The L'Anse sentinel., 1924-03-07
FARM
COOPERATIVE
SELLING
By GLENN C. HAYES
One-Ralf Rice Sold Through
Cooperative Plan.
1924. Western Newspaper Uniop.) }

HENRY JACKSON has rice plan
= = tation in Arkansas-2O0 acres Of
the finest fields in the state. And he
made money on those acres until the
armistice was signed That marked
the turn in rice profits. That year
the rice market took n downward
shoot and for two years nothing could
turn II from its course.
1t was in October Of 1920. For two
months Henry Jackson had been hold
Ing his creditors off with 'wait till
my rice check comes" Then one day
| the long-expected letter came. II was
waiting in the mail box ut the cross
roads when Henry drove home from
town-a long. slim thin envelope with
the miller's name in one corner. Out
came the white slip. II wasn't a
check at all. 1t was bill for rice
storage with large kindly remit"
across It's face.
And Jackson wasn't the only Arkan-
sas farmer who received kindly re-
NIT" notice instead OF green bank
draft
That particular crop was the most
expensive that had ever been raised
in Arkansas. Labor prices were the
highest. The seed rices planted in the
spring had been unusually expensive.
Everything that had gone into the
making of the 1920 rice crop was at
peak prices Rice farmers all over the
state had enlarged their operations TO
the last notch. They had mortgaged
their land, their homes and their
stock-everything they had. to borrow
money to plant rice. They expected
boom in rice prices and they got less
than had ever before been paid for
rice crop.
Practically the same thing happened
In Louisiana and Texas, the other two
great riceproducing areas OF the
South. Everything went 10 pieces,
The depression spared no one, no bust
ness, throughout the length and the
breadth of the rice-produelng districts.
Cooperation, the Magic Word.
Southern rice growers were down
and out. They were ready 10 sell
! their acres for mere nothing-anything
to get out of the rice industry. II was
in the dark hour that the farm bureau
! proposed n way out--co-operative mar
keting was the suggestion. The magic
word cooperation brought the dazed
rice farmers back TO consciousness,
For the first time they set about 10
| analyze their markets and find out
\ Just where the trouble lay. 1t wasn't
hard to discover
Rice farmers sold their rough prod
| uct to the buyers, who in turn dis
posed of it to the millers and some
| times they sold II themselves direct
| to the millers. They knew that both
! the buyers and the millers were spec
| ulators. The term miller and specu-
! lator had become synonymous In the
! rice business. They knew that there
were over 90 rice mills in America
| and that S5 per cent Of them were con-
trolled by less than twenty men. II
wasn't any secret that this little group
Of millers had in their power the COM
! plete price control. AS long as the
market had paid living wage with an
occasional extra spill for good measure
the rice men merely grumbled among
themselves and did nothing.
In 1911 they had tried organization.
The Southern Rice Growers associa-
ton was formed in Louisiana To net
as a growers selling agent in deal
ing with the millers. The organiZa-
ton was fairly well supported but II
didn't accomplish much. Then came
the dark days of 1920. The assoca-
ton, urged by its members, tried To
find way out. A plan Of toll milling
was tried, under which the growers
turned their rices over TO millers, who
cleaned and milled and sold them,
keeping liberal amount for toll That
finished the growers. Under this sys-
TEN came those bills for handling, with
their big lettered "please remit" print
ed across the face. The prices for the
the finest grades were so low that II
seldom paid to haul them TO the mills.
The association had failed complete
ly; the only thing left TO do was to
reorganize, not as bargaining associa-
tion, but as q full-fedged cooperative
marketing association capable Of con-
trolling its own markets. This was n
stiff job for the growers were few in
number and the rice growing areas
were scattered in various parts Of
Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas.
Leaders sprang up here and there
and offered themselves and their serv-
Ices to the cause. In place of the old
association new movement was or
ganized-the Arkansas Rice Growers
Cooperative association. This was
started in January, 1921 The cam
palgn was carried on with grim deter
mination and in less than 80 days 500
growers, representing so per cent OF
the acreage of the state. we're signed
up and in time to market the 1921
crop.
Based on Five-Year Contract.