Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-07-01

| MS piouuce 10 the market first.
aneao OF his competitor, and taking
Whatever price the buyer would be
pleased to offer, not because it repre-
scented profit over and above his
investment of time, labor, mental
agony and suspense but because he
knew If he did not accept this price
his competitive producer would. His
notes were due and therefore, re-
CARELESS of whether his crop was sold
at a profit or loss it went to market.
Labor was in many instances abund-
/ ant and cheap. His only problem
therefore, were finances, seasons. Even
| under these conditions very few pro-
ducers ever obtained anything more
| than mere living, and living condi-
lions reflected the profits realized from
farming in that day and time. To any
| one satisfied with these conditions
| there is no appeal, but to the man who
| loves the soil and wishes to rear his
family with all the beneficial sur
roundings of country life, feeling, at
the same time, that they are entitled
not only TO the necessities of life but
to education to the best of social and
religious environment, and even to
some of the luxuries of life, to such a
| one present conditions offer no induce
ment for farm production. There must
be some remedy, or something differ
| entlating these times from the former
! days that will justify farmer in en-
! gaging in production at increased cost,
and under uncertain conditions.
Must Have Different System
| 1T is obvious, therefore, that we
| must have different system of mar
/ keting than that which has heretofore
prevailed. The objection to the old
4 &c hot
| ton or concert of action. Each farme1
was the competitor of his brother
| farmer. and could not fix reasonable
| profit and demand it, of the buying
world. The purpose of cooperative
| marketing is elementary, the princi-
| pie of which is by cooperation to
| speak, not through hundreds and thou
sands of different sellers in competi-
| ton with each other, but with one
. voice, to place a reasonable profit upon
the product produced and to ask it of
| the buyer This he can do, and has
| done. when united with his brother
| farmers. They pool their interests in
| common, employ the best ability for
management. for marketing, for infor-
/ NATION; they unite and supply in
| grades and in quantities, and offer to
| the buyer ready access, without the
1
duct for manufacturing, consumption
or export purposes. 1t is the same
principle upon which life insurance
! was founded. 1t is the same principle
upon which many of the great bust
/ ness enterprises of the world are con-
| Quoted. The time has come when the
! keeneSt business intellect must be used
| and employed by the farmer in order
| to meet upon plane of equality the
| highest degree of business talents and
financial ability. Organized into CO.
! operative marketing associations,
! safely and sanely managed, just as
! farmers have successfully managed
| their banking operations, they are able
| to place the products of the soil UNI
der the most intelligent management
and manipulation. and in a united
! voice to speak to the business world in
| the terms of one demanding a legit-
| mate profit on the brain, energy and
| labor expended in the production of
| the worlds greatest necessities.
| by way of illustra ton, the mer-
| chant places his goods upon the
shelves and fixes the price he will ask
| for them. This price covers the mi
! tial cost, rent, insurance labor and,
| in addition thereto, a reasonable profit,
| to which the merchant is certainly en-
| titled. The same is true of every other
| vocation in life. The manufacturer
makes the most careful calculation of
| the cost of his product. and adds
thereto a profit. The farmer is mere
| w asking the same privilege. demand
| ing in the terms of cooperative organ
ization that which he would uselessly
ask in the terms of the individual. He
has the right to include in the cost of
production a reasonable interest upon
his investment in agricultural sup
plies, his labor, and in addition there
to a profit which will bring him ana
his family the same rights and priv
iIeges. and even Injuries. that are en-
loved nv the other peoples of the world
in which he is living.
Orderly Marketing
Comparative marketing is not, ana
u should never be held up as
nanacea for farmers. 1t will not sus.
pend. the operation of the laws VI
supply and demand. We are, now
ever. often confronted with the lact
that there are agencies when SUI
coed in suspending the laws OF sup.
Nv .nd demand to the detriment of
,, The producer, even though they can
not destroy them.
IT is not holding movement, and
orderly marketing. The crop is not
rushed upon the market, nor Is IL
long withheld therefrom. 1t is dis
posed of at the best obtainable prices
| throughout the year, as the demand
and conditions justify. Orderly mar
keting in itself means better prices
in that it saves from the destructive
tendencies of an over supply OF
crop being placed upon the market
in a comparatively short time. there,
bv exhausting the immediate demand
and depreciating the price. me
fault and failure of the old system
was due, not only to disorderly mar
keting. but to an absolutely reckless
system
"There is not loom or spindle
throughout this country that should
not be vitality concerned with the
question of cooperative marketing
because their business depends on
whether or not the southern farmer
can grow cotton at profit. There IS
NOT a banker or manufacturing en-
ternrise that should not CONSIDER
This proposition, for the reason that
q shortage of. food products wouih
ultimately be destructive to their
profits likewise. .:.;,
Another phase &C his proposition