The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1925-08-07


tTatlOn and management are of vital /
importance to any. business and more /
so to cooperation than private bust /
ness.
"The spirit of letting others do it
means leaving the control Of the bust /
ness in the hands of that small num- /
Der who take active interest in the
business. The rank and file do not /
take the interest they should where
this obtains. This is one Of the things
we have to overcome; If we do not
it means what have just said. These
institutions belong to everyone of us.
We expect results from them but we
are apt to forget that we have the
obligation of taking q continuous in
terest in their affairs.
"There is another tendency that has
to be OvercOne-the tendency to eX-
pect cooperative effort to produce i'm
possible result. The man who repre-
sents to the farmer, in an endeavOr
to ct him to join any cooperative I'M
dertaking, that it can attain such and
such result, is not friend of the in
stitutiOn or the farmer he is talk
ing to.
secrecy Is Vital
+ One Of the things l have been
struck with in connection with the
wheat pool, has been guarding the
secret of their selling operations. The
i president of the pool has often dis
+ cussed matters with me but at no
time, in spite of asking my views on
some things, has he ever departed
from the principle of absolute and
complete secrecy with respect to their
marketing operations. If there ever
is a leak there your pool will not last
very long.
Relation of State
The relation Of the state or the
province to cooperative enterprises
was one Of the matters discussed at
the Empire conference, said the pre-
mier He had explained the system
in vogue in Saskatchewan. 4 found
our methods are unique in the world.
In other cases, state-l\,anfng carries
certain degrees of state-management.
State management is generally dead
ening to cooperative enterprises be-
cause it is a case Of letting the gov
eminent do it. It is a human ten
dency. A great difficulty in several
countries of the Empire just now in
connection with agricultural co-Opera-
tive enterprises, is due to cooperative
directors, as officials, entering politics
, while remaining as officials in the CO.
operative institutions. That subject
was discussed at the conference very
. fully. I said in Saskatchewan we
were gradually recognizing that the
marketing of a commodity must be
studied separately from every other
, commodity. We also recognized that
you cannot mix control of a cooper
ative institution in directorial capac-
ity with politics in the same individ-
Ual. It is generally bad fer the in
stitution, and that was the opinion OF
the conference.
Quest for Markets
In regard to markets, the premier
, expressed the view that the greatest
work before cooperative institutions
was the finding of new markets The
> premier then told Of an experience IL
, connection with bacon. He visited ar
institution that handled bacon and he
was given the quotations for the day
"I found Canadian was quoted for ter
shillings for 100 h. below British.
was taken to room where there was
: Danish bacon, Australian and New
Zealand bacon and some Canadian
bacon. On the Danish side every
fitch might have come from the same
: hog they locked so much alike. The
Australian and New Zealand sides diC
not show so much uniformity but OBJ
, vious efforts had been made, l looked
at the Canadian bacon. The first sid
y was from a big, fat over-grown oil
, sow. The next one alike and so on al
along the line I said, why shOulC
you in your prices quote 10 shilling
= for 100 h. less?' 1t was explained
that the bacon was sold to the retaile
who wasn't allowed to choose. Retail
ers paid for all eff it on the basis o
the poorest because in Canada w
r have not learned to keep the poo
/ stuff at home and eat it ourselves tn
u way the Danes have"
y The bringing about Of uniformit
e was a real problem said the premier
u Governments cannot contribute to
n wards the solution. That was in tn
g hands of the farmers alone.
n Danes Study Market
eve are very independent people
70 III OGLlludIk CIl6y oil 4dloC CilC NAe'H
D. of hog that gets the highest pric
IS Fancy the hog men of Canada bein
a compelled to raise, say, Yorkshire
r and nothing else. We would not stan
le for it. The needs Of the market haN
I'd to be studied and met.
Of Buyers Well Organized
is Speaking of the cooperative who'll
a sale societies the premier said thu
IN matter was discussed at the confe
be ence. Representatives Of these s.
an cieties said they were animated Wi
n the real cooperative desire. Il SUI
a gested that when we had as stroI
e. an organization in the matter Of sci
ing as they had in the matter Of bu
at ing there would be a real spirit OF c
ut operation. One of the great problem
yO that agricultural cooperative pro
ucts have to face is their own
lationships with the cooperative CO
a sumers organizations because of t
RS fact that the one exists to get cor
of modites as cheaply as possible a.
II .s.al, mr.