Arizona republican., 1921-01-11


 conservative estimate to say that the | organization was responsible, in the 1919 season. for bringing into the Salt River valley a couple of million dol lars more than would have otherwise been received for cotton and products.
 The Movement Grows
 The first year the membership en- rolled was very small but the good accomplished so evident that the membership grew, from representing $500 acres last season to a present acreage or more than sS.O00.
 Last season the membership was exclusively in the Salt River valley of Arizona; this year 1t embraces every cotton producing section in Arizona and California.
 Has Been Safety Valve
 In the artificial condition of business in general and the cotton market in particular that has prevailed this sea- son the association has proven a yer liable safety valve.
 Through the information service each member has received frequent bulletins, telling of conditions and their causes and encouraging them to hold their cotton until there is a market.
 The first fund to loan on cotton as security offered in the Southwest was secured and loaned directly through the association, and additional funds aggregating many millions have been brought in and loaned, and with one exception, the association was the moving factor in securing the various funds. In every case, in loaning the money to the farmers, the grading and chasing has been done by the licensed graders employed by the association. l Educational Work
 As a result of all these activities there is less than per cent of our cot ton that was offered up to the middle of December and when the market finally opens and the cotton is sold, most of 1t will be handled through the sales department, and the general re- sultant benefits of the association will be of huge moral and financial value. | This is the only type of association that was practical at the time it was organized, and 1t has demonstrated its value. That service, plus the lesson taught by present conditions. illumi- mated by the experiences of the pro- ducers of various farm products in California, and egged on by the educa- tional propaganda put out by the pub licity department, has brought the growers of this section to the point where they are ready to go in for firm Incorporation on an enforceable contract basis. with ample credit back of the organization that will make 1t forever , , impossible that temporary bushes, ! conditions and artificial conditions O the market can break a large number of our growers.
 Such a plan is now under prepara |, ton in this department. and will b. . . ready to submit for adoption in tn near future, and if the expression |, from a large part of our membership are sufficient criterion. will certainl. lhn ado
 Points to Consider , Tn working out a plan for a systen of scientific cooperative marketing t , assure better prices and better condi . tions to producers of cotton, there ar f many things to consider, and there ar . many things that are of importance t Q other co-operatiYf organizations tha affect co-operatite market organiza . Itions.
 n In perfecting a plan for a firm con f tract type of organization we have be a fore us the plans, methods. contract if reports and other data from practical every successful cooperative move a ment in California and elsewhere, an . the Arizona Plan" will be a digest ( n the best proven experience of otht IS communities that will apply to cottol IS adapted to our own peculiar condition -s to which will be added such features a ,- have already proven practicable in tA
 Southwest.
 to There appear to be three gener; te plans that can be applied with the req le sonable expectation of success to tf h marketing of cotton: The first d these might be called the Raisin Grow g CTS plan, and is a stock corporation Id composed of and financed by tI ,y growers.
 n The second. or dual plan, is the or d originated by Aaron Sapiro of Sa ID Francisco composed of a purely e = operative association, with subsidiar
 corporations for the actual handlir of the cotton.
 The third. or Orange Growers pla
 contemplates a large number of loci
 organizations; these organized int
 district associations, and the distri
 association finally merged into the cer
 tral association.
 There are advantages and disadvaI
 tages to all of these plans, and a jl
 dicious combination of the best fes
 tures Of all will finally be the solutio
 The Orange Growers plan. whi
 necessary in handling a product tn
 is perishable, is apparently unnece
 sary and entails too much overhead e,
 pense for handling cotton.
 The Sapiro plan is designed to avo
 the anti trust laws and will certain
 accomplish its purpose.
 The Raisin Growers plan is op'
 only to the objection that 1t is subje
 to attack under the antitrust law
 but 1t seems probable that congre
 will soon make a further exemption f
 farmers marketing organizations, al
 in case they don't the stock corporate
 plan, which after all is the simple
 will probably prove practicable, if o
 ganized and incorporated specifical
 to operate without profit, except inte
 est on investment