Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-05-30
Cooperative Plan
Endangered Farm
Relief Experts Say

D6ELs ktlGfui tldLlHBtT O1 Tie lax
ina Fruit Growers association. In
discussing this subject of the Big
Y Bulletin. MIR. Hebert said:
an these days when cooperative
marketing Is being laid down as
the fundamental basis OH which
farm relief Is predicated by con-
gress and all those who have this
matter in hand, from President
| Hoover down. IL behooves the ex-
listing successful cooperative asso-
Citations to Stop. Look and Listen
before endorsing the type of legis-
lation which is being proposed.
Wholesale credits to c~ooperatives
which may be formed under the
stimulus OF government aid and
with the mistaken idea that by
some peculiar legerdemain sur
pluses will be absorbed without de-
pressing markets. may Of may not
be a good thing for existing CO
operatives which have by hard ex-
perience finally established them
selves firmly In the commercial
activities of their respective indus
tries.
"Are We to have a mushroom
crop OF hot-house cooperativeS,
most of which must eventually fail,
Is q question we may well ask otr-
selves. If So, Is Ii a good thing for
the advancement Of the co-opera-
tive movement? Or does IL hold a
grave danger Of setting back this
great economic agricultural de-
velopment which Is slowly but sure
" winning its way7 To discredit
the cooperative form OF organiza-
ton in the eyes of the business
world by numerous failures would
be a serious thing; to discredit it
in the eyes Of the producers would
be fatal.
Even now with the government
| departments lending their influence
to furthering the cause Of coopera-
tives. with state and national legis-
lation and the courts favuring and
fostering the movement, with the
United States Chamber of Com
merce and industrial and educa-
tional leaders throughout the
country endorsing the plan Of col
lective marketing for agriculture.
we still have q great part OF the
public rho look upon cooperative
marketing as somethink akin to
socialism o at best, something
which isn't just right.
Where do they get this idea?
Probably from the wide publicity
which Is given to every mistake or
failure which occurs in the coopera-
tive field. and probably because the
private corporation is accepted ev-
erywhere and glorified as the one
way of doing business successfully
or both The cooperative, being q
semi-public institution. is constant
ly placed in the limelight bv the
daily press-usualiy in an unfavor-
able light, If the publisher Is
schooled in the old order Of things,
as is most likely.
"The public and the daily press
lightly overlook the fact that 95
per cent of private enterprises fail
within a short time, although they
have more than a century OF ex-
perience in corporation methods TO
profit by. and the average corpora
ton only attains a dividend paving
basis after seven years Of opera
ton.
While public opinion Is an i'm
portant factor and IL takes courage
and a fighting spirit &C times for
the struggling cooperative to carry
on in the face Of it. the respect
Of the grower for his cooperative
is eve more essential to its sue
cess. Without the high regard OF
the producer for his cooperative
organization or his respect for this
method of marketing. no coopera-
tive al succeed or probably even
be organized in an antagonistic or
indifferent community. Ard no CO.
operative car rise higher than the
common level of the respect Of its
membership.
Congress can legislate a thou
sand co-operatives into temporary
existence. which Is just the Begin
ming. but 1t cannot make them sue
coed ven with the wealth of the
United States government behind
them. Too much credit Is as often
destructive TO economic endeavor as
too little. Experience and n trained
personnel . and the adoption Of
sound business principles which
have proven their worth in private
business are as essential In co.
operative marketing as In corpora
ton systems OF trading for n pro-
fit on dollars invested In capital
stock.
The existing successful co-opera-
tive organizations which have be-
come strong only as a result OF
long years OF experience and PAINS
taking work and after many trials
and tribulasons. have cause to
watch the trend of farm relief
legislation now pending with no lit
tie concern. lest we have another
surplus In this case Of coopera-
tives so-called whose uncertain
tenure OF life may prove a menace
to the great economic agricultural
movement OF which they are the
pioneers.
THE government virtually washes
It's hands of all responsibility and
passes the buck to the cooperative
association by giving them $780,
100000 with which to stabilize the
industry. If they fail. as probably
they will. for the provisions Of the
law 90 against established economic
laws. the cooperative movement
win bear the odium OF that failure.
"Thev viii fail because the gov
eminent has laid down in the law
provisions which In fact say that
the government funds shall be