The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1921-04-27

keting of the commodi Y. His liberty
Of action only allows him to dump
his crop in competition with every
other grower, whereas cooperative
marketing would eliminate such sell
ing competition among members OF
an association and would encourage
buying competition among buyers.
Just how this is done is part of the
plan which will be taken up in later
articles of this series.
3. Deficiencies or The Individual Far
mer As a Market Man
Having seen din the last article that
marketing of farm crop includes
assembling or concentration, grading,
warehousing. processing, transporta-
ton, financing, salesmanship and re-
failing, we should readily under
stand why the farmer acting as an
individual! is such poor merchant
of his own products. Acting alone he
various steps in marketing. Usually
at the very first step that of assemb-
ling the commodity, the title, passes
from the grower to a "middleman"
ing are performed by middlemen.
Sometimes n grower will warehouse a
part of his crop and, if he is a large
grower, may grade the crop and later
Sp11 nv 10 p1. fo,. -,
jority. however, put their crops on
the market soon after harvesting, ac-
cepting in payment the current cash
value and accepting also the more or
This Irice is usually too low be-
cause of the fact that markets are
being glutted, and the grading is fire.
quently unfair to growers for no
grades and growers do not.
As Individual Seller. Grower Com
petcs With Grower.
Acting as individuals in selling,
other, this competition resulting fire.
quently in prices below cost of pro-
duction. 1t seems that regardless Of
how economically crop may have
growers whose financial condition
compels them to sell whether or not
they get the cost of production. This
number who must sell is sufficient to
hra fl,., RI Nd al
other growers to accept losing prices.
Profits from farming are. through our
individual methods of marketing,
thus maintained at low levels, and
this is of course reflected in our low
scale of living.
Farming is generally regarded rs
n production business rather than as
Il selling business. Practically all of
the farmers energies. physical and
mental. are spent in economical pro-
duction. He has little time and little
capacity for studying marketing con-
ditions; and. acting as an individual.
conditions even if he We're as we'll in
formed as the expert middlemcn
who handle the marketing.
Why Beratc Middlcmcn:
In spite OF these facts, when the
grower brings his crop to the market
he is put in the absurd position OF
matching his wits with experts who
have made life studies of how to buy
ioh
every middlcman who handles his
crop is Il pa,. of an interlooking eco
ntr,ic system the tendency of which
is To pay to growers the lowest pos
the highest possible price. This.
however. is no reason for beratinS
middlemen. The work which they
do is i'm most cases necessary. Their
railroads. warehousemen, manufac-
turers, and others in addition to
spectators. The only question that
can he asked about middlemen is.
can the work they are doing be done
more economically in some other
way? The advocates of cooperative
marketing say that it can be done
more economically in many cases by
the growers acting together through
cooperative marketing associations.
All are agreed that growers acting in
liviuually could not do as we'll as our
|present set OF middlemen.
Successful COopcrativcs Pointing The
Way.
There are enough successful CO.
operative mark citing associations now
doing business to point the way. The
subject has become perhaps the livcst
agricultural topic in America. Grow