The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-19
SAP|RO FORECASTS OLD SOUTH'S GLORY. WILL COME AGAIN.
Through Cooperative Mar keting of Farm Products. Cotton Exchange Off,
 fiCerS Meet

ing followed by southern states in the marketing of cotton, hay and other products of the farm, predicts that the south, through this system, is to return to the wealth and the prestige of ante-bellum times.
 He made this prediction at the close of an. address delivered before | the officers of the American Cotton Growers exchange of Dallas. Texas. and the trustees of that organization from other states gathered in Bir- mlngham yesterday for the purpose of further perfecting the south's CO., operative marketing system.
 Co operative farm marketing is no new thing" said MT. Sapiro. Its three generations old in Europe It was tried in Denmark 70 years ago and proved a success. 1t Is the same thing in America except that we have adapted it to American products
 Its best development has been in California There distance from the markets, matter of two or three thousand miles. compelled co-opera- ton. We built on the European ex- ample. We did not succeed at once | 1t was l2 years before we had worked | 0AA Nilt AN1bllllut Sulltu No our ADltiN ican products and conditions Now there are 22 commodities in California handled through cooperative market ing associations and these assocla- tions handle $3o0,ooo,0oo worth Of products year.
 A Group Problem
 The California plan is adapted to America. It is simply a matter of applying to agriculture the same methods that are applied to other hu- man endearvors. The farmer and the artist are the only two classes of hu- mans who have made an effort to produce successfully as individuals. They alone have not had the benefit of group production and marketing. Marketing Is group problem and the California plan handles 1t on that base
 "rhe outstanding feature of CO., operative marketing is that 1t stops the dumping process and makes of marketing of farm products mer- candislng proposition. Who has broken the price of farm products7 The farmer himself by dumping his product in competition with the pro- duct of the other farmer. Where the farmer acts alone. he Is victim of the dumping process. The co-opera-  ca ndising of produts. feeding diff ferent points of consumption accord ing to their needs and power of ab- sorbing at a fair price for the pro- duct. It is the same process IS the steel corporation uses in merchandise ing steel. It is the same as the sys- tenn applied by the federal reserve board in caring for credits of the na- ton.
 Fifteen States Equipped
 There are special problems in the south, special problems in each state But In all there is common need for system, Alabama was not prepared for cooperative marketing until adoption of law by your last legis- llature enabling businesslike market ling associations. Fifteen states now have these associations and could not have had them in working order without such laws.
 Each commodity requires special 1 consideration. Each commodity's characteristics must be observed. The CO., cooperative associations are able to function to advantage of members be- cause they handle only member stuff. they have contracts that are enforce able, and by covering wide terri tcry. they become a power of benefit to the entire section.
 "We are keeping our feet on the ground. We are organizing the cot 1 ton of the United States. We do not expect to do that fully in less than l16 years, but remember that 1t has
 been unorganized for 60 years" 1 Attitude of Bankers
 l Speaking to bankers and business
 men at the dinner table, MT. Sapiro called their attention to the fact that
 the cooperative marketing associa- ltions always held to the one view point, that of getting a fair price for their product. While California banks had lent s250, o00. 900 to the co-opera-
 tive marketing associations, no bank Had lost q penny through these opera l itions. On the other hand, three New ] York banks alone had written orr l $50 100000 in the period of depres- l sion that had been loaned to spccula- i tive dealers in rice, cotton and the l Ike. The speculator sometimes bears the market and sometimes he bulls | it. Eat the cooperative farm market- 1 ing associations are always bent on
 the one end in view
 What Cooperation Does
 "The California banks" he said. mot only lend money to associa- | tions formed and with products | pledged for security, but they go l out and help organize these associa- l tions. This is not a farm movement l only; it is a movement of bankers | and business men, community 1 movement for the benefit of all. IL l is common knowledge that the agri- 1 cultural towns of California teem with prosperity. Fresno IS an ex-
 ample. It is notable that the Cali l fornia farmers made net profits in 1 hard times with perishable products
 shipped to markets two and three
 thousand miles distant when those closer to markets lost money. That ! is what cooperation accomplished. 1 South Showed Lead
 The south has the greatest agri- cultural potentialities of any sec tion of the country. With it's natur- 1 al advantages, instead of following l California, 1t ought to lead by l hundred per cent. Mir. Sapiro ! closed with an eloquent tribute to l the ante-bellum culture and pres 1 tige of the south and forecasted | return to that situation through due 1 care of agricultural interests under ! the system of merchandising enabled | by the cooperative marketing asso- 1 citations.
 Large Cotton Pools
 l Among other reports made al the 1 meeting of the American Cotton Ex- | change was that by Secretary c. Q. | Moser, of Texas, who, among other | things, reported that over l50,000 farmers in eight southern states and
 representing 100000 bales of cotton
 had signed up in the state cotton | pools. This number will be in- | creased to 200 900 by summer.
 Texas leads with 600s000 bales, | then comes Oklahoma with 450,000. South Carolina with 450,o0o. Arkan-
 sas with 250.n5o and Mississippi with 1 .ha ga me a amonnt GeorgiaS S pool IS