Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-05-15
NAME YOUR GOODS
AND GET RESULTS
Macklin Points Way to More
Efficient Methods and
Better Returns.

Service which the farmer never has
received from the private middleman
can and will be given by efficient Co
operative systems" says Theodore
Macklin of the Wisconsin college OF
agriculture.
Cooperative marketing gets its
financial advantage and is justified by
the fact that under the present system
the man who turns out the poorest
| quality goods is, according to Macklin,
actually paid premium. He has
found that the same price paid for
all grades Of a commodity works out
that way. Without a cooperative
system, it is unlikely that proper
grading and prices based on grade will
be secured for the farmer.
If the farmer or agricultural organi-
zation is to gain credit for good COM
modities or be held responsible for
poor products, the goods must be iden-
titled SO that they may be traced to
the producer. AT present not more
than 5 per cent of Wisconsin's cheese
reaches the consumer properly identi-
fed. Eatmor cranberries, Sturgeon
Bay cherries and Wisconsin cheese are
the few examples of Wisconsin farm
products that are named.
Macklin believes that the present
widely used system of paying the same
price for good and poor products is
the result of either inability or unwil-
lingness Of middlemen to overcome the
difficulties Of grading. One evil which
he lists as resulting from this policy
is the feeling on the part of the
farmer that grading is practiced to his
disadvantage. A worse evil is that it
gives no incentive to the farmer to
produce better and more uniform COM
modities.
Choice Goods Merit High Prices.
upon the consumer market the
choicer articles bring large premiums"
declares Macklin Especially do
standardized goods draw relatively
higher prices considering their quality.
Through the paying of fiat or the same
price for articles of different quality
or grade, the preferences Of the con-
sumner for certain lines have but
slight influence upon the farmers"
Macklin cites the example Of good
and poor farm butter for which the
same price Is paid. The consumer
buys only the best and the rest must
be renovated before it can be sold.
The same condition exists in the wool,
cheese, vegetable and other markets.
What incentive, he asks, is there for
the producer of good quality commodi-
ties to continue the more expensive
production or for anyone to improve
the quality of his product?
Improved Service Needed.
That the responsibility for this con-
dition lies in the poor, inadequate
service rendered by the private mar
keting system, Is Macklin's opinion.
Only through cooperative systems has
the farmer been able to guarantee him
self the service which pays him ac-
cording to the quality Of his product.
This is true almost universally so far
as investigational work has been under
taken to find what are the facts.
Giving products an identity through
suitable naming makes continued de-
naand possible, according to- Macklin.
AS the farmer is paid different prices
directly as his product meets the con-
sumner demands, he is able to Judge
better what to produce. The price re-
ceived shows him what the consumer
wants most.
Much of the value of grading and
standardizing is lost if the goods are
not properly identified" declares
Macklin Consumer demand in its pull
on the middleman may or may not con-
stitute a pull on the farmer"
Under the successful cooperative
systems that have functioned for five
years or more there is a consumer pull
on farmers because they are paid ac-
cording to grade in proportion as the
consumer pays different prices. Co
operation has brought about this re-
suit by selling its commodities under
protecting and identifying names