The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-03-09
THE CECIL FARMERS CLUB.
February Meeting Held With II. M McCullough---
Experiments Reported Talk On Marketing.

"a years. An acre of cotton had a
lower buying power than at any
time in the past 43 years. Even
wheat, which has not been so seri-
ously affected as some other crops,
has been down to a point where it
mad the lowest buying power in the
past 20 years. And so it has gone
all the way through with what the
farmer has had to sell.
believe I am safe in saying that,
in the long run agriculture has
never been highly profitable indus
try. Some farmers have made
money. Some have benefited by
the rapid increase in land values
during recent years; others by farm
ing rich lands without considering
the question of soil fertility. But as
business proposition, agriculture
has never been worked out on a
satisfactory basis.
1t has been estimated that the
American farmer has an investment
of 80 billions of dollars and we
nual production is between 10 and
20 billions of dollars.
Considered from this standpoint,
the farmer is a great big manufac-
turer.-the biggest and most essen
t1al in this country-with an invest
ed capital of 80 billions of dollars
and an annual output of between 10
and 20 billions. Day in and day
out he is engaged in manufacturing
the bulk of the raw products from
which the greater part of THE
worlds food and clothing is made.
He has to buy, or produce at addl-
tional cost, the raw materials which
he himself uses, such as fertilizer
and seeds. He employs his own
labor and that of others. He owns
his own machinery. His land, his
house and his barns are his factory
buildings. These things entitle him
to be classed as manufacturer.
And yet despite his enormous in
vestments, despite the great value
of his yearly output, despite the es-
sential function of his business,
which everyone admits, the farmer
has never been able to declare a
dividend. The manufacturer has.
And the chief difficulty, as I see
it, lies in the difference between the
farmers and the manufacturer
selling market. In brief this diff
ference is just this: When the manu-
facturer is ready to sell he says:
Here's my cloth at SO yard"
The farmer says: "Here's my wheat,
what will you give me for it?"
The farmer knows very little
about marketing. And it is some of
the phases of this subject that I
want to talk about.
Broadly speaking, you know,
there are two general types of mar
keting. The one is based on enor-
nous turnover and derives its
profits from the sheer magnitude of
the business. Sears Roebuck, the
Standard Oil Company, the Ford
Motor Co., and the packing indus
tries are types of this kind Of mar
keting. 1t is not type particularly
applicable to the farmer, except as it
can be worked out through coopera-
tion. The second type of market
ing depends for it's profits upon the
employment of clever sales ideas.
This type of marketing is admirably
adapted to agriculture, either as a
project for the individual farmer or
for his cooperative organizations.
Remember this that clever mar
keting ideas are just as valuable as
inventions. Everything you do to
improve the appearance and quality
of your products will help you get a
better price.
In any marketing project you
undertake remember that quality
counts, particularly the appearance
of the products offered for sale.
Remember this market axiom:
THE EYE BUYS" and that while
quality all through is essential in
building up a permanent business,
the appearance of an article is what
sells it in the first place.
The meeting adjourned to meet at
the call of the President.
NORRIS ]. REYNOLDS,
Coo Irr TOM