The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1921-10-21
Following articles from obi. Shia
wassee Farm Bureau News:
LOuden for Farm Bureau
Endorses Its Program

President of the United States, and
now President of the Holstein-fries-
ian Association of America, said:
"Where we find the best agricul-
ture, where we find the farms in the
best state of tillage, where they
have the greatest prosperity, there
we find the largest measure OF CO.
operation among the farmers.
have preached this principle for
twenty years whenever opportunity
presented itself.
"a year before the war / spent
a few weeks in Holland, gong from
farm to farm. / found better I'M
provements on the farms, l found
larger measure of prosperity, found
better farming there than you Will
find in most parts of America, ana
/ tried to find reason for 1T. AS
nearly as / could get at it, it was that
they began a number of years ago
to practice cooperation in every
thing they did. They make cheese,
more than anything else. The farm
ers built cheese factories and OPP
Grated them. They did not simply |
mean better business but it meant |
also that they had to compare re-
suits with one another, and the best
farmer in that community was taken
as a model and everybody tried to
work up and get the same results
as he did. They began to see the
value of cooperation. Before that
thew did not know what the other
man was doing, but when they built
these factories and supplied the milk
through a cooperative society each
man knew what the other was do
ing and agriculture began to i'm
prove. Then they organized a CO.
operative society for the exporting
of their surplus product. They told
me one interesting thing-that they
sent a lot of their product to Eng
land. There was a great demand in
England for Stilton cheese, l think
it was, and as they did not know
how to make it, they sent one OF
their experts to England to learn.
When ] was there they were selling
more Stilton cheese in the English
market than the English themselves.
They had carried this principle TO
IFS fullest extent, and l never saw
more prosperous, happier, a more
cheerful and more successful ag--
ricultural country anywhere than l
saw when l visited any portion OF
that snug little kingdom which their
ancestors had wrestled from the sea.
The same thing is true in Denmark.
And where they practice co-opera-.
ton most in France and England
thew are getting the best results.
"Now take our country: The farm
err, as rule, has been absolutely
isolated from his fellows on every
proposition. He has gone his own
way. But let me tell you that ev'
ery time half dozen farmers get to
gether in somedy's kitchen in the
neighborhood to cooperate on some
thing, agriculture begins to look VI
in that community.
"The most helpful movement O.
modern times in agriculture Is TN
county farm bureau. 1t IS goin'
to help us bring agriculture up NOR
rapidly than any other agency w
have had in the past, and that is be
cause it gets the farmers to coop
Grating with one another along Tn
most practical and successful lines
know that is true in ILLINOIS, an
am quite sure it is equally tru
elsewhere.
"Wbile we have been developin
in this country the best scientlIic e'
ucation that any country, has mad
our agricultural colleges nave mao
marvellous progress in the last gel
eration-we found 1t dl11lcult
transmit that science from the cia
room to the farm. We have not pee
able to get it from the college MAJ
out to the fields, and that IS exact
what the county agent is DONG
day all over the country. he Is pea
ing this knowledge when the Pr
fessors teach, and teach SUCCESSFUL
out into the fields. l have more TAI
in an improved and permanent az
culture through the agency OF
county farm bureau than IN al
other single agency we nave.
exists between the prices which t
farmer receives for his services a
those received in other great ind,
tries. We are now in the midst OF
grave business depression. The gu
f;on unnermost in mems minds
how long will it last. This questi
can be answered only if men
ino,,ire into the causes of the
nression. / shall not attempt
enumerate all of these, but there
one which economists now recogn
as never before-the interdepel
ence of industries upon one anoth
II is perfectly obvious that the
eral industries cannot keep step
less some sort of just relation
maintained between the prices e
receive for their seveal CONNIE
Ties and services. No industry is
nowerful that it can live unto u
alone. All in the end must o.
their sustenance from the So
source. Agriculture at the pres
time furnishes the most giaring
stance of which know OF low pr,
as compared with the prices WI
other great industries receive
their goods and services.
"The cost of transportation
farm products is practically DO,
what it was before the war; w
such products, according to the
ernmental table, are now upo
level slightly above pre-war pr