Smyrna times., 1928-07-25
DR.. BOMBERGER, DEL-NAR-VA
DIRECTOR, REVIEWS MARKETS
SAYS U. S. is IN A PERIOD OF
TRANSITION AS TO MARKETS
"Co-operatiOn' Now Growing Senti-
ment With Fruit Growers and
That the Peninsula Is in Line

Because of the heavy pressure OF
dual duties az Director Of Administra-
tion and Marketing Of the Del-Mar-Va
Eastern Shore Association and as a
member of the Quotations Committee
Of the Eastern Shore Farmers Asso-
citation, Dr. Fl. b. Bomberger has been
unable to keep his engagements to ap-
pear at the Fourth Session of the AM
erican Institute Of Cooperation at
Berkeley, California, Oh July goth,
where he was on the program to de
liver an address on the Quotation
Committee Plan Of the Eastern Shore
Farmers Association" However,
paper prepared by DR.. Bomberger in
which he reviews the activities of the
clearing house plan az operated on the
Eastern Shore was presented at this
gathering. At this session of the In
stitute We're assembled many of the
foremost authorities of the United
States and Canada in the field Of CO
operative marketing. The clearing
house" plans of marketing constitut-
ed the chief topics on the program.
Dr. Bomberger's opening statement
was as follows: "To those of us who
have been observing conditions attend
ing the marketing of fruits and veg
etables in various parts of the United
States it has been very apparent that
we are in the midst Of a period Of
transition, from an old stage in the
evolution Of marketing organizations
to new stage, which presents certain
features that are distinctly novel.
Whether the marketing Of apples, or
Of grapes, VI Of prunes, or Of oranges,
OF Of potatoes is involved it has be-
come very apparent that old methods
Of marketing, however much Of merit
or efficiency they may possess, must
be radically modified to cope with eX-
isting conditions
Until recently, most observers of
the evolution Of marketing have had
the idea that the normal development
of cooperation was for single coop
erative in a specific area to widen its
membership and increase its business
until it should attain a virtual mono
poly i'll its line, within its territory
In actual practice it has been observed
that often two or more cooperatives
exist in the same territory and COM
pete with each other. Moreover, side
BY side with the cooperatives indie
pendent dealers will be found compet-
ing for the privilege of selling the
growers products.
left To itself, such y condition is
apt to prove far from satisfactory. The
multiplication Of dealers, whether they
be cooperative associations or inde-
pendents, has set TIP such fierce COM
petition among them that in times
when markets are dull, prices for the
farmers products are ruthIessly
slaughtered because of the desire and
the necessity for the several dealers
on cooperatives TO handle their respec-
tive quotas of business. As each of
these organizations has i definite
overhead that must be met, it is the
most logical thing ia the world for
each of them to feel justified id secur-
ing BY legitimate means a share Of the
business such as will enable them to
meet operating expenses and earn
dividends upon invested capital
Unfortunately, the logical result Of
such a scramble for business is price
cutting and it is practically always
the price of the farmers products
which il lower. It Il not surprising,
therefore, that in most instances
where efforts have been made to e.
tabliSh Clearing house organizations
to eliminate the evils Of price cutting
in connection with the marketing of
any product Or group of products, it
is usually found that bankers and
business men have joined with farm
ers or farmers organizations in CO.
operative effort to find way out of
the difficulty Apparently the only
method Of bringing order out Of chaos
is to Superimpose upon the competing
selling organizations some sort Of re-
gulatory body To fall within the
limitations Of the Capper-V Volstead
law and the several state cooperative
Association laws it IL necessary that
such ali organization be composed Of
producers.
"The Eastern Shore Farmers Asso-
citation il a farmers cooperative Oh
ganization Of that kind. It il design
ed to do two principal things, to wit;
to regulate the flow Of potatoes to
market and to restrict and restrain
price cutting among dealers and coop
erative organizations handling the
white potato and sweet potato crops
Of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and
Virginia"
At this point DR.. Bomberger review
ed the organization Of the Eastern
Shore Of Virginia Produce Exchange
in 1900 and also Of the Peninsula Pro-
duce Exchange in 1904, explaining
that the organization Of the latter was
not in spirit Of rivalry or competi-
ton but with the assistance and COOP