The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-10-25


ltrol the sale of his product as it is
for the manufacturer or the miner
to control the sale of his product.
2. Is the farmer entitled to big
ger share of the consumers dollar?
The farmer now gets, on an average,
only very small fraction of every
dollar paid by the consumer for farm
products. How can he get more!
Only by controlling the crop until
it reaches the consumer. That can be
done only by united or cooperative
effort. In Denmark, where coopera-
! tive marketing is followed, the farmer
gets 49 cents of the consumers dol
lar.
What Constitutes Marketing
% Assembling the product, (2)
Grading, (3} Warehousing, (D
Transportation, (5) Financing, (6)
Skillful selling. Practically all of the
work included under these heads is
done by somebody other than farm
crs. whom we call the "middleman. ;"
! Of course, this middleman gets all
profits arising from doing these
things. Selling in driblets rather than
large quantities means lower prices.
The farmers ignorance of grading,
which is now done by buyers and
speculators, results in more loss. Lack
of proper warehousing and financing
results in loss in quality and helps 10
cause rush selling at great sacrl-
flee. To sell skillfylly requires
knowledge Of the product, cost OF
production, supply, demand, etc. The
Individual farmer does not have this
knowledge and can not command 1T.
, Individual Selling is Poor Business
Why? Because
/. The farmer is naturally more
! a producer than a trader or business
man.
2. Acting alone, he can do very
little with the various steps that con-
stitute marketing. AS an Illustration
of how organized effort results IN
successful financing, the Mississippi
long staple growers have been able 70
borrow through the War Finance cor
poration s5,OOO,ooo to finance their
crop for orderly marketing.
! There is now pending in congress
a bill providing that the government
shall lend funds through farmers or
ganizations. The advantages OF such
a law, if passed, can come only
through organizations of farmers.
! 8. AS individual sellers, growers
compete with one another.
q. There are always some who
need to sell or otherwise get relief.
Without organization, this distress
selling hurts, the market and the IN
dividual. Cooperation takes care OF
this.
! The real question then is, Can far
Imers get better service from mlddle-
men serving their own selfish inter-
ests or from farmers organizations
serving the interests Of the farmer
members.
General Principles
There are three kinds of organlza-
tions: (a) stock corporations, (b)
combination stock and patronage COM
panies, (c) non-stock cooperative as
sociations. Stock corporations are
organized to draw dividends on mon
eey invested. Stock and patronage
companies provide limited dividends
on money invested and sharing of ad-
ditional profits with patrons. The
non-stock cooperative association has
no money invested upon which to pay
dividends and provides equal risks
and equal benefits for members.
The six main principles of the CO.
operative marketing associations are:
! l. Organization on the basis of
the crop or product to be handled.
2. Membership limited to growers
and landlords receiving the product
las rent.
8. A binding contract to sell
, through the association all of the
product produced by each member.
4. Thorough grading and market,
ing in "pools," each pool made up OF
all the products of given grade re-
ceived from members.
5. The employment of skilled SELL
ing agents to handle the association
product.
6. Non-stock, non-dividend paying
organization.
The Crop Contract
/. A mutual agreement to market
o,~4 ~ r