The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-11-22
BY HERBERT QUICK

III puyer Is Wiling 10 give ne
IL buys for what the seller asks.
This has been his complaint always.
I heard it when 1 was a child. 1t is
| in all the complaints of the farmers
today.
| One remedy strenuously advocated
| is cooperation. 1t offers the most
| hope Of any of the palliatives
! suggested. Il works. Take the case
of the Eastern Shore truckers OF
Virginia and Maryland, for Instance;
| though I might take the raisin grow
ers, the cotton growers, the wool
growers. the poultry men, the grape
growers, the apple men, or many
others In many places. But the
Eastern Shore Truck Growers AS
ISOLATION will serve as in Illustration.
| There are $4,000 farmers in this
association. 1t cooperates in market
| ing it's truck crops. One year it
handled $40 100000 worth of products.
It has a trade mark. These $4,000
men act as a unit. Their trade mark
stands for quality in their crops.
Are Next Informed
They have men on the markets to
look out for their interests. They
keep informed as to the demand. They
can divert their shipments from a
market that is glutted to a place Of
| scarcity.
They can not cut out all the mid
dlemen-at least, they can not as yet
sell direct to the consumer. But the
profits are shown by the increase in
the value of farm lands devoted to
raising their crops.
| These cooperatives all over the
country. when they get going, cooper
ate in many ways besides selling and
standardizing OF their output. They
| buy fertilizers and other necessartes
comparatively. They have men en-
ployed who study their problems.
They can delve into the mysteries of
the railway freight schedules and can
| get the best rates the law allows,
which the individual man can not do.
They can ship in and out in car
| lots. They can often maintain their
own commission men on the great
markets. They can know just what
their grades are. as in cotton and to-
bacco. In livestock they can main
/ tain breeding rings TO pass breeding
animals from neighborhood to neigh
borhood. They can improve their
breeds. They can standardize butter
and cheese. They can ripen their
/ cheese properly. They can and do
hosts Of such things.
Cooperation Hindered
Cooperation in the United States
among the farmers has been htndered
rather than helped by the various or
CARNATIONS Of farmers which have
made the most noise The Grange
/ the Cleaners. the American Society of
I Equity, the old Farmers Alliance and
The present American Farm Bureau
Federation have been organizations Of
/ farmers as farmers.
The cooperation Of such orRaniza-
tons as the Eastern Shore Truck
I Growers is mainly cooperation in sell
| ing. We have all heard OF Rochdale
cooperation. Senator Brookhart
makes It the chief plank in his plat
| form and his trip to Europe makes
/ him all the stronger in its advocacy
| The Rochdale cooperation is the
| system worked out a century ago by
| the weavers Of Rochdale. and has sue
/ ceeded because It is just. It has
/ grown 10 enormous proportions It
/ grew up in city. In a word. IT at
/ tempts to eliminate the middlenan
/ in buying. Senator Brookhart is lay
ing out q much larger program than
a mere organization of farmers in dis
| tributIon.
Has Its Limitations
After the great farm smash IN 1920
/ the National City Bank called atten-
4 ton to the fact that this would de-
press morally and financially about
/ half the people Of the United States
/ Cooperation has rs limitations-but It
would help the cities a great deal.
/ But there are two sides to coopera-
/ tion-the farm side and the city side
/ The great cooperative societies Of
| England are mainly city cooperatives
! The great cooperatives of Germany
/ Italy, Scotland and England which
/ come. or used to come, to America and
buy their cotton for mills, wheat for
/ their -four. their cheese. butter
meats and the like, were cooperative
/ societies of city people.
Cooperation will not be in position
/ to do everything It can do for the
/ farmers or for the city folks until
/ there are cooperative societies in the
/ cities which will do business with
/ the cooperatlves Of the farm. When
/ this comes to pass there will not be
/ such a crime as the present, with
wheat going down in price as bread
/ gets dearer.