GASTONIA, N. C., NOVEMBER 2, 1911
One Dollar a Year
To Co-Operate as a Neighborhood.
BY J. Z. GREEN.
Hvery wide-awake, progressive rural com-
^Rmity can 'make a Local Union the biggest
ssset ill the community, if the citizens will set
^l^ernselvcs to the right kind of efforts,
through the application of the principle of
I'^ighborhood co-operation. A local organ-
'zation of farmers in a vicinity has a field of
^^scfulncss that is limited only by the intell-
%^nt activity of its members. Through the
‘Ocal Farmers’ Union a closer relationship is
'^fiveloped and maintained in a vicinity where
^ornniunity interests are common to all, and
community interests, such as better
•^cliool facilities, extention of rural telephone
service, establishment of rural libraries, the
’^’ddiiig of better roads, etc., can not be pro-
successfully except through some kind
neighborhood co-operation, and as educa-
^^on must precede the adoption of every re-
or progressive idea, there is no better
p^ace to educate than in the Local Union. But
's not my purpose to sermonize at length
^Ton the far-reaching and beneficent effects
of 1 .
Closer relationship and neighborhood co
operation to promote general community in-
^ ^^sts, such as I have mentioned, but to refer
some thing specific—something that con-
the direct personal and material inter-
of the farmers of a rural community, and
^PSgest some Ways that these class interests
be advanced through neighborhood , co
operation. In fact, it will be my endeavor,
th]
Sh
do
^^ougli these articles on "Why Farmers
Organize and Stay Organized, to stick
fiiat
ter
se to the idea of direct class interests, for
Is the part which farmers are most in-
^sted in, and it embodies the real problems
se»lved, as they affect the business side
farmer’s life,
0,^ oe average farmer isn’t able now to buy,
own individual account all the modern
Or farm implements that he needs
farm, and the average farmer will
be able to pay for the implements and
niachinery which he must have if he
j^^duccs his crops as economically as the big
^dlord and capitalistic farmer whose exten-
SiV(v r , . . . -
^arming operations justifies the outlay
Pro modern farm machinery needed to
anrl harvest crops at minimum cost,
far average farmer (and the average
of small farmer).can have the use
kind, of farm machinery that is used
plantfitions and on the corporation-
owned estates, he can’t compete successfully
with them in production, and it is only a
question of time before he or his descendants
will be forced into bankruptcy. There is one
way, and one way only, that the small farmer
can get the use of the labor-saving farm ma
chinery needed, and that is through neighbor
hood co-operation in the purchase and use of
the needed implements and machinery. In
this way all the members of a Local Union,
who desire it, can have the use of harvesters,
shredders, threshers, stump-pullers, potato
planters and diggers, manure spreaders, wood
sawing outfits, co-operative repair shops, feed
mills, etc. If individual ownership is prefer-
ed to co-operative or joint ownership, each
individual can purchase a separate imple
ment or machine, on his own account, and
there can be a co-operative exchange of the
use of these under satisfactory regulation.
Neighborhood co-operation of this kind would
be in harmony with the best principles of
economy and is highly practical.
Then again, thoughtful, progressive farm
ers can make neighborhood co-operation pay
in breeding and growing pedigreed live stock.
A neighborhood Local Union can specialize in
breeding and keeping up to a high standard
any particular breed of hogs, cattle or horses
and, after getting an established reputation
for certain breeds, it wouldn’t be hard to find
a steady and profitable market for them, and
the same pnnciple of neighborhood co-opera
tion may be applied with" good results in the
production of thorough-bred poultry. This
principle of neighborhood co-operation may
also be applied to seed "selection and improve
ment, and also to diversification of crops by
any number of members of the Local Union
making a contract with each other to plant a
sufficient amount of fruits, vegetables or
special crops to make car-load shipments from
their local station to the best markets.
Neighborhood co-operation in selling and
buying can be made fruitful of Splendid re
sults. By proper classification and packing in
bulk, better prices can be obtained than when
sales are made, as individuals, to local mer
chants. By bulking the perishable products
of the neighborhood together and letting the
local selling agent be backed up by each in
dividual member in a guarantee of the fresh
ness of eggs, butter, etc., and also in a guar
antee of pure-bred stock and ppultry, con
sumers and purchasers will pay a higher
price than for promiscuous and poor assort
ments of products with nothing to indicate
where they came from and with no guarantee
as, to quality and freshness. Equally as good
results may often be obtained by co-operative
buying, at the home town, from local mer
chants, if a Local Union will join together in
their purchases and let the local secretary or
trade agent do the buying, in bulk. For in
stance, if each member buys a half dozen rolls
of fence wire, as individuals, scattering the
purchases at different places, there is no con
cession made in price, but if two dozen mem
bers of a Local Union tell their trade agent
to go on the market and buy one hundred and
forty-four rolls of wire, every local dealer
bids strongly for the sale, and they cut the
margin of profit down to the minimum, and
there is thus a big saving to each member,
and don’t forget that any local dealer can
afford to cut the price on any kind of large
sale, for a paid clerk can deliver'a big pur
chase almost as quickly as a small purchase.
The clerk’s time consumed in “talking” to
make a big sale isn’t much more than is con
sumed in making a small sale—and the
proprietor of the store has to pay his clerks
to talk! What will apply in the purchase of
fence wire will also apply in other things,
even to small articles like package soda, bak
ing powders, and other case goods. All that
is necessary to get close to wholesale price
on small things of this kind is to make the
purchase in original case packages. It doesn’t
require much more of the dealer’s time to
deliver a case of soda than to deliver a 5-cent
package of soda. By neighborhood co-opera
tion in buying you save the merchant’s time
and he can well afford to make big conces
sions in price when you buy in bulk instead
of little packages that has to be wrapped and
delivered to each man under the old expensive
individual method of buying.
I have thus referred to the possibilities of
neighborhood co-operation to show what can
be done at home, in your own district, through
your own Local Union, even if your local or
ganization were independent and separate
from all other Local Unions. In our dreams
of co-operation in its larger meaning, I some
times think we are inclined to overlook the
possibilities of neighborhood co-operation at
home, through our Local Unions, and I am
frank to say that it has always been my
opinion that we can never reap the best re-
{Continued en page 5.)