WASTE IN DISTRIBUTION 261 



of rural credits and rural banking, but this part of the subject is to 

 be considered by other speakers. 



I have pointed out elsewhere that there exist almost exerywhere in 

 the United States at the present time, notwithstanding the national and 

 state anti-trust laws, contracts and combinations in restraint of trade, 

 either formal or informal, under which the same price is charged for 

 the same article at a given point by all of those who handle it. Thus, 

 for standard articles, it makes little difference from which dealer one 

 buys, at a given locality the price is the same — and usually the price is 

 too high and often is exorbitant. This condition of cooperation widely 

 exists, not only among the manufacturers but among the retailers. If 

 the plan of cooperation advocated, which includes both producer and 

 consumer, were substituted for the above the evils would be abated in 

 large measure, for in case the price proved to be excessive the producer 

 and consumer would share in the resultant profits at the end of the 

 year. Therefore the cooperative movement proposed for the farmers 

 would be in strong contrast with the great combinations which have ex- 

 isted, and still exist, among the manufacturers, the purposes of which 

 have been to benefit the producers by levying the highest possible tribute 

 upon the consumers. The amount of tribute which has been levied by 

 the great combinations pf industry during the past decade, as we well 

 know, has been enormous. This is illustrated by the incredible profits of 

 the Standard Oil company, the American Tobacco company, the United 

 States Steel Corporation, etc. If the cooperative movement among the 

 farmers includes as its fundamental doctrine benefit to the consumer as 

 well as benefit to the producer, the most dangerous rock in the channel 

 of progress will be eliminated; and while there may be many other 

 difficulties in clearing up the channel it is believed that none of these 

 will prove to be insuperable. 



Working out methods of proper cooperation will require a considera- 

 tion of the existing trust laws, national and state. The decisions of the 

 United States Supreme Court under the Sherman act are very drastic 

 in regard to all contracts in restraint of trade. But the members of the 

 cooperative society, to be successful, must contract to sell all of their 

 products through the society; or, if not, to give the advantage to the 

 society of any increase of price over that obtained through the regular 

 channel. An essential element in the success of the fruit growers' ex- 

 changes, perhaps the most successful of the cooperative societies, is that 

 they are selling agencies for all their members, and rigid contracts require 

 the members to dispose of their products through such agencies. Selling 

 agencies of this kind for manufactured products have been declared to 

 be illegal; indeed the decisions under the Sherman act have uniformly 

 held that selling exchanges and combinations, where the commerce was 

 clearly interstate, which fix prices, divide territories or limit output, 

 are illegal. And yet some of these things must be done if cooperative 

 societies are to be successful. Similar decisions have been rendered 

 by many of the state courts under the state anti-trust laws. 



