ever, in that article Mr.. Hanson did
say this: For the Pierce county To-
Gals to discard the plans they have
worked under, and made success of,
and accept new plan that requires
more office force and more expense
seems ridiculous" No one has con
tended that the Pierce county local
business associations have not elm
mated local middleman profit and
expense. We do contend, however,
that these local associations do not
cooperate in the sale of the products
at the terminal markets or elsewhere,
but OH the contrary, actually compete
with one another in the sale of those
products. The local associations do
not apply the same cooperative prin-
ciples to the sale of the products as
the members of the.local associations
apply to the shipping of the product.
MIR. Hanson knows that that is so,
and that is why he avoids that part
of the issue The federation of the
local associations into central mark
eting associations as proposed by
what Mr.. Hanson is pleased to call
'his" (Larson's) business plan would
not involve any material change III
the method of doing business at the
local point-at least nothing that
would necessitate any additional ex-
pense excepting the little invest
ment by the local association that is
necessary to establish and maintain
the central marketing associations,
comparable to the investment indivi-
dual farmers make to establish and
maintain the local association.
Mr.. Hanson and other Pierce coun-
ty men who seem now to be cultivat-
ing the spirit of that old gentleman
who said: IF you are for it, | am
agin it; but if you are agin it / am
fer it," have been connected with the
local associations and the Equity So
Getty for quite number of years.
During that time not one of them has
proposed a plan for federating the
local associations so they, (the as
sociations,) could cooperate in the
sale of the product they handle. Many
of the members of the River Falls
local cooperative business associa-
tons did not even keep up their mem
bership in the Equity Society. Now,
when someone else proposes . plan
for federating the local associations
into central marketing associations
with the view OF establishing q sys-
TEN by which the farmers Of TINS
section Of our country could gradual
~ obtain the control of the sale of
their products, these leaders in CO.
operative efforts in Pierce county,
ere "agin it" At first they threw
cut a general blanket objection to
everything proposed during Mr.. Tit
temore's administration of the State
Union. This shows that they were
&ctuated Ivy personal likes and dis
likes or prejudice and not by care
full consideration Of principles involv-
ed; or at least, it shows that they
can not, or viii not, see that the
principles underlying a great co
operative business policy is OF more
concern than any one Of few men,
and further that the the proposed
business policy is such that it abso-
lutely cannot be controlled or ex-
plotted by any man or clique Of men,
but viii be under the control Of the
stockholders
Then, when they are pinned down
to a consideration of the business
plan itelf, they do not deal with the
big fundamental principles of the
plan, but pick out and actually mis-
interpret or confuse certain details OF
the plan as proposed Mr.. Hanson
objects to section s, article 3, and
section 4, article s, of the proposed
bylaws. Section of art Gle does
not say the board of directors of the
Wisconsin Equity Livestock Market
ing Association can call in the stock
OF any stakeholder, but it says the
association can Such action could
be taken only by tire stock holders
at a regular on special stockholders
meeting at which the members or
stakeholder Under file would, or
could, be present and have an oppor-
tunity for self-dcfense. Besides as
the association is to be established for
cooperative service and not for the
accuns1latiOn of profits, and the pow