388 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 



cient security for the loan. But it is unreasonable that the farmer should 

 pay from 8 to 15 per cent for his advances while the distributors of his 

 products and other industries whose products he buys get their loans 

 for from 4 1 / & to 6 per cent. The farmer must have the same chances to 

 draw from the great reservoirs of money as are open to others, and 

 with sufficient time limits to meet the needs of his business. 



Taking 1913 as a 100 base index number we find that in August, 1922, 

 the index number of freight rates on non-agricultural products is 151 

 while prices on non-agricultural products is 206. Freight rates on 

 agricultural products is 155, with prices on agricultural products is 117. 

 Moreover, the purchasing power of freight rates on non-agricultural prod- 

 ucts expressed in terms of prices on same products is 73, while pur- 

 chasing power of freight rates on agricultural products in terms of prices 

 on such products is 133. Thus expressed, non-agricultural products have 

 almost doubled the advantage of agricultural products in rates. 



Let us go further in expressing some of these things in terms of corn. 

 In 1913 the freight revenue per ton would buy 1.4 bushels of corn 

 but in 1921 would buy 3.1 bushels. The yearly earnings of a railroad 

 employe would buy 1,492 bushels of your corn in 1913, but will now buy 

 over 4,000 bushels of your corn. 



Need More Harmony Between Co-operatives 

 Co-operative marketing of farm products is no longer an experiment, 

 but is now an established fact and approved by business men and finan- 

 ciers of the highest type. The experience of those farmers engaged 

 therein is such as to commend co-operative marketing most highly as a 

 satisfactory and profitable method of marketing farm products. The 

 number of such marketing organizations is increasing every week, and 

 there are now more or less active some sixteen or eighteen thousand 

 co-operative marketing organizations engaged in handling farm products 

 throughout the United States, and the most reliable figures obtainable 

 show that they are doing a business of well over a billion dollars annu- 

 ally. 



There are now over two hundred co-operatives which cover an entire 

 district, or state, or even more than one state in their operations. The 

 result, however, with such a great number of small associations is that 

 they themselves become competitors with each other. They should be 

 co-ordinated and correlated in such a way as to lead to real co-operation, 

 and also in order to reduce the great and unnecessary overhead expense 

 of each. While the requirements of different farm products and different 

 sections of the country may make it necessary to work under somewhat 

 different rules, there are certain underlying principles which are common 

 to all and might well be handled by some acceptable organization whicn 

 is prepared to render such service as may be in common demand by ail. 



Marketing to Be Leading Project 

 It will interest you to know that in compliance with the resolutions 

 adopted at the last annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration there has been established a co-operative marketing department 

 in our Federation, and on Monday of this week Mr. Walton Peteet was 



