Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-23

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20.-Exten-
sion of cooperative associations for
the marketing of practically all
kinds of farm products is in exact
ratio to the understanding by far
mers Of the fundamental principle
that only the grower is interested in
selling the entire crop of a given
community.
The middleman is never concerned
in seeing that all the wheat, all the
tobacco, all the cotton, all the ap-
Piles, all the potatoes, all the oranges,
all the raisins, or all of any crop
that may be produced in a cas- is
marketed. He is only interested in
buying what he can sell, and in sell
ing what he has bought. 1t is to his
interest to have the supply always
greater than the demand, for he can
use that as an Excuse to Freak the
price to the producer. 1t Is also to
his advantage to see that the world
does not absorb over-production, for
that enables him to maintain prices
to the consumer, and hence he Is not
interested in e~xhausting the demand
for any commodity.
But the grower may sell all that
he himself produces and still suffer
because the entire crop of that COM
modify has not been marketed, for
the price he receives will be lower
by reason of the real or apparent
surplus production. And II he does
not sell all he produces, of course he
loses that portion of his crop that is
left on his hands. To protect his own
interests, accordingly, he must see to
it that the demand is exhausted il
| that is necessary to effect the sale
| of the entire crop.
Likewise 1t is better in the long
run for the individual that all the
growers of any given commodity re-
| ceive the same price, if it is a air
| price, than that he should market
his own crop for any n season at
a slightly better price than his
neighbors get.
Once the farmer has learned all
this he is ripe for cooperation. He
understands readily then why it is
necessary to bring practically all or
a large percentage Of the growers
into the association. He sees why 1t
is essential that the cooperative
contracts or agreements must run
for a long period of years-five at
least. He understands why he must
bind himself to market all his crop
through the association, and he sees
the menace to the entire co-opera-
tive structure If a single member
succumbs to the temptation to break
his contract.
Community Interests Allied With
Farmers
Closely allied with the interests OF
the farmer are those Of the mer-
chant, the banker, the lawyer, the
editor, the doctor, the teacher in
fact, all who go to make up the COM
munity that Is the center Of any ag-
riculture section. This was brought
out clearly when the raisin growers
of California were organized. They
held their first meeting in Fresno
and the leading merchant of the
town told them that if they would
organize and do something for them
selves he would put every penny he
had in the world behind them.
"You fellows ale not making
money" lie said. "You don't buy
anything from me except overalle
for yourselves and Mother Hubbards
for your wives. You don't buy any
furniture except the cheapest. You
don't buy any kitchen utensils ex-
cept tinware. The only way I can
make any money is by buying VI
mortgages on your vineyards and
foreclosing on you, ut I don't want
t. make money that way. I want to
make money as a merchant, and ]
can't do that unless you are pros
pering.
The banker told them he could
not be successful unless the growers
were successful and the merchants
were successful, and the editor had
a similar story.
You don't make enough money
out of your raisins to be subscrib-
ers to my paper" he said, land the
merchants won't advertise because
they say YOU people don't take the
paper and don't buy anything any
how"
The result of this realization o.
the community interest was thai
when the campaign was launched II
sign up rs per cent of the raisiI
acreage they all worked together
Teams were formed consisting o.
two growers and a merchant, tive
growers and a banker, two growers
and a lawyer, two growers and 6
teacher, and so on, and the cooper
! alive idea was sold to the individual
growers like hot cakes. In si1
lmonth& Is per cent Of the entire raj
i