Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-02-14
FARM
COOPERATIVE
SELLING
By GLENN C. HAYES
Plan of Marketing Immense
Tobacco Crops.
OO00O000OOO00 OO000OOOOOO
20. 1924. Western Newspaper Union.)

GIT AMT such aNbad crop. Ought
4 to bring round $780," Jeff Clay
unused as he loaded his four-acre crop
of hurley tobacco in the square, fiat
baskets, piling them high on his great
wagon
His heart was full Of dreams Of a
fat wallet and a paid-up. grocery bill
as he waved good-by to the four little
curly heads lined up on the doorstep
of his one-roomed shanty.
eyes, sub, I'll buy them kids some
Shoes" The big wagon zigzagged across
the country toward the great ware
house in Lexington. "And maybe, jest
maybe, l kin get the little woman a
dress silk Dress
Two hours later JEFF stood anxious
eyed in the long, brightly lighted ware
house where thousands of baskets Of
tobacco were lined in rows waiting the
auction block.
The auctioneer was chaning the
bids. It was Jeff's crop. His whole
years work was at stake-in a few
minutes 1t would be sold, sold to the
highest bidder He could hear the
monotone of the auctioneer's deep bass
voice. He could see a blurred mass
of sharp-featured buyers. The auction
GERS voice pounded in his ears with
dull, insistent monotony.
fourteen n a quarter, quarter,
sNr7r, =. n
sold!v
Jeff's knees trembled Surely there
must be mistake But he had heard
1t with his own ears. He turned heart
sick His whole crop had brought less
than $500. He couldn't take anything
home to the little family. He couldn't
even pay his debts but he had to sell.
It never did any good to hold off.
That was in 1920.
Growers Saw the Light.
Somehow or other Jeff managed to
stay in the tobacco-raising business
Indeed, there was nothing else he
could do.
In 1921, however, just one year later,
JEFF received an average price Of Ply
cents pound for his entire crop. And
the price wasn't a bit of sheer luck
this time. He was member of the
Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative
association. In Kentucky the auction
block was gone. A new system of to-
bacco marketing had made its way
Into the SOuthland-a system that was
stabilizing the whole industry. JEFF
was just one Of the $4,000 tobacco
farmers who had made fair profit by
Joining the big cooperative.
In 1920 tobacco growers all over
the United States raised a bumper
crop of the golden weed: 1918 and
1919 had been splendid seasons: their
crops had brought enormous prices for
the first time in years; the war was
on. Up until this time tobacco raising
in the South was poor-paying propo-
sition for anyone except the big plant
ers who owned from rs to 1000 acres.
The small landowner and the tenant
seldom made more than enough to buy
their pork and corn meal. Then came
those two amazing seasons when even
the tenant farmer had money to spend.
After he'd spent it he borrowed all he
could scrape together, even mortgag-
ing his future crop to plant plenty of
acres for 1920.
The acreage was the largest in years,
the crop the heaviest. Tobacco farm
ers felt sure Of a good return, although
they had no control over the market;
as always, it was in the hands of the
buyers.
Suddenly, almost overnight, tobacco
became drug on the market. Buyers
wouldn't take 1t for the giving. The
warehouses opened for sales, closed,
opened and then closed again. The
tobacco that was sold went for less
than it cost to produce it. For the
first time the tobacco farmer began
to think of the selling as well as the
production end Of farming.
Try Cooperation.
The cooperative movement was the
result. One year later there were five
great cooperative marketing organi-
cations in the United States, each
growing a particular type of tobacco,
and composed of 100000 tobacco farm
ers, selling two-thirds of the entire
American tobacco crop.
When the price slump came in 1920
tobacco farmers were on the verge
of ruin. Everywhere there was bitter
ness. Cooperative marketing was pro-
posed as a way out But the hurley
tobacco growers of Kentucky had tried
q sort of cooperation back in 1905
and 1908. 1t had resulted in those
never to-be-forgotten night rides. They
knew that it was useless to cooperate
TO control production; that's what they
had tried before. To control the mar
keting of their crop was an untried
field. They hesitated.
Then they got the story of the sue
cess of cooperation in California.
California farmers were prosperous
and contented. The farmer and his
family were well dressed They had
bank accounts and automobiles. Judge
Robert Bingham, publisher of the Lou
isville Courier-J Journal, took a trip to
California in 1921. He saw for him
self what cooperative marketing was
doing for the West Judge Bingham
asked Aaron Sapiro, the co-operatiye