Newspapers / The Carolina Union Farmer … / Feb. 13, 1913, edition 1 / Page 5
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Thursday, February 13, 1913.] THE CAROLINA UNION FARMER Page Five s- L Practical Results of Cooperation Monmouth County (JV. JT.) Farmers* Exchange has done Remarkable Business in Five Ye^rs Capital Stock is Increased from $7,000 to $75,000, ‘while the Undivided Profits amount to more than $26,000 over and above Regular Dividends and Depreciation. In a recent issue of the Rural New Yorker that paper gives some strik ing comparisons of the results of in dividual and co-operative farming, and in course of his writings reprints the report of the Monmouth County (New Jersey) Farmers’ Exchange. This exchange which began business five years ago with a capital stock of $7,000, was obliged to develop its business from the beginning. Now at the end of five years the General Manager, Mr. W. H. Ingling, makes the following report: “Total cars handled in five years, 10,910 cars. Total shipment of potatoes, 4,603,- 962 bushels. Total shipment of apples and pears, 153,890 bushels. Total shipment of aspara:gus, 1,- 010,822 bunches. Total shipment of miscellaneous fruits and vegetables, 41,480 pack ages. Total sales of seed potatoes, 282,- 750 bushels. Total sales of fertilizer, four years, 11,145 tons. Total amount of business, $4,320,- 748.09.’’ Commenting on this report, the Ru- ral New Yorker has the following: “This certainly is remarkable when we realize that the business was started from the bottom, and that markets and customers were to be hunted out, plan and system organ ized; in fact, everything from keep ing the books and paying farmers to arranging for transportation and sale; all had to be developed. Last year’s business alone amounted to 577,716 packages, with a grand to tal of 2,891 cars. During the past five years this Exchange has paid the farmers for potatoes an average of 61 cents per bushel, or $1.68 per bar rel. This is a higher average than was ever before known in that sec tion—Monmouth County, N. J. The total business for 1912 amounted to $941,765.51, which, owing to the low er price for potatoes, was not quite as large as the year before. There are now 1,267 members of the Ex change. The paid-in capital stock has increased from $7,000 at the start to $75,195, and a dividend of 5 per cent was declared. The Exchange not only sells produce for its mem bers, but also buys seed potatoes and fertilizer. Last year it went so far as to keep an inspector in the field throughout the territory where rot and blight were reported, and this inspector traveled through this sec tion, rejecting stock that was badly rotted and seeking to obtain the cleanest potatoes that could be had. An immense amount of fertilizer is bought and distributed among the members of the Exchange. It owns three warehouses with a fioor space of 21,500 square feet, and a mixing capacity of 5,500 tonsr The object of the Excha,nge is to give its mem bers what it calls a pure mixture of fertilizer, without any foreign mate rial to be used as a filler. This fer tilizer is sold to members either in cash or on credit. The fertilizer may be delivered through January and February, settlement being required March 1. The members pay either in cash or a bankable note, and if a note is given the maker pays the in terest, thus placing the man who pays cash and the man who gives a note on a fair basis. An idea of the busi ness done , by. this Exchange is ob tained from the following figures, for the year ending November 30, 1912: Sales of potatoes, hay, straw and grain $721,415.01 Sales of fertilizer and fertilizer and chemicals 127,262.09 Sales of seed potatoes, poison, packages, etc. . 93,088.41 The gross profit for the year was 29,281.72 General expenses 22,673.42 Leaving net profits of. . $6,708.42 “This permits a dividend of 5 per cent, a 5 per cent allowance for de preciation on property, and a surplus of $1,736.04. At the present time there is in the treasury a fund of $26,539.26 of undivided profits. This with the capital stock of $75,195 makes a total capital on hand of $101,734.26, which has grown from $7,000 in five years. This is certain ly a remarkable statement of busi ness organization among farmers.’’ By-Laws of New Jersey Exchange. Heretofore the North Carolina farmer has been slow to co-operate with his brother farmer in order to get satisfactory results by the concen tration of his buying and selling power. Times in Tar Heeldom have been almost too satisfactory to the individual farmer to get many of them really interested in co-opera tion. It takes something like eight- cent cotton and ten-cent tobacco to get the farmers of North Carolina sufficiently interested to surrender their boasted freedom to a co-opera tive exchange such as the New Jer sey farmers have. In order to ac quaint our readers with the rules governing the organization mention ed above, we print herewith the By- Laws governing the workings of this organization, which is a business-like model for farmers’ organizations to follow: “The Monmouth County Farmers’ Exchange has the usual officers of such an organization, and a board of not more than eleven nor more than seventeen directors. These must be members, and are chosen by the stockholders. These directors con trol the Exchange and elect the working officers. Among other pro visions it is declared that all stock holders must ship through the Ex change, and shall not be allowed to sell to outside competitors unless they receive not less than 5 per cent more than they would receive from the Exchange. Any member who violates this provision is to be sus pended until the directors take him back. The working power of such an organization will be found in its by laws and we print a copy of the laws governing this successful Exchange: ‘I.—^Duties of Ofticei’s. “Section 1. The President shall cal all meetings of the stockholders and of the Board of Directors, and pre side over the same. He shall exer cise a general supervision of the af fairs of the Exchange, sign all Certi ficates of stock and notes, perform such other duties as may be imposec upon him by the Constitution and By- Laws, and shall be an ex-officio mem ber of all committees. “Sec. 2. The Vice-President shal perform the duties of the President in his absence. ^ “Sec. 3. The Secretary shall keep the mjnutfs. of. all the meetings anc all the proceedings, whether of the meetings of the stockholders, Board of Directors, or such other records as they may prescribe. ■ He shall also conduct the correspondence of the Ex change that may be assigned to him. “Sec. 4. The Treasurer shall re ceive and be the custodian of all funds properly belonging to the Ex change. He shall pay all salaried of ficers, agents, and employes, and all debts due by the Exchange, as di rected by the Board of Directors. