Seventy-Thikd Annual Report 1165 



nect producers with these consumers, but it will be impossible to do 

 anything definite until we can give them assurance of a steady and 

 uniform supply. 



For many years we have recognized the necessity of an agency 

 in New York City to represent the shippers. One man with a 

 clerk would save shippers thousands of dollars annually. His 

 work would be to keep shippers advised of the conditions of mar- 

 kets and the responsibility of produce houses, to encourage and 

 arrange for direct shipments, look after shipments when delayed, 

 or when there was a complaint of quality or condition, and to 

 supervise the collection of delayed accounts. Some of these func- 

 tions will be covered by official inspectors if the bills now in prepa- 

 ration become laws, but in case they fail, an agency of the kind is 

 almost a necessity for distant shippers. 



Since writing the above I have had a conference with the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture and am very much pleased to find that 

 he is entirely in harmony with the Cooperative Committee in this 

 matter of organizing local units and shipping in this way, and he 

 is not only willing but anxious to use the department in connection 

 with this societv in furthering that work. 



Also since this was written a committee of small restauraiit- 

 keepers in Xcw York came to see me in reference to the matter, 

 with a paper showing that they are organized for the same pur- 

 pose, that of l)uying their food direct from the producers. 



Mr. Ward: I am very much interested in the report. What 

 I should like to know is how can we make use of it. How can 

 we form these cooperative organizations and get in touch with 

 some one ? How are we going to get practical results ? 



Mr. Dillon : It is simply a matter of business and it is a 

 development - — ■ I w^as going to say modern development — of 

 agricultural business that is just beginning in this country and 

 that has been a success in every place where it has been tried and 

 where it has been carried on in a true cooperative spirit. We 

 have had a great deal of cooperative work in this country but 

 much of the work under the name of cooperation has not 1)een 

 cooperative at all. Wherever we have had that kind of an 

 organization it almost invariably failed. Cooperation is a word 

 that is used very glibly by most of us and really understood by 



