THE COOPERATIVE REPLY TO HENRY FORD By WALTON PETEET, Secretary (Continued from page one) CJ. movement there are a thousand in the grain, cotton, produce and other speculative trades dealing in farm products, which fact very definitely disposes of the theory that the real i purposes of these articles is to save American farmers from exploitation fcy Jews. There is left only the surmise that some selfish enemy of co-; operative marketing took advantage o Mr. Ford's well-known weakness,' or "blind side" (hatred of Jews) to poison his mind against cooperative marketing by the false charge that it is being exploited by Jews and obtained his approval of the attack without that careful examination and 6cund judgment which Mr. Ford ex-; ercises in dealing with his own busi- i ness affairs. That is the only theory consistent with the popular impression of Henry Ford, and that is not very creditable to him. Mr. Ford's attack may be summed in three general charges: (1) that co-, operative selling of" farm products I is unsound in principle; (2) that the cooperative marketing movement was initiated and is now controlled by Jews for their own profit and agf g.-andizement; and. (3) that codpera-. || tive marketing on a commodity basis has revolted in loss rather than profit to farmer-members. Many other al1 gat ions are made iirthe series of articles, such as tha't cooperative associations are illegal on the score of monopolistic control, that property grower can sell 50 boxes of oranges liable for associaion debts, that local cooperatives are successful but large ore are unsuccessful,' but these are so foolish and silly as to scarcely deserve notice. Is Cooperative Marketing Sound in Principle? The most serious indictment in the Dearborn Independent's article, and of special significance in view of Mr. Ford's great financial success, is the square-cut declaration that cooperative buying by farmers is alright because goods may be bought more cheaply when bought in large quantities, but that cooperative selling is unsound because quantity selling means lower prices. , According to that Fordism, a farmer with one or two bales of cotton < which he must sell in a local market 1 can get more for his crop than a co- < -? operative can get by selling in large 1 lots of even running grade and staple, !i with skilled cotton men to negotiate j j the hale and the oppqjj^inity to sell direct, to mills in any market in the i world; or that a Kansas farmer can sell a load of wheat to a local eleva- , tor at a higher price than a big grain firm can sell a carload of wheat to a : mill; or that a California orange and even the farms of members are . at an interior shipping point at a biarher price than a cooperative asso ciation can sell in carloads in an orderly system of merchandising which supplies all markets without glutting any. Having his own business under such , completely centralized control and having made competition between , Ford dealers on prices, of cars and parts impossible, it seenfs not to have Occurred to Mr. Ford and his collaborators tHnt dumping and competition by farmers in their local markets means demoralized prices, often below the cost of production. If Mr. Ford really believes that a larg^ number of sellers, each handling a small quantity, can sell for higher prices than a centralized selling agency, I challenge him to disband his general sales organization and dump his cars and parts on his thousands of agents and tarn them loose to sell I at their own prices in competition with each other and other dealers, j Thpt would be decentralized, individ-. ual "selling in small lots (what the| cocperator calls dumping and blind! selling) and according to the Ford! 1 -nrnit/1 yield high- j Cr prices. , . I r. The proposition is so amazlrig jfillyJ that one would he Tempted to believe' that it found a place in this attack on cooperation through some mental aberration of the writer, wyre it hot' a for the fact that again and again { throughout the series of articles reference is made approvingly to individnut ?e J ling by farmer and to sales by small uncorrelated groups of farmers. For these' reasons. wc -must regard it is a genuine Fordism, enti tied to be catalogued along wnn ni< ? peace -ahtp and his- industrial money.j - Jewish Control of Cooperation. In order to have reliable tint a a n ' on which to base a reply the National t-1 Oc aneil-nddresaod -a, questionnaire.- to 1 a large number of cooperative marketing associations,' large and small in all sections of the country and handling a" wide variety of farm products.. Replies have been received from 98 organisations with a mmebership of 1.094,472' fanners, and doing a buai?e=* of 1510^97.000.00. These replies' very effectually dis.pose of the charge that the cooper.