Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1922-02-08

Of the present machinery Of the IarR:
est established agencies dealing II
farm products. OF course, II he wishes,
the farmer may 60 further and engage
In four-milling and other manufactures
Of food products. In my opinion,
however, he would be wise to stop
short Of that. Public interest may .by
opposed to all great 6integratlons but,
In justice, should they be forbidden to
the farmer and permitted to othersf
The corporate form Of association can.
not now be wholly adapted to his OBJ
jects and conditions. The looser CO.
operative form seems more generally
suitable. Therefore, he wishes to be
free, II he finds it desirable and feas.
ible, to resort to cooperation with hfs
fellows and ne|ghbors, without run.
ming afoul Of the law. To urge tina,
the farmers should have the same lib.
erty to consolidate and coordinate
their peculiar economic functions,
which other industries In their flelds
enjoy, Is not, however, to concede that
any business integration should have
legislative sanction to exercise monop.
olistic power. The American people
are as firmly opposed to industrial as
to political autocracy, whether at.
tempted by rural or by urban industry.
For lack Of united effort the farmers
Is whole are still marketing their
crops by antiquated methods, or by no
methods at all, but they are surrounded
by a business, world that has been
,modarnjzed to the last minute and is
.tirelessly striving fSf efficiency. This
efaclency ID due lii large measure to
big business, to, united business, to In.
tegrated business, The farmers now
seek. the ben eAts of such largeness. nm
lon and 'intesration.
The Arheri can farmer 10 modern OF
the moderng In the use Of labor savins
machinery, and, the has made vast
strides in recent years In scientific
tlllage and eflctent farm management,
but ab a business In contact with other
businesses agriculture is Z "ons horse
shay In. competition with, high power
automobiles. The American farmer is
the greatest and most intractable of
individualists. While industria, pro.
duction and all, phases OF, the huge com.
mercial mechanism and its myriad &C.
cessorles have articulated and co-ordi.
mated themselves all the way from nat.
ural raw materials to retat' sales. the
business Of agriculture has gone on In
mucE to one man fashion OF the back.
woods Of the flrst part Of the nine.
tAsnth century, when the farmer was
self sufficient and did not depend upon,
or care very much, what the great
world was doing. The result is that
the agricultural group Is almost as
much at disadvantage in dealing with
other economic groups as the Jay farm.
er OF the funny pages In the hands Of
sleek urban confidence men. who sell
him acreage In Central Park or the
Chicago city hall. The leaders Of the
farmers thoroughly understand this,
and they are intelligently striving to
integrate their Industry 80 that II will
be on an equal footing with other bust,
nesses.
As an example OF integratiop, take
the steel Industry, In which the model
Is the United States Steel Corporation.
with Its iron mines. Its coal mines. it,
lake and rail transportation, Its ocean
vessels Its by-product coke ovens, Its
blast furnaces. Its open hearth and
Bessemer furnaces. Its rolling mills, Its
tube mills and other mamufact cturing
processes that are carried to the high.
est degree Of finished production com.
patible with the large trade II has
built up. All this Is generally conced.
ed to be to the advantage Of the con.
aumer. Nor does the steel corporation
fnconslderately dump its products on
the market. On the contrary. 1t 50
acts that It Is frequently q stabllizing
influence. as is often the case with 9th.
er large organizations. It Is master Of
Its distribution as we'll as Of its pro.
duction. II prices are not satisfactory
the products are held back or produc.
tion Is reduced or suspended. It is not
compelled to send q years work to the
market mt one time und take whatever
It can get under such circumstances.
1t has one selling policy and Its own
export department. Neither are the
grades and qualities Of steel determln.
ed at the caprice Of the buyer, nor does
the latter hold the scales. In this sin.
gle lntegratlon Of the steel corporation
ls represented about 40 per cent Of the
steel production Of America. The rest
ls mostly In the hands of few large
companies. In ordinary times the
steel corporation, by example, stabilizes
all steel prices. If this is permissible
(lt Is even desirable, because stable
and fair prices are essential to solid
and continued prosperity why would
It be wrong for the farmers to utilize
central agencies that would have slmi.
lar effects on agricultural productsi