Missouri State Board of Horticulture. 359 



the bureau of information thus formed shall compile such reports and furnish the same to 

 all corresponding secretaries. 



Third, in order that the work of systematizing crop and market reports and marketing 

 the product of our orchards and fields shall be done in an effective and businesslike manner, 

 we urge that the growers in the territory embraced in the territory above named shall be 

 organized as speedily as possible into strong and compact community associations, and 

 then that these community or local associations shall be affiliated into a central informa- 

 tion and fruit exchange. 



Fourth, that the secretary of tliis bureau shall call an annual meeting, at such times as 

 in his judgment is best, of all the corresponding secretaries and such other fruit growers as 

 in his judgment would promote the interests here represented. 



This resolution was adopted by representatives of thirty- 

 eight co-operative associations, some of which were central 

 selling agencies for federations of local associations, making 

 in all about seventy-five local associations represented. 



Since this meeting circular letters have been sent to the 

 larger associations of growers of perishable horticultural prod- 

 ucts announcing the result of the Columbia meeting and urging 

 attention toward the necessity of extending the organization 

 as rapidly as possible. As a result of this publicity we now 

 have about five hundred local organizations that have agreed 

 to affiliate with the Interstate Bureau, and as far as crop re- 

 ports are concerned, these organizations effectively cover all of 

 the United States. 



The work of this bureau will, at first, be simply that of 

 supplying organizations of growers of perishables with reliable 

 crop and market reports. The information exchanged through 

 this bureau will be accepted by and transferred to only those 

 organizations that are purely co-operative in principle, and not 

 to any organization that is operated for profits based on capital 

 stock. This includes, of course, individual growers. 



It is hopefully expected that this service will stimulate the 

 organization of co-operative associations. The marvelous re- 

 sults of successful co-operation are now familiar to us all, and it 

 is the opinion of well-informed men that no one will stand in 

 the way of co-operative effort who is well informed and at the 

 same time truly American in his ideals. 



Some of the possibilities of the future development of an 

 interstate bureau, such as was created at the Columbia meeting, 

 may be found in extract from the following letter sent to co- 

 operative organizations: 



This general organization should first take the form of a national conference, or rather 

 a convention where representatives of different co-operative associations will meet and dis- 

 cuss problems in marketing, legislation, etc. This convention would no doubt ultimately 

 grow into a strong national federation of co-operative associations. Although the organiza- 

 tion of this federation may be years in the future, it will pay us to bear in mind the ultimate 

 importance of such an organization, so that we will be furnished with adequate incentive 

 in pushing this convention idea to a successful termination. Let us consider, then, some 