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to receive dai.ly from the General Man ager, the report from the Local Agent, and to preserve the same for future reference, and to require from all commission merchants doing business with the said Exchange a statement of all business transacted with them through the Exchange at such times as he may deem advis able. He shall keep the financial records of the Exchange in business order, and his books be at all times open for the inspection of its of ficers and stockholders. He shall re port to the General Manager all buy ers who, in his judgment, have not met their obligations, or to whom he thinks it inadvisable to extend fur ther credit, and then the General Manager shall not sell to said dere lict buyer or buyers until the same have been satisfactorily adjusted, nor shall he sell to any party against the recommendation of the Treasurer. He shall give such bonds as the Board of Directors may require. “Sec. 5. The General Manager shall manage all produce in the custody of the Exchange whether for consign ment, sale, or storage, and under the authority of the Board of Directors shall buy, sell, consign or store any such produce. It shall be his duty to advise Local Agents to whom to con sign produce placed in the hands of the Exchange; to notify Local Agents every morning the prices at which goods from his station were sold on the day previous, and to see that such information is disseminated among members of the Exchange at the va rious shipping points; and he shall also transmit daily reports from Lo cal Agents to the Treasurer in ac cordance with Section 4. “He shall at all times endeavor to see that goods are properly inspect ed, and when information reaches him of any delinquency in inspection on the part of any Local Agent, he shall at once, either personally, or through the General Inspector, see that said delinquency is corrected Said Manager shall keep a record of the total number of packages of goods shipped each day from each shipping point, in books prepared for that purpose. And he shall report to each meeting of Board of Directors each failure on the part of the Loca Agent to report to him, or mail to the consignee daily invoice in accord ance with Section 7. He is hereby empowered and it shall be his duty, for good cause, to suspend any Loca Agent or Inspector until the next meeting of the Board of Directors. And upon such suspension, he shal notify in writing the Local Agent or Inspector so suspended of the grounds of his suspension, and re quire him to appear before the Board of Directors, at their next meeting to show cause why he should not be re moved from office. Upon any such suspension, the General Manager is further empowered to appoint some one to fill’ the vacancy created by such suspension until such Agent or Inspector has been re-instated or his successor duly elected. And further he shall perform such other duties as may be imposed upon him by the Board of Directors. “Sec. 6. The General Inspector shall supervise and direct the Local Agent at each shipping point as to the method of -inspecting, grading,.-and packing all produce to be handled by nhe Exchange; and shall see that the standard shall be maintained as near uniform as may be, both as to grade and package; and shall report any delinquency, or malfeasance in of fice on the part of any Local Agent directly to the President, and Gen eral Manager. He shall further as certain as far as possible all persons, whether manufacturers or purchasers of packages under the standard size, and see that they are prosecuted for manufacturing, dealing in, purchas ing or using same. Said General In spector shall visit each local point not less than once a month and at such times and places as he may be direct ed by the General Manager. He shall also report regularly to the Board of Directors and perform, such other duties as may be required by said Board. “Sec. 7. Each Local Agent shall report daily to the General Manager all shipments made by his station on that day, the names of parties ship ping, the number of packages and to whom consigned or sold; said reports to be made in such manner as the (Continued on page 6.) Detectives Wanted: Young men wanted to operate in own locality, secret service work. Experi ence unnecessary. Enclose stamp for particulars. UNIVERSAL DETECTIVE AGENCY. 304 Colcord BdgM Oklbhoma City. Okla. C.4R0LINA II\I0N FERTILIZER CO. MANUFACTURERS Down Home Brand Fertilizers NJOi^FOLK; VA. PEOPLE use Gowan’s Preparation be cause it is external, penetrates, gives instant relief in croup, colds, pneumonia, inflamation, conges tion. Burns, sprains, bruises, pains, soreness in throat, lungs, muscles. Druggists. 25c to ll. Suits Made to Measure $10.50 DP, EXPRESS PAID At Wholesale Prices to Members ot F. E. & €. U. of A. Ask the Secretary of your Locai to show you our line of woolen sam ples. If he hasn’t it, write to us at once. We will send it to you FREE. Fit and satisfaction absolutely guaranteed—no risk to you. Producers & Consumers Alliance TAILORS TO MEN AND YOUNG MEN 2n to 241 S. MARKET ST., CHICAGO I have made contract with the above company to supply F. E. & C. U. of A. members with clothes to measure at wholesale prices express prepaid. J. R. RIVES State Business Aeent North Carolina Division. DAN T. SMARTT, State Business A&rent Tennessee Division. Governor Wilson Will Be Inaugu rated President March 4« 1013. Account of the above historic event, which, as we all know, will be the grandest occasion our Southland has enjoyed in 20 years, the Seaboard Air Line Railway is making preparations to taka care of the great multitude of people who will attend same Special trains, special Pullman sleeping cars, special coaches will be required in large num bers. If you expect to attend this ^reat event, you should get busy. 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The Carolina Union Farmer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 13, 1913, edition 1
5
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