FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 55 



lows of this staiii]) to do exactly as this fellow did. A member of our 

 organization called me np and said, "T don't know what to do." 



"What is the matter?'' 



''I am very hard up." (He has at least flOO.OO to every one I have) 

 "I have got to pay my pickers and you know a man is here who has 

 offered- me 11.00 for all my cherries." 



''What kind of cherries have you?" 



"Mostlj^ Windsors." — They would not grade 2X which is our second 

 grade. 



I said, ''See here, you know what this man is trying to do to us. 

 There is not a market in the United States that will stand up under 

 that kind of price at present." 



I told this man to go down and tell that fellow that I said it was 

 all right. If he would buy them at the oflflce of the Exchange. This, 

 of course, he refused to do. Some of our fellows have been loyal, how- 

 ever, but it has cost us something. In this case the offer was at least 

 50c per case above the market. 



Another problem is the cost to the i)ioneer. There has never been 

 a reform that has not cost a great deal. The greater the reform the 

 greater the cost. Sometimes we think we cannot stand up under it. You 

 will either stand -some loss or give up, in establishing the co-operative 

 idea or system. It seenls to me it will take from tivr» to ten years to 

 work out the idea successfully. It will have its ups and downs. Every 

 thing possible will be done to stop the movement, but when there are a 

 few who will say, ''We will stay right by it and make our fruit just 

 what it should be," then w^e will win out. We have made some mistakes. 



We have tried to cover too much territory. We were going to take 

 in ten counties, but the other nine did not enthuse much, so we con- 

 fined our operations mainly to one county. * 



The thought comes to me, and I am sure if we can get here and there 

 a comparatively small group of men and women, who will put up their 

 stuff" in just the best possible way, say, get a distinctive mark and then 

 will get the representative to sell their stuff for them, they will win out 

 in fine shape. 



We made a mistake that I would not advise you to follow. We joined 

 arms Avith a lavge marketing institution, who is doing good work in 

 some parts of the country, who could not on account of conditions win 

 out for us, but they treated us honestly. Tlie easiest thing for us to do 

 is to get comparatively small groups of men and so win out and When 

 your neighbors see that you succeed, they will see that they cannot af- 

 ford to stay out. 



It need not cost so much to do this as many think. The first thing a 

 farmer talks to you about is the awful cost. There is near my home one 

 mile of road along which are farmers and fruit growers from whom the 

 commission men receive |-f,000.00 in one year. Now suppose these men 

 had gotten together and said "We will hire a salesman" and suppose 

 they had paid him |2,000.00 for his services — he could have gone down 

 to Detroit or Pittsburg and sold the stuff' to a much better advantage 

 llian it was, and that would have l)een a saving as you can see of a large 

 amount of money. 



