The Omaha morning bee., 1925-04-12

farmer sometimes raises his feed. oi
uses the ranges or he buys his feed
Sometimes he does both.
I. Then we have the potato farm
ers, the fruit farmers, the tobacc,
farmers. the sugar beet farmers.
Farming Is Specialized.
Here is a range of activities ant
interests that are as complicated ant
as intricate as the entire range oi
manufacturing. Can we conceive o.
cooperative marketing carried ON 10y
those engaged in manufacturing? W.
can see the answer to that question
all around us. Manufacturing frs
divided itself into specialization before
| ii could even lay plans for marketing
The production and marketing of eacf
manufactured article is a problem al
alone. intricate and complex. Eacf
| Of these specialized manufacturing in
| dustries has its own production anC
marketing experts. And usually eacf
sticks to his own last, well aware o1
the fact that he has his hands full
in his own industry and that he might
attempt to engage i'll the "other fel
lows business.
Now there Is something further
about farming, and it Is common to
all farmers, whether they are en-
gagged in raising wheat or corn OF
cotton or cattle. The farmer cannot
regulate production, as the manu-
e.. s,,ta I,
smiling season will bring a produc-
ton beyond the hopes of the planters
A poor season and all too often the
farmer finds himself with a short
crop. In the case of the wheat
farmer. If there has been a bountiful
crop in the other wheat.growing sec
tions of the world. he must, even then
sometimes sell his short crop at 4
low price.
Specialists Can Cooperate.
Nature must be taken into account
too, by the cattle and hog raiser
Here disease may decimate the herds
and a looked for profit be turned into
grievous loss.
How can we get all these diversi
fled interests, there oppOsites, these
complex situations, into a great
scheme for cooperative marketing.
Those farmers who are specialists
can cooperate to market their own
special product. And, too, they are
doing it. Some of them have been
doing it for years. The citrus fruit
raisers, the grape farmers, the beet
sugar farmers, some general fruit
raisers and to a degree the cotton
growers and tobacco growers, now
have cooperative marketing organi-
zations. They have profited through
these plans and will continue TO profit.
To them, cooperative marketing is a
real solution.
1t is conceivable that the wheat
growers in America could, with gov
ernment aid, build up a scheme for
cooperative marketing, but there are
so many farmers growing wheat and
the fluctuations of good and bad crop
seasons affect the production 10 such
degree, that IL would be extremely
difficult. rhen the plan would have
to take care not only of domestic
marketing but of foreign marketing
as well. 1t would seem to be an i'm
possible undertaking unless the gov
ernment provided some such scheme
as was intended in the McNary-
Haugen. bill. From the experience Il
those who sponsored that measure
however. t is evident that farmers
generally would not agree TO such a
scheme applied TO wheat unless 1t was
also applied to corn and rye and oats
and cattle and hogs and sheep.
McNary Bill Impractical.
The McNary Haugen plan failed be
cause it would have meant that tho
government would to all intents and
into the general business OF market
ing agricultural products. Such an
undertaking would have been so stu
pendous and would have required
such immense sums of money 10
| finance ii that congress, much as II
had at heart the interests of the
| farmer, felt that the plan would fall
| ing unable to satisfy the diversified
interests of so many different classes
of farmers.
Let us look at the corn farmer. II
| he sells his corn as corn, he wants q
high price. II he feeds his corn and
sells it as beef.cattle or hogs he il
more interested in the price of cattle
| IF he is feeder" farmer and raises
little or no corn of his own, he wants
a low corn price. In this western
country today the cattle raiser Is
praying for a bountiful corn crop that
| he may be able 10 feed his cattle
profitably. In thousands of cases
however. the corn raiser and the
! farmer.
If corn Il low It will go into hogs
and cattle and be marketed on tho
hoof. II corn Is high there will be a
tendency to sell II as corn for the
reason that If 1t is fed, the stock may
have to he sold at loss.
Interests Not Stable.
In most instances too the whea
farmers are also corn farmers, and
when they are also cattle or hos
feeders" where are we going to fine
him as a cooperative marketer? one
year he may be anxious to cooperate
in marketing wheat. The next veal
because Of changing crop conditions
he may be anxious to cooperate ~
marketing corn. then another yeal
may find him pushing cooperation Ii
the sale OF his cattle or hogs. W.
can hardly expect to find him an en-
thusiastic advocate of co-operativ,
| marketing for wheat corn and hog
at one and the same time. Az 9
seller of corn he is finding a marke
for raw material. as seller OF hog'