^1.5. No. 49.
GASTONIA,
N. C., DECEMBER 7, 1911
One Dollar a Year
Wty'
Farmers S
101
c
Orgaiae and Sfaji
Orgaiiied
VI—To Co-Operate in Buying^
By J. Z. Green.
. In previous articles I have conceded the
j'^ght of price-making to the producer, because
y precedent and by all the rules that safe-
S^iard business interests and prevent failures
bankruptcies, the producer is entitled to
diat right. The manufacturer must economize
production, even down to the smallest detail,
^^d in making his price he must figure every
dem of cost to produce and then add his
profit to the cost of production. In our co
operative buying it would be folly to attempt
^ price the manufacturer’s products as they
^onie from his manufacturing establishment,
by a practical plan of co-operative buying
can shorten the long, circuitous and ex-
P^nsive route that manufactured products have
oen travelling to reach consumers, and also
Sot the benefit that always comes in the nature
b* ^’^'^oessions in prices under big business and
*g orders. Co-operative buying is only an-
^^ber name for economical buying, and nobody
object to it unless it is somebody who op-
^^^tes an unnecessary toll gate between pro-
^ oer and consumer. A class organization of
^’^^ers ought, by all means, to maintain a
operative business system of buying that
enable them to purchase the things which
^0 made otily for i^lic use of farmers direct
the makers, and^ the manufacturer of
wagons, farm implements, etc., should
'billing to sell direct to his consumers when
but' be can economize in the distri-
b* of his products in a way to benefit both
^^®lf and the consumers of his products.
, ith a consolidated Farmers’ Union ware-
uong
b . , system of distribution, such as we are
and must build, we will have a capi-
^b and rating that will be attractive and
niake our contracts good anywhere,
With a system like this, backed up by the
of the organization, we
^Hcl behind all the superfluous toll gates
^ext to the producer, and in some in-
contract for and take the entire out-
Pcn factory, thus relieving him the ex-
^’’d element of uncertainty that he as-
"'ben he hires men to go out to find a
dcQi'^^ for his output. That plan of direct
b tvith the consumer would be mutually
Cqj^ to both the manufacturer and the
"*^^crs, and nobody who believes in econ
omic distribution can reasonably oppose it.
We are living in an age of combinations of
capital and “big business.” If a dozen stores
consolidate and run a big department store
and thereby dispense with unnecessary house
rents, fixtures, clerk hire, etc., and then under
sell the individual merchant, and the consum-
ing world gets the benefit of the economies
made possible by combination and big busi
ness, where is there anything to kick about? If
big department stores and mail order houses
can go behind the wholesaler and the jobber
and buy direct from the manufacturer,
wouldn’t a big combination of farmers buying
through one channel get equally as good re
sults? With a mammoth warehouse system,
supported by the Farmers’ Union, we can have
both the capital and the patronage to do big
business—the kind of business that can get
along without the jobber and wholesaler and
we can w’ith the same system become our own
importers.
Under the subject of “Neighborhood Co-
Operation” I referred to some results that may
be obtained through co-operative buying by a
Local Union, on the home markets, and in
some localities the saving that has come in that
way has aggregated an amount that surpris
ed the membership, but results through that
method are limited, and it is at most only a
temporary expediency during the formative
period of an organization. The only way to
get satisfactory results in buying is to reform
a system of distribution that puts unneces
sary toll gates along the commercial route, and
the consumers are the folks who must reform
it, if it is reformed. The fellows who keep
the toll gates are not going to help reform
a system of which they are beneficiaries. And
the manufacturers can hardly expect to try
to get any closer to the consumer as long as
the consumers are willing to pay the jobber
and th« wholesale man, and then maintain a
dozen retail distributing agencies where one
could do the work at less expense.
The same system of warehouses that are
used in the sale of farm products can be used
in co-operative buying. The same capitaliza
tion and management can handle both the sell
ing and buying part of the farmers’ business.
With a five thousand dollar warehouse in each
county we would have a half-million dollar
corporation and fifty thousand patrons. Can
anybody presume that such a force as that
would fail to get in closer business relation-
,j ship with some manufacturers who would be
willing to cut out the jobber and wholesaler
and sell direct through our distributing ware
houses at a saving that would amount to the
expenses of maintaining a force of traveling
salesmen, wholesale establishments and job
bers, that now come in between producer and
consumer ?
When we demonstrate to the business world
th^t we can co-operate and do big business
we can bridge the chasm that now stands be
tween us and the manufacturers and shorten
the route which their products have been
traveling. This will be one of the ultimate
and natural results that will come from a
successful co-operative warehouse ‘^vstem cf
selling, for the principle underlying it all is
direct and economic distribution from pt-o-
duccr to consumer.
In our efforts to purchase things at lowest
possible prices, we must keep in mind that our
ability to purchase depends upon the price we
get for what zue have to sell, and that the sell
ing side of the business of farming is more
important than the buying side. When we
learn how to limit our marketable crops "so as
to keep up a strong and healthy demand for
them and then sell them gradually'and sys
tematically through our own distributing ware
houses the buying side will not seem so im
portant. Unless we exercise the intelligence
and good business sense to price our ozvn pro
ducts, as we have a right to do, and which
every impulse of manhood and loyalty to the
interests of our families suggest that we
should do, it will be rather tame and futile
efforts we will make in the attempt to price
other men’s products. When we succeed in
taking care of our own interests by pricing our
own products through a system of distribut
ing warehouses, we will have developed bus
iness leadership enough to take good care of
the buying side of the proposition wherever it
needs it.
(Mr. Green’s concluding article will appear
next week. In it he will discuss reasons Why
We Should Stay Organized.” If you are in
clined at times to grow weak-kneed and de
spondent and feel like surrendering the task,
which is indeed a big one, you don’t want to
miss the next.)
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