VoLS. No. 46.
GASTONIA, N. C., NOVEMBER 16, 1911
One Dollar a Year
—To Bstablish and Maintain a Co-Opera
tive System of Marketing.
Ihe two fundamental essentials to the suc-
cess and safety of any business enterprise are
ability to limit the supply and to control
^^^e distribution and to place the product man-
^^factured or sold in such riianner as not to
congest the market at any point. In the fore-
article I have tried to show the ruinous
disaster that comes, especially to Southern
farmers through the short-sighted policy of
^^^’^Petitive production to the extent of con-
gesting the markets with large aggregate yields
of marketable products and thus forcing down
die price below average cost of production.
. ^^'i^^petitive selling of form products on the
^^^l markets, by individual farmers, regard-
^ss of demand, has been the direct cause of
^ore poverty, ignorance and industrial slavery
the rural districts than all other causes
Combined, except competitive production of
^^ops for the market. Street selling of farm
products to the highest bidder by local dealers
in results, nothing more than an array of
^rriiers against each other in a deadly com
petitive war that brings ruin to their business
which, if applied to any other business on
earth
« ' Except farming, would quickly result in
n^ncial bankruptcy.
Tl
Safe and sane way to distribute the
auu sane way -•*>'
■ P^ducts of the farm is to supply the market
at
^ every point gradually and systematically, so
to keep up a strong and healthy demand,
^ thereby prevent extreme fluctuations in
^^*ees and insure to the producer a legitimate
ed*^^^ foi" tiis capital invest-
^ ' "^iid this necessitates the establishment
Q maintenance of co-operative warehouses,
and operated by farmers, as places of
'^'^tribution.
Warehouse system of selling is the only
that^^^^^ solution of our marketing problem
j ever yet been suggested or tried and
^m frank to say that I don’t believe there
Pl(^^^ ®^^icr satisfactory solution. Without
^^ma^ co-operative marketing must
'Th
only a theory and an empty dream.
an ^ ^^^ii^oss of farming will never be a safe
business until we establish our
citi in most of the market towns and
scUcr compel the buyer to seek the
sick^ our products arc needed. The
Ual and disgusting spectacle of individ-
bgg running around over town, in a
^'^2 attitude, hunting purchasers and sell
ing the products of their toil at auction, is
out of harmony with the way the modern bus
iness world does business, is a reflection upon
the intelligence and manhood‘of farmers as a
class, and in fact a disgrace to our civiliza
tion. Of all the reforms in this world needed
by farmers, a reform in our individual street
selling system is needed more than all other
business and economic reforms combined.
A warehouse system of co-operative mar
keting, properly maintained and supported,
means economic distribution. In the elimina
tion of unnecessary toll gates that stand be
tween producer and consumer the consumer
should be interested as well as the producer.
Why should a consumer want to pay house
rent and clerk hire of a dozen grocery stores
if he can get fresh farm products at a farm
ers’ warehouse and get the benefit of the
economies that are made possible by combina
tion, co-operation and concentration at one
place? But it is not mjy purpose here to dis
cuss the relative effect of a farmers’ ware
house system of marketing upon other folks,
because the other fellow has been looking
after his interests right successfully hereto
fore and he will be apt to continue to do it,
without asking any favors from anybody. I
think, however, that I can with safety say
that a direct and economic system of distri
bution can never hurt the interests of this
I country as a whole.
^ In the establishment of its local warehouses
the Farmers’ Union has begun to build the
links in a great chain of distributing ware
houses whose ultimate consolidation will
it the strength and commercial rating that will
make its contracts good anywhere. In its
consummation the warehouse system of mar
keting will make the farmer, who is now only
theoretically independent, as independent as
other people who exercise the right to price
, their services and their products, goods, wares
! and merchandise. While his individuality wi
be to a large extent lost in selling, he wi
have the consciousness that it’s the mo ern
way that “big business” wins through co-
operation, and he can well afford to lose his
individuality if it takes him off the streets
with his products in the humble attitude of a
beggar. It is much better to put our products
! in a selling warehouse and let the folks who
i are hungry for them hunt the selling ware
house than it is to run up and down the streets
as peddlers, hunting up the buyers. As long as
sellers continue to hunt the buyers and sell
to them at auction, the buyers will have the
longest end of the rope. Besides, individual
farmers can’t keep in touch with the demands
of tlie trade and find the best markets for
their products as a system of warehouses can
do with a central selling agency. There is
every reason why individual street selling
must go! There isn’t one little puny reason
why it should be continued.
In this article I have not gone into details
as to methods of establishing a warehouse
system. I am not wedded to any particular
plan, but I am committed steadfastly to the
principle of gradual marketing through a
combined warehouse system owned and con
trolled by farmers—a system that capitalizes
our business and controls the distribution of
our products in such manner as to maintain
profitable prices and that will forever con
sign to obilivion the disgusting and suicidal
method of competitive street selling by indi
viduals. Whether it takes one year, five years
or a quarter of a century to accomplish this
purpose, zue should begin nozv to build the
warehouse marketing system, for it’s the only
permanent solution, and everything else we
may do can be nothing more than temporary
expediencies.
(The fifth installment of this series of ar
ticles will appear next week. It will present
reasons why we should organize "To Price the
Products of the Farm." In it Mr. Green will
discuss the moral right to price our own pro_-
ducts, under precedent already established,
and also as a method of business safety and
prosperity.)
Hold Cotton, Says Barrett.
Urges Farmers to Farm As If Cotton Were
Not in Existence, and Says There are
Good Features in South Carolina
Pledge System.
To the Officers and Members of the Farmers’
Union:
At this critical stage in the cotton situation,
with the Farmers’ Union and scores of bus
iness leaders and general Southern factors
battling to stem the tide of unfair prices, the
first duty of the farmer is to—
HOLD HIS COTTON. Those who sell at
present prices are simply giving away a mar
gin of several million dollars to spinners and
(Continued on page 5)
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