News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-10-25
PATTEE'S PLAIN TALK
To Local Officers of the N. E. Milk
Producers Association

| Producers Association
We are glad to print the following
circular letter, at the request of one
of the local officers of this big organ,
ization, for the good common sense
! it ontains.-Editor.
Greeting-Piper says that I ought
| to write personal word to you local
| officers so gol darned personal that
| he would not dare print it in the
| Dairyman. / think | know what he
| means. Just such a confidential chat
| as we might have sitting on a wood
pile. We would say things there
that would not do to put in print
where they might be seized upon and
twisted to suit the evil purpose of
those who are trying to break down
farmer organizations.
I've just returned from a western
meeting where l heard what other
organizations are doing and not
doing. And just between you and me,
the more | see of the rest of, the
country the better l like New Eng
land; the more glad | am that we
have gone slowly and safely, al
though we may not have made quite
so much noise.
There are a lot of places in the
country where things look pretty
dark to the milk producers. Market
milk at Indianapolis selling at $1.20
per hundred weight; New York and
Chicago producers split wide open;
Cleveland, Detroit and others hesitat-
ing between two policies; Cincinnati,
st. Louis and Baltimore trying to set
up sales organizations. Everywhere
there is struggle, often doubt, some
times despair or desperation.
What brought about this situa-
ton? Chiefly two things. First
they were in too much of a hurry;
some have rushed into mammoth bust
ness enterprises without taking time
to lay a good foundation. Great
sums of money have been spent
where, if they ever set it back at all,
it will be hard pulling for several
years. Some organizations will
surely go to smash.
The other cause which is threaten
ing disaster is that the farmers
themselves do not stand together.
While the greater number of them in
most cases have gone into the mar
keting organization, there were some
who stayed outside for personal
benefit. Just for a slight temporary
gain to themselves they endangered,
and in some cases they are wrecking,
the organization which would do so
much for them if they would only give
it chance to develop.
Only one thing stands in the way
of the success of practically every
one of these marketing organiza-
tions, the faint heartedness, the |
greed and the selfshness of few
producers. If some of these organ
izations go to smash, it will not be
from outside attack but simply be-
cause some farmers refused to stand |
by and play the game with the
others. 1t will be the few bringing
disaster to the many and in the end |
bringing disaster to themselves. |
They are playing into the hands of
the enemy whose policy seems to be,
not to fight us openly, but to disrupt /
our ranks from within.
So I'm mighty glad to get back /
into good old New England, where
we leap and where, somehow, we
have kept some of the old neighboply !
pull together spirit. | wish that
could go to your local meetings.
There's nothing l like better. But
I'm trying to do a good job for you
fellows and the job is so big that
don't have any time to sit around on
neighbor fashion, or get
INTO these little meetings where we
Just talk instead of making speeches.
It's up to you officers to have good
ocal meetings and get every last
milk producer in your town out to
hem. Get the women folks out too.
They have just as much interest as
he men in this big job of getting a
AIR price for our milk.
We are right at a point where
title things will make a great diff
ference in the future of the dairy in
iustry in New England. We have
zone steadily forward until, we be-
ieve, we are about ready to take the
next step, a definite marketing or
yanization. l truly believe that we
ire in the strongest position of any
milk producers organization in the
country and can 90 forward. You
lave a great opportunity right now
% make the association still strong
n. more able to go ahead and lead