462 TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



for some time that the farmer hasn't had much to stick to, and it has only- 

 been just lately that we are getting squared around so that we can build 

 an organization that is worth sticking to. As Mr. Horlacher told you, 

 that is what the state association is doing, and they are mighty busy 

 at it, too. It has been a free for all affair, all the way through. Volun- 

 tary entirely on the part of the member and manager and directors — 

 the whole shebang — and it has gotten just about that much co-operation 

 out of it, too. 



Now I don't think at all that any farmer should stick to an organiza- 

 tion if that organization is not able to deliver the service. I think first 

 of all it must do that. You can not expect a man to be loyal if he 

 does not get service. There is no place for our co-operative associations 

 if they don't do that — until you get as good service or better than you 

 can get elsewhere. And it is entirely possible to do that, too, if we will 

 only organize properly, and I say that when we organize we ought to or- 

 ganize properly. First of all, we must have the volume of business that 

 we know is going to go through that association during the next year. 

 And then we can afford to be loyal. We can afford to hire a man as 

 manager who knows, as we have in a lot of cases over Iowa — a business 

 man, a man who knows live stock and knows people, and can get out and 

 fight for his association and get business. We need directors of the 

 same type. And then back of that, we need farmers who are willing to 

 put their stock through that kind of a shipping association. 



Now some people claim that I am a crank on this membership prop- 

 osition. I think that is the highest compliment you can pay me in this 

 shipping business. And yet I don't think I am a crank on it. I think 

 that it is only good business on the part of the association and the 

 farmer, too — the member, that when he joins one of these marketing 

 sources, the association have something more than merely that man's 

 word for it that he is going to put his stuff through. I say let him sign 

 on the dotted line, along with all the rest of his neighbors, that he will 

 put his stuff through and be loyal, and then if we will all do that, we 

 are going to get somewhere. I want to qualify that statement a little 

 bit. I don't think it is necessary at all at this time that every shipping 

 association should sign its members on a membership, because if you are 

 getting all the business that you" can handle, and have your local prob- 

 lems pretty well solved, I believe in letting well enough alone for the 

 time being. Don't think it is a routine matter, but these associations 

 that are not getting the business — that are fighting as best they can the 

 keen competition they are up against. When a stock buyer has the mar- 

 ket, the local market, and the shipping association has to go to Chicago 

 and take the shrink and the loss that the other fellow doesn't have, and 

 he sells over the phone and a lot of things like that, it is certainly hard 

 to overcome that. You can not live unless you have the vitality. And 

 we have got to get the business for that association out there before it 

 can get this vitality, and then you can get it. There will be plenty of 

 illustrations of that brought out in tomorrow's meeting. It is hard to 

 get that, if you don't have a definite volume of business. 



I may state in the first place, in a general sort of way, that about 

 one-third of our shipping associations order and ship, oh, around a hun- 



