450 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



There is another class of farmers that is opposed to cooperation be- 

 cause the full amount of cash is not forthcoming at the time of delivery. 

 It is this class that keeps alive all the speculation and gambling in farm 

 products. It must be borne in mind that when a man or corporation is 

 willing to buy products enough to till his warehouse, he must consider 

 insurance, storage, interest, risk of decline, etc., at the time of making 

 the purchase; and when the matter is all summed up the man who gets 

 the ready cash has had it heavily discounted. However, if the producer 

 makes a good sale, the speculator who has purchased has likely made a 

 poor buy, and he will certainly make good on some other producer or 

 go out of business, which he seldom does. The result is that someone 

 must suffer for his good fortune and one more link has been added to 

 the chain of dissatisfaction. 



AYe find any number of individuals and firms who are ready to sell 

 six or eight months before the crop is harvested, even before the trees 

 and vines are in bloom. This is the rankest kind of gambling. It even 

 puts the blush of shame on stud poker, for in that there is but one card 

 buried, while in future selling the whole hand is out of sight. 



One of the most serious results of speculative dealing is the influence 

 it has on the market. The truth is that speculation has more influence 

 on the market than supply and demand. When these speculative 

 influences are most active, there* is, as a rule, no possible way of telling 

 what relation the supply will bear to the demand. I am confident there 

 would be a decided improvement should we establish true cooperative 

 marketing ; and I will set forth a few of the many reasons why it should 

 be established. But I refer to genuine cooperation and not half-hearted 

 endeavors, and I refer to practical cooperation and not to idealistic 

 theories. 



The cooperator who knows his products are going to the markets of 

 the world through his own organization would be much more particular 

 about their preparation. He would take great interest in the success of 

 his own company, knowing that, with good management, his well pre- 

 pared products would receive all possible benefit from market conditions 

 and he would be relieved from worry as to the sale of his own crops. 

 He would know that his products, with those of his fellow cooperators, 

 would be sold over the whole season, and thus obtain the average price. 

 He would also know that he would receive the same returns as his 

 neighbor, quality being considered, and that also would be a great factor 

 for contentment in his community. 



ELIMINATION OF COMPETITION BY COOPERATION. 



Another important feature is the elimination of competition. To 

 illustrate, let us suppose there are a thousand farmers and ten buyers in 

 a community. If each of the buyers should call on each of the farmers 

 but once during a season, there are ten thousand conversations. Each 

 buyer influences, to some extent, each farmer, and that influence has 

 more or less effect upon the market ideas of most of them. The result 

 is the imposition of the buyers' views upon the community, and the 

 dissipation of the original views of the farmers, much to the disad- 

 vantage of the latter. 



On the other hand, -if there is one cooperative organization acting for 

 all the farmers, the buyers have but ten opportunities for expressing 



