The Raymer enterprise., 1923-08-23


ger Of the Colorado Wheat 0rowsrs'
association. This week Mr.. Lamp
son analyses two Of the principal
current misconceptions regarding the
cooperative move.
No matter what subject or busi-
ness you start to discuss you never
have to 60 far to ind some man
whose ideas about It are all wrong
at least from your point Of view.
This is especially true with the
subjct Of cooperative marketing.
There are perhaps Q dozen rumors T.
bout cooperative marketing that are
widely repeated as solemn facts.
when as a matter Of fact they have
no more truth In them than . col
lection Of fish stories.
They tell story about . farmer
who rushed into town one day and
asked the first man he saw where hs
could find an undertaken.
"An undertaken" the man asked.
''ls someone dead!"
"Oh no." said the farmer. "But
my wife is sick"
In that case. what you want 10
a doctor, not an undertaken"
NO" answered the farmer. II
want an undertaken. You see I've
Joined the cooperatives, and we be-
lieye In cutting out the middle-man."
This farmer may have belonged 10
the cooperativss. as he said, but his
guess as to why he was q member
was all wrong. The main idea be-
hind cooperative marketing IL not to
cut out the mlddle-man. The basic
idea 10 to market products In an
orderly manner one-twelfth o: your
wheat. for instance. every month of
the year.
As far as the middle-men are con-
cerned. cooperative marketing could
no more get along without them
than any other kind Of marketing.
Under our form Of commerce, middle
men are needed to distribute pro-
ducts to the consumers. Except In
very few cases, an individual farmer
Is unable to sell hts stun direct to
the consumer.
Someone once said that the diff
ference between a farmer and mid
dle-man Is that the farmers raise
most everything while middle-men
raise nothing but the price. The
cooperative plan will tend to change
these conditions by making the mid.
dle-men system a service system
instead Of profit system.
As long as the middle-man system
is Q profit system, there are bound
to be dips and raises In the market.
When II becomes q service system.
and the middle-men are paid for SER
vices primarily, the market will be-
come more stabilized.
The turning Of the middle-man
system from profit position to .
service deal will save the farmer con-
siderable money. The amount, how
ever. will be but small percentage
Of what he will make through the
orderly marketing Of his products.
Another mistaken idea Of coopera-
tive selling is that II 10 q holding
movement and that q years supply
Of grain is held until the market hits
the high spot and is then sold.
The holding part Of the coopera-
tive move extends only to the point
Of not flooding the market BY an
over-supply. Instead Of selling Q
years supply Of grain In one or two
months. the grain is fed TO the mar
ket At the rate Of about one-twelfth
each month. That keeps the demand
up all the time, and the price % you
know follows demand.
There is no gambling In coqpera-
tive marketing. One twelfth 6f the
grain or other pnoduct you put into
the pool Is sold at the average Janu-
ary price; another one-twsl6th is
sold at the average February price.
and so on through the year. The
total amount that you get is the aver
age price Of y ,ur grain and quality
throughout the year. Every CO.
operative seller 10 sure Of the average
price for the year. All that the In
dependent seller ID sure Of IL q low
price.
Several other misconceptions also
exist regarding cooperative market
ing. This will be discussed In q
coming article on the early expert
ments In marketing.
NEXT WEEK: Successful TArmsrs'
Movements.
Will trade Ford Touring car and
team Of horses for Ford trnck.
Louis Nelson spursin. Colo.
tI