Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-09-23


the year and dumped his years cror
of manufactured goods on the market
naming no price on it, but simply TAX
ing the best offer that he could get ac-
cording to the degree of his ignorance
of helplessness! Everybody knows
| that with such plan Of selling manu-
factured goods, prices of such goods
would be cut all to pieces and profits
would disappear. Yet that is the way
we sell farm products.
And what have just said about the
impol tance Of group marketing to
manufacturers applies with equal force
in the case of organized labor. War
time wages Of industrial labor climb
| ed higher than wages of farm labor
and yet industrial labor, as a rule, has
had it's wages cut only a fraction of
the extent to which the farmer has
suffered losses.
why this discrimination? One Of
the chief reasons Is that industrial
labor has cooperative marketing of
the only thing it has for sa'e-the
daily labor of its members. The farm
er sells what he has to sell individual
ly.
Supply and Demand.
Talk about supply and demand-it
has a great deal to do with crop prices,
and | would be the last man to say
that it has not. But you can take the
very same identical conditions Of sup
ply and demand and system of intel
ligently merchandising farm products
should get us twice as great profits as
the present system Of recklessly dump
ing farm products. tsAnd If we can
double profits for Moth Carolina farm
ers we will double for North Carolina
business men. Remember that. l am
delighted that North Carolina business
men are showing so much interest in
this great movement, as business men
all over the South are now doing.
What is the Remedy?
1.-THE remedy that our farmers should
adopt, therefore, is the cooperative
marketing system, which has already
brought prosperity to California, Ire
land, Denmark, etc. We must get the
farmers in every state to sell their cot
ton, tobacco and peanuts together in
great quantities. We must hire the
smartest, brainiest business men we
can get as selling agents. Our selling
agents must study conditions the world
over, ask a fair price. and sell scientif-
ically, gradually, with proper provfsion
for finarcing the grower while this
gradual marketing is effected.
I'VE must have our crops sold by
men who are trying % see how big they
can make the farHte9,s share, instead
OF how little.
Six Chief Features of operative
Marketing.
Much has been said about the Cali
fornia pan of cooperative marketing,
that being the plan on which we are
organizing. 1t avoids the mistake
made in former cooperative attempts.
1t is strict business,and so appeals to
business men and business farmers.
Here are some Of the outstanding
principles:
I've must organize by commodity
and not by locality. That is to say, we
must organize to market a specific
product scientifically, and not just or
ganize a miscellaneous lot of farmers
who happen to be living in a certain
community, county, or state. A large
per cent. of the growers of any one
product must sign a legally binding
agreement to market all that they pro-
duce through the marketing associa-
tion, which they themselves control.
"2-We must organize commercially,
and not just fraternally or sentimen-
tally. 1t is ali we'll enough to have or
ganizations to develop the fraternal
spirit, provide social meetings, visit the
sick, bury the dead, etc, but IL we are
to get better prices for our products
we must have an organization specl-
fcally devoted TO that one particular
job.
"3-We must organize permanently,
not Temporarily. We shall never be
successful-and we shall never deserve
success-until we are ready and will
ing to stick to one another in a COM
pact business organization through
thick and thin, for better or worse, till
success Is won. The contract is for
five years.
I've must organize legally, not
loosely. We have no place for slackers.
No organization can succeed unless
every member is legally bound up
through an iron clad legal contract to
do his part in making the plan a sue
cess.
"5-The association will pay each
producer during the continuance Of his
contract pool prices of the product.
That is to say. the farmers product is
graded and turned over to the asso-
citation. The association managers sell
it when they think best. The farmer
gets for each grade of any product
that he markets the average price of
that grade during the season. In other
| Uords tho farmer having organized