Imperial Valley press., 1923-01-10


actually conducted along the same
business lines as corporations organ
lied for profit
should Play Fair
2. The purpose OF cooperative
associations should not seek to elih-
mate or supplant the existing ;agen-
cics for distribution of products,
which are performing a real service
as between the producer and con-
sumcr. Rather there should be CO.
opcration between the ASSOCIATION
and the independent distributing
agencies that are willing to handle
the business on a fair basis. There
is no good economic reason why thc
middleman should be entirely elm
mated if he plays Il necessary part
in the process of marketing pro-
duet. The California Citrus Grow
ers' Exchange is one of the Oldest
and most successful of the cooper
ative associations. 1t has been the
example and pattern for many OF our
associations. ! am told that oranges,
lemons and grapefruit handled by
the exchange go through exactly the
same hands on the way from the
association to the fruit stand and
the consumer as they did before tho
growers organized.
No Speculation Needed
3. Speculation has no part IN
the purposes of a cooperative asso-
citation. 1t eliminates the funda-
mental principle of the orderly mar
keting and distribution of & pro-
duet. This does not mean that an
association should not withhold q
product from the market to elimi-
nate "gluts' and scarcities. y The
aim should be to supply markets, as
near as may be, to meet their nor
nal needs, and prevent violent and
harmful price fluctuations.
4. 1t is essential to the success
of cooperative association that
the members be cited to the land -
as permanently as possible. Float
ing tenants and croppers cannot be
depended upon to give the loyal
support to an association that is
necessary; for the foundation of the
cooperative movement is men, not
capital; and its success is to be test
ed bv the mutual help the members
are willing to contribute. The slo-
gan must be Zone for all, and all
for one.'' In our own valley, with
a prepondcrance of tenants, many
of them aliens and of a race not
kindred to ours, with wholly differ
ent ideas and ideals, cooperative
marketing will meet the fullest test.
If it can succeed here there can be
no doubt of the soundness of the
idea.
Conditions Favor Valley
5. Generally speaking, the idea
of cooperative marketing should be
applied to product handled locally
rather than one produced all over
the world. Grapefruit grows i'll COM
parativelv few localities; wheat al
most everywhere. Thus in the ma
ture of things, conditions are more
favorable for the cooperative mar
keting of grapefruit than wheat.
The reason for this is apparent. 1t
strikes at the root of the co-Operat-
i've marketing principle, which grew
out of the idea that it was wasteful
for the individual farmers, acting
each for himself, to dump their pro
duce on the market without plan OF
GO ordination. ~ one wheat marke,
were known to be glutted while an
other was short, it would be compar
atively easy for separate cooper
ative associations in the Argentine
Australia, Kansas and the Pacific
Northwest to divert supplies o
wheat to the short market and breal
the price to the loss of all, just al
the individual farmers did before
the days of cooperative associations
But with grapefruit limited in sup
ply, no one is going to glut a mar
ket already well supplied.