The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1930-03-20
COOP. CREAMERIES|
DEAN HAS RETIRED
He Has Assisted in Organic
ing Over $50 in Five
States Since 1897
HARD JOB AT START
Is the Personal Friend of
Thousands of Minnesota
Farmers

minneapolis, Marcn li.T"H eh
ever the word Organizer" is men
toned, creamery men of five states
think of Dad" Cort. For the two
words are almost synonymous.
More than $50 cooperative cream
cries for the farmers in the north
west and other states owe their
existance to Dad"
Dad" or M. J. Cort, who lives
at 1920 Queen avenue S.. is now al
most 80 years old, but is as active
and interested in cooperative
creameries as he was back in 1897
when he organized his first cream
cry.
At that time he had a grocery
business in Zwingle, Iowa. 1t hap
pened he had 1000 pounds of but
ter in stock and no place to ship 1t.
So he bought a "hardworker" and
worked seven tubs of it. He sold
it at four cents a pound-four tubs
to a friend and the rest he shipped
to Chicago.
"And to this day, I've never re-
.ceived a penny for what I sent to
Chicago" Dad" chuckles. They
wrote me and said the butter hard
ly paid for it's shipment COSTS"
So he decided the time had come
to start some kind of cooperative
system. With no precedent and lit
tie encouragement from his neigh
bors, he set up cooperative
creamery. And, the same creamery
is running today.
In 1886 he quit his own grocery
and entered the employ of man
to run his creamery buiness. But
creameries at this time were over
stocked with machinery, banks re-
fused loans, and times were hard.
So the man failed and, when the
managers of the Creamery Pack
age Manufacturing Company at
Mankato, Mimi, asked Dad" to
come and work for them, he did.
The manager told him to go to
the Twin Cities and study the
creamery situation. 1--WE haven't
made a thing in three years." he
told him.
So Dad" came to the Twin Cities
and found there were no cream
cries. There were only two between
here and Willmar.
II began to conduct meetings
around the country" Dad" said.
''In a little over a year, had had
200 of them, and sold three cream
cries. BY the fall of 1897 had 1873
creameries running in Minnesota,
the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Iowa.
But he didn't limit his activities
to Minnesota. He went to Mon
tana and in 1898 organized their
first cooperative creamery.
THAT was a most exciting ex-
perience," Dad" said. when I
arrived at the town hall to give my
talk, found most of the cowboys
and sheepmen who were there car
ried pistols. They were a tough
looking crowd. But all they said
was, Go right ahead, old man.
You're safe with u.s. When I had
finished they crowded around and
told me that was the finest day
Montana had seen for five years
They invited me to stay all winter
with them"
After that, Mr.. Cort established
SO creameries in North Dakota and
some in northern Canada.
He worked 80 years for the
Creamery Package Manufacturing
Company and was retired 10 years
ago on pension. Now he works
part time inspecting and straight
ening out the difficulties of cream
cries throughout the state.
"Organizing creameries was hard
at first, as it always is when you're
introducing som thing new" Dad"
recounted. There was always one
old scamp in every community who
tried to keep the others from
accepting the creamery.
Il remember one place I went to-.
I had sent out notices of the meet
ing and had put at the bottom, by
Order of the Committee'-iust for
the effect of it. The meeting was
going fine until one big man stood
up and said he would like to know
who the committee was. Well, he
had me, but thought I'd bluff, so
I just said, Sir, am the commit
tee He sat down and didn't say
word.
after the meeting, the others
flocked around and congratulated
me. They said this man had been
holding the community back for
five years and was the first to
put him in his place."