The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1923-09-14

/. materially. A contract that is en-
forceable in one state may be abso
luted invalid in another. The oil
contracts of the U. S. Grain Growers
Inc, which was an ambitious attemp
| in exactly the wrong direction, ha(
varying degrees Of validity depending
oni the state in which the members
signed. No national commodit,
should be organized in single asso
citation. State lines, state laws, loca
conditions in reference to personali.
tiles and farm organizations must al
ways be studied. The best method
with national product is to organize
within each state separate associa-
I tiot, such as the cotton associations
in kleven states of the South. Then
to complete the commodity organiza-
tion, these state associations should
be 'coordinated, as the cotton groups
are now coordinated into the Ameri-
can Cotton Growers Exchange. Each
state has its own sales manager and
sells its own cotton, but the Exchange
has supervising officers, who stand
ardize and correlate and coordinate
the activities Of the state units.
With potatoes slightly different
mehod Is used. The Maine Potato
Growers Exchange, including over 80
per cent of the potato acreage of
Maine, is made up Of thirty-one local
associations, each having direct con-
tact with the growers in its district.
These locals are then federated into
thfs ~atate exchange, which in turn is
authorized to make similar feder-
alton with other states, particularly
those along the Atlantic coast, and is
further authorized to make any CO.
ordinating arrangements with potato
associations in the Middle West and
elsewhere.
But this rule is definite: For mar
keting purposes you must organize by
the commodity and not by the local
ity.
What kind of organization should
you have? You must incorporate un-
der definite, distinct law which sets
forth the rights and obligations Of
marketing associations.
Unincorporated arrangements are
unwise. They are like CO.
in liability and they
simply result in bankrupting the few
solvent members in the event OF a
hard season.
Then the law must be picked care
fully. Twenty-six states Of the Un-
on have within the last twenty-eight
months adopted a standard coopera-
i've marketing act, which was first
,assed in Texas. This law sets out
n detail the powers and rights If
associations, the kind OF
contracts they may use, remedies un-
Ter those contracts and all other i'm |
,ortant points which have ever been |
aised in the United States in refer |
nee to cooperative marketing. Even |
he problem of personal liability is
efinitely covered, and the liability of
1embers is placed on the same basis
s the liability of stockholders in an
corporation in the most
avored states.
The Effect of State Laws
This is now the law in the states
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Col
rado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Ken
Icky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
Mississippis Missouri
Iontana, North Carolina, North Dak-
Ia, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
ennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia,
and West Virginia. s
At this time there is only one state &
the Union in which the decisions I
the courts still stand against Co. 6
)erative marketing on the alleged s
'ound of public policy. That state r
Iowa, where contract which I
ould be held absolutely innocent IN g
'actically every other state of the
MON is held invalid and In restraint v
trade, even though the contract is u
e simple agreement by a farmer to v
II his own hogs to his own local Ii
operative association. C
Since January of this year the su- h
eme courts In three states, Oregon fl
,rth Carolina and Mississippi, have
ven very notable decisions, uphold Il
g completely the whole plan Of CO. s.
erative marketing organizations, G.
tn their specific contracts and all
the remedies Hereunder.
In each state, therefore, the leaders
ould study the law and see II 1t IS
e most approved form or IL 1t is one y
those old hit-or-miss statutes un- II