-v -r CiiJr is-i-. , : Ss ' _ -' the movement Is under the evil end seltish domination of scheming JewsAll of these associations are controlled by their directors, who in turn are elected by their farmer members. Of the 1538 directors of the 98 associations reporting, two are Jews, and both of J hem farmers, one in Minnesota and one in California. Some of the associations have a public director on their boards, appointed by the governor of their State, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the president of their Agricultural College or other public officer. The public directors are themselves an answer -to the dark and mysterious conspiracy charges made in the Dearborn Independent. Operating in the full light of day, with their aims and purposes known to all who may desire fo know, these associations have invited the general public to be represented on their boards ot directors. If Mr. Ford really believes that these thousands of farmer-elected directors are under the malign spell of a sinister influence he might have gone to the public directors for information, if that is what he wanted. The Dearborn Independent singles out Mr. Aaron Saplro for its most vicious and cruel attack. Throughout its entire series of articles it reiterates and rings the changea on the charge that Sapiro devised and initiated the cooperative commodity movement as a money making scheme for himself that he not only devised | the "scheme*' but thpt . he controls | boards of directors, dictates selection of employees, dominates policies, decides when to sell and when not. to sell, whom to sell and whom not to sell, when to advertise and with whom, from whom to borrow money and the gate to pay, the laws on cooperative | marketing to be passed by state legislatures, the decisions to be made hy Supreme courts, and about everything else involvel in cooperative marketing save growing the crops and sweeping out the sales offices, and the intimation is clear that even these things are done under his direction by "gentile fronts." It is difficult to treat wild assertions and insinuations seriously or with the patience and moderation which propriety commands. Aaron Sapiro has contributed more to the development and advancement of the cooperative commodity marketing movement than any other one individual of thi* generation, and to that-^ejctent he has sexved American agriculture and is entitled to the gratitude of farmers and the respect of the general public whose welfare is served when agriculture is served. Mr. Sapiro did not originate cooperative marketing and has never made such a claim, but he has contributed much to its philosophy and to its toch mque. inrougn nis studies ana analysis the aims.and purposes of the movement were clarified and formulated with a* certainty and definiteness hitherto unknown, and through his legal knowledge and skill the technique of organization and practice were gvien a legal basis absent from much of our early cooperative experience: To him more than to any other man is due credit for the forms and practice which have enabled commodity cooperatives to enter the money markets on equal terms with private corporations handling farm products and command credit in volume and on terms which enabled cooperatives* to finance large scale merchandisinjg of farm products. He early discovered the fundamental difference between the essential character of cooperative associations and private corporations and by legal skill and subtlety brought cooperative associations to a new legal status through incorpora^ tion laws which have been enacted in 31 States .in the last four years. The value of this contribution alone is beyond calculation in concrete terms. To these contributions must be addai personal leadership through the difficulties and complexities of establishing a new sy?tem of business for many hundreds of thousands^ of farmers and involving many millions of dollars. (To be continued in our next issue) o JUDITH ELIZABETH OAKES. On August the 3rd the death Angel visited the homp-of Mr. and -Mr*r Jr R. Oakes and took away their dear little darling girl, Judith Elizabeth. She was sick just one week, making her stay on earth about eight years. Elizabeth loaves to mourn her death j.ydevoted mother and father and -one sister, a host of relatives and friends. She was laid to rest beneath a blank Bethel charch. Farewell sister, don't be sad, Jesus called mh home at last. He touched my tender heart and said It was His will that we should part. JarewTtV mother, iln mil weep, I close my oyer in peaceful sleep. nana on Jesus cast his (trief For Ho alone can-send relief.?Contribate ' A? DR- S. RAPPORT of Durham will .be in Roxboro at DAVIS DRUG. STORE every farst Wednesday in eacn month to examine eyes end fit glasses. When he fits you with glasses yoa , have the satisfaction of knowing the/ are correct. TO SEE BETTER SEE ME. My next vhlt will be Wednesday. 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