The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-01-30
To the Farmers of St. Francois County

This article is intended to acguaint
the farmers of st. Francois county
with the great Farm Club movement
which has now spread into more than
80 of our ia counties and which has a
membership Of approximately $4,000
of the most progressive farmers in
Missouri. No doubt the reader has
heard of the Farm Clubs. When they
first started out several years ago
there were many who believed they
would prove another "fash in the pan"
as so many farm organizations have in
the past. But today they are not only
beginning to grip the State with bands
of steel, but some of the foremost
farm journals in the country profess
to believe that the Farm Clubs of Mis-
souri, present the long sought for plan
of farm organization and hence are
seeking to introduce them into other
States.
What is the Farm Club plan, you
ask? In the first place don't get 1t into
your head that it is Farmers
Store" movement. On the contrary,
the Farm Clubs are friendly to the
country town and hence their Con-
stitution and Bylaws throw man
tie of protection around such leading
lines of merchandise as groceries,
clothing, dry goods, hardware, shoes,
farm implements, lumber, etc. The
Farm Clubs, however, do take over
such incidental lines as flour, the dif-
ferent kinds of feed, such as bran,
shorts, cotton seed meal and cake, lin
seed oil meal, tankage, cattle, hog and
poultry feeds, commercial fertilizers,
binder twine, farm seeds, silos, coal,
salt, automobile tires, tubes, etc.-in
short, within a few exceptions the
commodities taken over are such as
usually constitute side lines with a
grain elevator and thus the great sta
pie lines Of merchandise which consti-
tute the backbone of the country town
are left unmolested.
But the real purpose Of the Farm
Clubs is revealed in their slogan,
production cost, together with rea-
sonable profit for the fruits Of the
farmers sweat and toll" In short, it
is the first time in the history of
American agriculture that farmers
organization has ever deliberately
started out to get control of what the
former produces in order that he may
no longer be compelled to "pay the
other fellows price for the things he
buys and accept the other fellows
price for the fruits of his yearly toll. !"
Here you have the Farm Club faith"
in a nutshell-and this is the reason
why intelligent farmers from one end
of Missouri to the other are fiocking
to this new organization by the thou
sands. And the plan of procedure is
very simple. The Farm Clubs do not
employ paid organizers because they
believe that farmers have sense
enough to organize themselves, once
the right kind of a plan is placed in
their hands-and hence all that is
necessary is to address letter to the
Missouri Farmers Association, Column
bia, Mo-, when literature and complete
instructions will be supplied free OF
charge. Then the interested farmers
call school house meeting and Or
ganize Farm Club. Usually a few
leading farmers from the adjoining
districts are invited in so they may
perfect Clubs also. From the very
start the idea is to get Is per cent or
given shipping point into the organi-
cation immediately-and frequently
this is done in two or three weeks
time. Then as soon as the given coun-
ty has 1000 or more members, mass
meeting is held and at this time a
County Farmers Association is formed
with a paid County Secretary in
charge-and this secretary looks af-
ter the interests Of all the clubs in his
county In the meantime, the Mis-
souri, Farmers Association, the parent
organization, is the big Stick" which
drives the big deals and fights the
larger battles of the clubs of the en-
tire State-making all in all the most
compact and effective farmers "ma-
chine" ever developed in the United
States.
Money in the Farmers Pocket.
And now we will assume that rs per
cent or 80 per cent of the farmers of
your community have been brought
into the Farm Clubs, when the follow
ing program is started in motion:
First, remember that all Farm Club
members, as soon as school district
clubs are organized are placed in i'm
mediate position to buy their flour,
mill feed and other feeds, coal, tank
age, salt, commercial fertilizers, bin
der twine, automobile tires and tubes
at the wholesale price. At this writ
ing we are buying the best of flour
at $12.50 per barrel delivered any
where in Missouri. Compare this with
the retail price you are now paying.
Also we quote shorts at $2.45 per cwt.
and bran at S2.15 per cwt. delivered at
Missouri points. We are delivering
the best of Illinois coal at around So
per ton---depending upon the length of
freight hauls. We are now placing
spring orders for all the leading
brands of commercial fertilizers and
can save you several dollars per ton.
Also we are now taking orders for the
best of Standard binder twine and
will furnish carload to the farmers
of your community at lac per pound
less than your local dealers themselves
will have to pay. Last year we ship
ned in over 100000 pounds of this
Irvine at 81 3-4c per pound. What did
you pay? The usual retail price of
set of Ford automobile tires is ST.
so. We furnish them for $52.59. The