New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-19
Bla1nes Farmer
For FailureTO
Help Himself
Leader of Cooperative Mar
keting Movement Says
the Grower Alone Can
Make Receipts Go Up
Shows Cause of Dumping
Hope in System Depending
ON Quantity Production
and Com p lete Sales

The farmers continuous denuncia
ton of the Spectator, the politician,
the dealer and the consumer, and his
repeated plea for help from outside,
unaccompanied by any attempt to help
himself, was censured in the strongest
terms by Aaron Shapiro, leader of the
California cooperative movement, at
dinner last night given by the North
American Fruit Exchange to more than
100 farm bureau officers and county
agents of the state.
The grower alone can make his re-
oelpts go up or down." he said. at is
his own fault that during the last ten
years the capital invested in agricul-
ture has paid only per cent interest
as against "a per cent in industry
Blind and unintelligent are the only
two adiectives which can be applied
TO his present system of marketing.
1t is ruinous to producer and consumer
alike and does no good to the middle
man.
20 Per Cent of Crop Marketed
Last year only 20 per cent of the
Texas cabbage crop reached the con-
Stunning market. AS result the profits
of the farmers there were negligible,
while in New York the dealers were
compelled to charge 25 cents a head.
In 1920 over half the apple crop of this
state rotted on the ground at time
when apples were bringing 10 cents
apiece in the city. What the farmers
need is organization for merchandising.
not for holding.
The closest parallel l can draw to
the present system of agricultural dis
tribution would be for Swift & Co. to
turn over to each of its 10000 share
holders his due proportion of the beef
tongue, sausage, ham and by-products
which they turn out. leaving the mar
keting to the individual. Half of the
products could not be sold. In some
places famine prices would prevail.
In others the market would be glutted.
Nobody would make a profit and the
consumer would suffer as much as any
one.
Dumping and Shortage
Farmers are obsessed with the
idea that because their production
must be individual their distribution
must on the same basis. The charac-
teristics of the resulting system are
dumping followed by shortage, lack
of advertising to create demand,
tie, and disastrously uneven distribu-
ton.
"The present system is based upon
speculation, calling for large occa-
sional profits to cover almost equally
large losses. The only hope for the
farmer is to organize substitute
depending upon quantity production,
where each grower will receive the
same payment for given quality,
quantity. and kind of product and
where the entire crop will be brought
to market.
81 know that fifty attempts at CO.
operative merchandising have failed
for every one which has succeeded, but
this has been because the directors
have failed to realize every farm prod
uct and every locality presents q diff
ferent roblem-that perishables, non
perishables and semi-peri shables must
each be handled differently; that crops
which can be grown all the year
around present different problem
from those which are harvested all at
once"
Visit Markets of City
At the dinner the North American
Fruit Exchange announced its mutu-
alization, effective August l. After
cent will be divided half to the ex-
change and half to the co0peratives
which they serve. Individuals compel
ing with cooperatives will not be al
lowed to market their products through
them.
The dinner was part of the three-day
program for the farm bureau officers
and county agents. The other speak
ers included E. P. Porcher, Arthur r.
Rule, president and general manager
respectively of the exchange, and S. l..
Strivings, president of the New York
Federation of Farm Bureaus.
The days program was made up of
inspections of the kitchens Ct the
Hotel Commodore, the Grand Central
Terminal reight-handling sections and
the markets of the city. The afternoon
was devoted to conferences at the Rail
road Y. NJ. C. A. The object of the
visit here is to get an understanding
OF the distribution and marketing
problems which New York presents.