The Washington times., 1922-01-23

selling his products in q more re-
munerative one, the conclusion In
in all cases the same. .
Farmer Needs Chance.
It IL, that the farmer is a. good
a business man as any other when
he has the chance; that he ID az cap
able of organization, cooperation.
and coordination; that he win APP
ply sound methods to his business
whenever he has the chance; that
his credit can be better established,
his particular needs Of capital on
terms suited to his requirements
can be met; that, these things &C
complished. he ceases to be an I'M
derpaid laborer, an unpaid execu-
tive, and q capitalist with an un.
remunerative investment
Cooperative Marketing.
It cannot be too strongly urged
that the farmer must be ready to
help himself. This conference
would do most lasting good II It
wound find ways to impress the
great mass Of farmers to avail
themselves Of the best methods.
BY this mean that, in the last
analysis, legislation can do little
more than give the farmer the
chance to organize and help him.
self.
Take cooperative marketing.
American farmers are asking for,
and It should be possible to at
ford them. ample provision OF law
under which they may carry on In
cooperative fashion those business
operations which lend themselves
to that method, and which, thus
/ handled, would bring advantage to
both the farmer and his consum-
ing public. In countries where
these facilities and opportunities
have been afforded such co-opera-
tive organizations have been car.
ried to the highest usefulness and
are recognized as aiding both far
mer and consumer. They make the
farmers selling price higher and
the consumers buying price lower.
But when we shall have done
this, the farmers must become re-
sponsible for doing the rest. They
must learn organization and the
practical procedures Of co.opera-
ton. These things we can not do
for them, but we can and should
give them the chance to do them
for themselves. It will be for them
to demonstrate their readiness and
willingness and ability to utilize
such instrumentalities. There Is
need for wide dissemination Of in
formation and understanding Of
methods, and for development OF
what I may call the spirit and pur-
pose Of cooperation. The various
excellent societies of farmers which
are represented here have a lar ye
responsibility in this regard. They
have already done much, but they
have much to do IL the American
farmer shall be brought most ef-
fectively to help himseR through
organization and cooperation
One of the most serious obstacles
to a proper balancing Of agricultural
Production lies in the lack OF
essential information. All too fire.
quently, such information is gather
ed by private interests whose con-
Germ Is private profit rather than
the general good. Agriculture can
not thrive under conditions which
permit the speculator, the broker,
the forestaller, because OF superior
information, to become chief bene-
ficiaries. The element of speculation
in crop production Is at best so
great as to dictate that other specu-
lative elements, always liable to be
manipulated to the disadvantage of
the producer shall be reduced to
the minimum.
With proper financial support for
agriculture. and with Instrumental
tiles for the collection and dissemina-
ton Of useful information. a group
Of cooperative marketing organiza-
tons would be able to advise their
members as to the probale demand
for staples. and to propose measures
for proper limitation of acreages
In particular crops. The certainly
that such scientific distribution of
production was to be observed, would
strengthen the credit OF agriculture
and increase the security on which
financial advances could be made
to II. The disastrous effects which
arise from overproduction are notori-
Gus. The Congressional Joint Com
mittee on agricultural conditions, in
the valuable report which Il has
recently issued, declares that q de-
ficiency Of one-tenth in the produc-
ton of a particular staple means
an increase Of three-tenths in the
price; while q deficit of two.tenths
in production win mean an Increase
Of eight-tenths in the price.
The converse Of this Is just as
emphatically true. In recent
address to the, Congress, stated
this situation thus:
Converse IL True.
It In rather shocking to be told,
and to have the statement strongly
supported, that 100000 bales of
cotton, raised on American planta.
lions in a given year, will actually
be worth more to the producers than
100000 would have been. Equally
shocking is the statement that 7oo.-
100000 bushels Of wheat, raised by
American farmers. would bring
them more money than zoo, 000. 900
bushels. Yet these are not exaRger-
ated statements. In a world where
there are tens OF millions who need