The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1920-08-28
COOPERATION
BY FARMERS is
BADLY NEEDED
r. M. MIIIIken Urges That Farmers
Give Thought to MarketIng-Three
Class Of Farmers That Stay Out
of the Association

NANNN@
ton you will be able to market all
the rice we will put into bags at a
price you are entitled to receive.
The mills have a strong organization
and that is as 1t should be. They
have several conditions to confront,
that can only be handled by being
organized and by getting together
and consulting each other. They
have adopted methods for selling the
clean, also for payment of same,
and many things that could only be
accomplished by unity. So If they
see the wisdom of being united
should you not do the same.
: The average farmer gives just
about all his work and time and fig
uring to producing crop. When he
has done that he gives little thought
to the marketing of it. He has work
ed hard the whole year producing
the crop, and then he takes just what
the buyer wants to give.
Need for information
That is especially true of the ma
jority Of the rice farmers, for they
are not posted on the market and
have to take the line of "bull' given
out by the buyer and seventy-five
percent Of the rice farmers are not
we'll enough posted to contradict any
statement made by the buyer. III
he tries to market the crop himself
he has to take the prevailing price
offered by the purcaser, as he does
not known any better.
You can readily see the raising Of
the crop is only about half of the
business of growing rice. You
should have some place to come for
information. The place should be
your organization. The Southern
Rice Growers Association is simply
a group. Of farmers joined together
for the purpose of determining what
your crop should bring. Every d.
rector is a rice farmer, and does not
draw a cent Of pay for his services.
Some one has broken into print
about the salaries Of the men work
ing for the association. There is
not a man on the payroll of the
Southern Rice Growers Association
that some mill would not gladly pay
the same money for his services and
several of them could command more
salary If they wanted to quit US. Il
admit the men hired by the association
are only human beings and all of
those will some time in life make a
mistake. You know the only man that
does not make a mistake is the man
who does nothing. Our men are not
that kind, they work hence some man
will use poor judgment some time.
You know it is human nature to mag
Nifty the error of very good man
any say little about the many good
deeds performed by the same man.
Three Glasses
Now it apears as if there are three
of rice farmers that stay out
of the association, or talk about why
some farmer shrould not join and put
his shoulder to the wheel and make
easy sailing for all rice interest. One
piker and the other is the pirate.
is the man with grudge, one is the
Some grader may have made de-
livery of a certain mans crop and
found stuff in the lot the farmer new
er knew he had, and then that farmer
says the association stuck him and he
sees no good in the same. Now 1t is
not the object of the association to
put anything over on the mills and If
the grader finds some rice below the
sample on which that lot Of rice was
sold he should not and does not
make that mill take something it has
not bought. The associations grdes lots
rice where the mill has no grader. If
he puts it over the mill on one small
lot he would lose his usefulness. He
Is there to see that you do get for
your rice what it was sold for, see
that every sack goes into its proper
grade. Now the next man is the one
hat has seen what the Southern Rice
Growers Association has ben doing
Tor the industry for the past ten years
and they says, Eyes, the association
S a good thing but can sell my own
ice. see no need Of giving COM
Now that man is free
'ider. He wants his neighbor to
Keep the organization going and he
not contributing anything for its sup
port. The times has now come when
he Southern Rice Growers Associa-
ion is a bigger thing than just
selling organization. The rice game
n the United States has grown to
iuch proportions that some one must
ook after the industry Some one
must look after the markets, after the
mount of acres planted, and some
me to watch the growing crop and