The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-10-31

he that power? wv" d
. mat is question which for seve,
ai months to come the Board men,
lie oers VIII be busily engaged in irwin
t. 20 answer Tor themselves. They hav
ALREADY gone far enough into tbei
Te study of the Act to discover how >,
n make 1t quite effective in some nor
/ tieulars. For instance, they have do
|, cided to exert their full influence II
: aiaing the farmers cooperative move
!, men. TO pull itself together by unit.
r ing locals into declarations and hv an.
S couraging mass productions in otba,
! ways. oei
ms decision is most significant II
Is the full flower of budding Fedar-
al pohcy which had its origin hack
IN the bitter years when Mr. Sh;ll;n :,
was arrested and other dairy leaders
were thrown into Jail, and when aq-
rieuitural strikes were the ordey If
the day. Those struggles and tba
ensuing prosecutions spurred coon
efative leaders into a four-vear leo;s-
iatiVe tight which resulted in Con
gfess passing the Capper- Volstead
cooperative Marketing Act. That
NV gave Federal sanction to the form
ana structure of agricultural co-oner-
aelve marketing associations engaged
Ia interstate and foreign commerce
IL also removed them from the SIM
fA4 49,.
efVlslon of the Department of Justice
ana placed them under the Seeret,arv
OF Agriculture, who could initiate
punitive proceedings only when there
was evidence of undue price enhance
ment. This law was widely hailed as
the "Cooperators' Bill of Rights
Next came legislation creating tbe
Federal intermediate Credit banks
congress authorize dthose banks TO
MAKE loans direct to cooperative as
sociatlons on the security of their
warehouse receipts for commodities
stored. This law made possible or
Derry marketing undertakings when
otherWlse cooperative ASSOCIATIONS
congress authorized those banks to
would have found difficulty in secur-
ing adequate loans.
First Problems :;
As third step Congress autboriz- il
ed agricultural cooperative associa-
tons and their declarations to ex- !
change and interpret crop and market c
information. This authority was in s
GUIDED IN the act creating the Divi- 2
5lon of Cooperative Marketing in the I
department of Agriculture. 1t gave {
-urther relief from fear of the appli-
'atlon OF Federal antitrust legisla-
Ion to practices that are necessary n
! the movement is to succeed. Until v
nat authority was given, the direc- c
ofs OF a cautious cooperative as IL
oelatlon would not under anv cir tt
umstances have advised their Nom h
ers as to whether they should in p
rease OF curtail their production. ST
'sor would the associations have ex- ST
hanged with one another informa- Fl
ION regarding market demands or lpt
reduction prospects. tt
The final step was the creation NJ OF
lie Federal Farm Board and its de- W
sion to lnaugurate longtime pro- NJ
ram OF all-round assistance to CO. W
peration. it,
Some skeptic may think that tell y;
g the cooperative leaders they must n.
81 together by means of mergers A.
declarations is very much like lead ~. -.
g horse to water and trying to =,
axe hlm drink Certainly, assump- ha
On OF the role of "Discourager of -,
esltancy may not be altogether -
easant and will be accompanied bv
me dlsappointments. But the Board -;
S at It's command a powerful en- 90.
urager to common action in the -,
ntrol 1t can exercise over loans. -
ere is an illustration. In the sec 49,, -.
d week of its life, leaders of the ~, w.
orlda Citrus Exchange and the ;oe
orida United Growers, Inc, laid be- ~
re the Board the very serious stu
on existing among producers of
rous fruits in Florida because of i,ei
lnfestation of the Mediterranean .iie
ut fly and the failure of a number Tan 4!
banks in that state. These men ati'
presented the two largest coopera- pus
e agencies in that state marketing nor
rous fruit. They appealed to the ass
ard for assistance n financing GER ma nd
n improvements of citrus packing ~
Uses. one
. ann
after hearing the pleas, the prac fn;.
Il cooperators on the Board asked t;ms
ne searching questions. They de- 49,, nN
oped the fact that the two organ ~,
lions were really in competition. IS !
Board then told the citrus men ~
t they should "first get together co.
consolidation of this cooperative geo
and come to the Board -,
a unified program looking for SOW
d to more orderly distribution s;on
The citrus crops of Florida" The +rol
I'd members assured the two r,;l1
ups that if such a unified plan -,
e adopted, the government would
as far as it possibly could "in ~ne
ing to finance them in their most y a.
lcult situation" may
~ r,.,.- Legs