The Monmouth inquirer., 1924-10-02
NEIGHBORHOOD
PATRIOTISM
Outline Of a Method for Securing Com
munlty Cooperation IN Business
and Social Affairs.

A scheme for the organization Of
rural communities for both business
and social purposes is worked out In
en- article which appears in the Year.
book Of the Department Of Agriculture.
The scheme calls for ten committees,
FIVE Of which are to deal with business
needs and five with social needs. Every
member Of the Organization Is to serve
on some one of these committees. In
addition there is to be a central or
/ executive committee composed Of the
President Of the organization, It's Sec.
Rotary, its Treasurer and the chairman
of the ten other committees. This CEN
tral body is to direct the general policy
Of the organization. raise ell funds and
control their expenditures. The com
mittees that are to deal with the bust
ness interests of the community are as
follows:
/ l. Committee on farm production.
4 2. Committee on marketing.
3. Committee on securing farm sup
plies.
A. Committee on farm finance and
accounting.
8. Committee on communication
and transportation
Similarly the five committees that
attend to the communitys social in
terests will deal with:
I. Education.
9. Sanitation.
3. Recreation.
| 4. Beauti1cation.
5. Household economics.
The work of most of these commit
tees is indicated sufficiently clearly by
their titles; for example, the commit
tee on production can do much good by
| improving the breeds of live stock In
g community through cooperative pur-
chases Of purebred males. 1t can en-
courage the formation OF corn, poultry,
pigs, cattle, canning and gardening
clubs which have already demonstrate
ed their value in the sections where
1 they have been established; and 1t
can carry on useful studies of the type
of agriculture best fitted to local con-
| ditions.
In the same way the committee on
marketing can secure the standardiza-
ton of the community's products and
thus obtain better prices than are pos
/ sible when nondescript goods are
i dumped upon the market. The COM
/ mittee can also search cut the best
markets, make contracts on a large
! scale which will be more favorable
/ than any individual can secure for him
/ self, and In many other ways econom-
! lie in the selling Of the community's
I goods. Even If cooperative marketing
I is not actually resorted to. the inforna-
4 ton which the. committee collects can
hardly fail TO be of great assistance to
the individual shippers.
Just as the committee on marketing
can facilitate selling, the committee
on farm supplies can economic in
buying. Farmers are warned, however.
not to underestimate the cost of run
ming a store or commercial agency and
not TO oyerestimate the saving which
this can effect. The cooperative
| society, of course, does away with the
necessity of the stores making a profit
but somebody must manage the store
and that somebody must be paid for
his time. His salary, therefore, cores
ponds In a way TO the ordinary stores
profit, and it is not always possible
to secure a good man for less than he
would be able TO make in business for
himself. There are, however. several
methods of purchasing farm supplies
comparatively. which will be found to
be of advantage. The simplest is the
joint order, in which group Of farm
ers can buy given article in large
quantities, thereby effecting consider
able saving in the expense Of handling
commissions, etc. Sometimes when
this method is adopted a warehouse is
added which is owned or rented CO.
operatively, and in which the goods are
stored until the associated purchasers
need them.
If these two methods have been tried
and found successful, It may be de
sirable to carry them out to their logi-
cal development and conduct CO.
operative store which renders the same
service to Its customers that private
enterprise would. This, however, in
evitably leads to complications and
should only be undertaken after some
experience with simpler methods Of
cooperation.
With the committee on farm finance
and accounting the first duty is TO as
certain what farm enterprises can
safely be financed. This is only pos
sible when accurate accounts are kept
and carefully analysed. After this has
been done the next step is to secure
the most favorable terms for financing
proper and sound enterprises. This is
frequently not difficult if the commit
tee has thoroughly mastered the sub
feet and is able to put 1t clearly be
fore local bankers. Where the local
bankers are unwilling to finance gen.
timely productive enterprises at rea-
sonable rate of interest. the commit.
tee must consider other ways Of secur
ing capital One OF the simplest plans
s,-5,s .,