Evening star., 1925-01-05

dising, division of labor, factory pro-
duction systems Of trans sportation-
every one OF these as we know them
or as our ancestors have known them
from long before history began to
write its records, have been nothing
more or less than corporations. There
could be no civilization without CO.
operation. To charge that any par
ticular people lacks in capacity for
cooperation is to charge that 1t has
not been civilized. To allege that
against the American people is to
deny all of the obvious facts about
country. 1t is to deny the existence of
the States and their cooperation in the
Federal Union 1t is to reject all the
manifest truths Of everyday experience.
America has accepted and adopted CO.
operation far in excess of any other
nation.
But it is urged that farmers,
somehow, are different: that their
mode of life and work makes CO.
operation harder to effect This is not
the fact Farmers in other countries
cooperate successfully, as do many
communities of them in our country.
l undertake to say that a study of
the successful agricultural co-opera-
tions in this country, and along with
it an equally fair and inclusive ex-
in the same field, will demonstrate
that cooperation has just as good q
chance in America as anywhere else.
In the past, il is true. there has been
no such pressure for 1t here as IN
less favored countries.
Had Little Need Before.
so long as the great majority of
farmers were making a good living
hai
and at the same time laying by
fortunes in the increase of their land
values there was little need for eX-
periments in cooperation. But with
the epoch of high taxes, high wages
and increased cost of living that
came with the war, the increase or
land values to unprecedented hgures
has become rather liability than
an asset. 1t there had been no war,
with it's urge for increased produc-
ton, we would by this time prop
ably have quietly entered upon
new phase of our agricultural ex-
perience, wherein we would have be-
came an importer rather than an
exporter of most farm products. In
that situation our farmers would
have been able to increase their
prices to a level commensurate with
the scale of wages, living costs and
general economic conditions or the
country Whenever We become an
agricultural importing country that
will be the effect. But there VIII be
a transition period, marked by al
formations of exporting ana import
ing, during which We may expect
at times violent and wide nuctua-
tions in prices.
"In such a period it will be OF espe-
Il 70 n
able to hold his products for the most
advantageous market. To be com
neIled to sell hurriedly viii lnVolEe
danger of serious losses; to be able
to hold will be the best protection
from such losses. So 1t Is particularly
to be desired that our agricultural
marketing organization be placed as
soon as possible on a basis of the ut
most stability and security. This, /
am convinced, we shall best accom-
plish by developing the broadest ana
soundest programs of cooperative
marketing.
Confidence in Program.
s'Firmly as 1 believe in this pro-
cedure and unqualified as is my con-
fidence in the ability of our farming
community to formulate and admins
ter such a program, l want 70 make
Dlain that l am no blind believer In
any magical attributes OF the CO.
operative proceeding. A good deal
that is positively mischievous has
been put about in this regard. There
Is a school of co-operators who seem
TO believe that the program can be
started at the top and built downward.
They want the Government, or the
banks, or philanthropies, or ProVl-
dence to lay out a scheme big enough
to cover the country, set its machinery
moving, guarantee il all needed capl-
tai, and then invite the farmers to SIT
in the places reserved for them ana
proceed to garner their prof1ts. Let
me say that 1 offer no such Aladdin
like project. l want society as a
whole to help; but I want the farmers
to do their share, and l warn them
that this will be the lions share.
"Co-operation must start from the
soil. 1t must have Its beginnings in
small and modest units. 1t must train
the people who are to use 1t to
think comparatively. That will be a
process requiring time and attended
with failures. AS the people learn
the lesson their particular projects in
cooperation will gain strength, Will
command increasing confidence, will
expand the benefits to their members.
The coordination of these local units
will follow, bringing them at last
with such a working articulation as
experience shall prove practicable.
Cites Steel Corporation
Let me illustrate by the analogy
of a great industrial organization.
The United States Steel Corporation
could never have been started from
the top, and all at once. 1t had to
be started in hundreds of places and
form and over many years. The
industry had to come first, its con-
solidation afterward. Mr.. Carnegie
built one great section of 1t; other