Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-03-12

| 0'"'iOh' Lhe growers must
aosoluteiy surrender all right to sell
their own crop, they must realize
they hav to play the other fellows
game The grower may know most
anything in the world about produc-
ing, but not a blamed thing about
selling. The professional dealer
knows that is his business. When
you do his business he has every
thing in his favor He knows the
commercial conditions, he knows
how to talk, how to convince men
that blac,. is gray, he knows how to
handle you and you don't know how
to handle him. Your business is to
hire specialist, to hire someone
who knows the game from the bot
tom up. The Armour Grain Com
pany in Chicago is the greatest grain
company in the U. s. 1t owns %
per cent of all the elevators in the
U. S. You do not suppose that, Ar
mour does this, you do not suppose
he gives the orders when wheat shall
suddenly be dumped on the market
to make your price 70 down. No,
he hires men who study the wheat
conditions in Australia, Argentina.
India and these men cable him all
available information. But, Armour
does not do this, he has hired spe-
cialists who know and can employ
men who know how to get results
Armour is probably playing golf
when his deals are made.
In California the growers do not
stand alone they hire specialists, the
biggest and best men money can com
mand; they employ statisticians to
furnish the data all this because col
lectively they can afford it, collec-
lively they have the power and the
funds.
In the third place, you can not tie
farmers with a rope Of sand, you
need a real contract, long, ironclad
We do not let men break contracts.
We expect them to keep their con-
tracts anc we go into the courts and
make them keep them. We get or
ders compelling the member to de-
liver his products. Last year we had
3 cases in California and won every
one of them. These are the three
principles in dealing comparatively
among farmers. Bind the farmer
with bands of steel, with a good,
strong contract in other words. This
California contract has many clauses
in it, is long, but we have learned
in California that every CLAUSE is
necessary.
1t is also necessary to make pools
in order to be successful. In June
the price smay be high, in October
low, or vice versa Hhe individual
way would be to pay the man who
delivers in June, June price, in Oc-
tober, October prices. In cooperative
systems all share alike. The market
is watched, nothing is dumped and
no one can say the dealings are
crooked, they are not The import
ant thing is to pool the product.
Another necessary method is col
lective credit. We do not make one
man go to the bank and set one rate
of interest and another man get an
/ oil 70 Af ;rf
be some manner of Standardization
That is fair to the banker, to pool
the credits as we'll as the products
The individual does not borrow, he
gets his loan on collective credit
California has established these as
principals. Besides there are meth
DDS of applying them. The Prune
Growers centralize the plan and
every grower makes contract with
a central association. This associa-
ton has district managers who keep
absolutely in touch with the whole
or unit The Almond Growers have
tried another plan, local groups for
Jul JnIS Ids DSOn 1Ouuu "
be awkward and expensive and they
do not get collective credit. The
central plan has the efficiency nee
essary and better legal and financial
standing.
have given you the general prin-
cipals of cooperative marketing, now
for the story:
About four years ago, before the
prune growers consolidated, eight
different firms of buyers divided up
the territory and usually they Of
fered Price to the grower in Feb
ruary of each year. They did not
know what the European demand
would be, it is impossible to tell that
early They told the farmers That
the prune crop was enormous, that
there were lots left over from the