Evening star., 1922-12-17

button is saved to tho farmer. BY
combination into great sales units
much of the present legitimate over
head expense of distribution is saved.
cure cheaper money for distribution
of credits for the farmer the differ
ence in interest is saved. BY efficient
distribution, doing away with glutted
markets and their consequences OF
rotting food both in the markets ana
in the fields, other great wastes are
saved. BY proper warehousing.
proper processing, proper forms of
transportation, the present complete
destruction of much wealth each year
due to inefficiency in these matters is
saved.
The extent of these savings in
| many instances can be imagined
when it is truthfully told that CO.
! operative associations have frequent
! ly succeeded in doubling the farmers
return for a given product without
raising the price of that product to
these cases has been a double pro-
duction and the consuming world has
absorbed that production for the
, reason that the cooperative associa-
tfon can and must share some of its
| savings with the consuming public.
Where Consumer Gains.
There are various ways of doing
d
/ of the cases will you find the con-
| suming public given cheaper prices
on the product. While frequently the
! case, that is only absolutely necessary
where the product has already been
| merchandised, by competent manu-
| tive character. to it's fullest values.
Very few. if any. such products exist.
The way in which the sharing is
| mostly done is by increasing. through
good merchandising. the value of the
product to the consumer. He does
gets thing OF greater value for his
money. Otherwise. as ! have tried
| to drive home again and again. he
! would not increase his use of the
product.
When you grade a product SO, for
| example. that the consumer can get
| exactly what he wants and does not
have to take with it a lot OF junk
| that he does not want. you are in
creasing the value of that product
| to the consumer. When you make it
| wholesome and attractive in form,
when you furnish guarantees of quail
| ity with it, when you educate him to
| a score of uses that lie in that prod
uct which he did not know before
you very distinctly increase its value
to him. And unless you can make
| him recognize that increase of value
! the product for less money. There is
no other way out
Remember this: The cooperative
association. being composed entirely
of producers. has got to sell all of
their crop. The speculator does not
care whether the crop Is sold or not
he is interested only In the part he
| cares to handle. For all he cares, 1t
can rot in the producers hands and
| the consumer can Starve; situation
| which, in fact, helps him to pay the
| producer little and charge the con-
| Sumer much. He is not interested in
| volume; he is interested only in the
! profit margin.
| Stabilizes Values.
| But perhaps the greatest contribu-
ton of all that cooperative market
ing makes to the value of the prod
uct, from the consumers viewpoint.
| Is its tendency to stabilize those
values. Your manufacturing con-
sumer. for example. will use the
| product to much greater extent, and
| can afford to manufacture it for final
| consumption on a much narrower
margin Of profit, when he can place
greater reliability upon the probable
| cost Of his raw material than he is
able to place today.
| 1t may not be generally known, but
the American Cotton Manufactures
! Association, for example, at Its last