552 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to take what others offer and to pay what others charge is childish in the 

 extreme. The same rules should apply in computing values on raw prod- 

 ucts in the hands of farmers as applies to the manufactured article. 



Let us change our line of thoug:ht and take a long look backward. Go 

 with me, if you please, down through the misty ages of the past until you 

 catch a glimpse of the primative man dressed in the skins of wild animals 

 and housed in the shelter of some overhanging rock. For food he used 

 such fruit, grain, and so forth, as he himself could gather; he knew no law 

 but that of his own will; he was as independent as the beasts that roamed 

 about him in the forests or the birds that flew over his head. This man 

 was the first and last example of an independent man. As his mind began 

 to develop he began to learn that by associating himself with other men he 

 could accomplish much more than he could accomplish alone and thus be 

 better able to supply his ever increasing wants. From this time forward 

 associations among men have grown year by year , and century after century , 

 developing into forms of civil government and stupenduous business enter- 

 prises until we have before us the civilization of today. The independent 

 man has passed away and in his place we have the dependent man. The 

 most casual observer of today can scarcely fail to notice that with each year 

 men are becoming more and more dependent upon one another. This does 

 not bespeak a lowering condition but a higher one. It is but the logical 

 result of individual and national progress and must continue in a ever in- 

 creasing ratio so long as civilization moves onward and upward in its 

 course. 



Without co-operation nothing could be greater than "one-man-effort." 

 Farmers are pointed to as being the most independent men in all the world; 

 and it might be said with equal truth that our efforts are largely ' 'one-man. 

 efforts"; that we are independent of each other and everyone is too true. 

 Our independence has cost us many hard earned dollars; it does not stand 

 for strength but for weakness; it does not bring success to our business but 

 failure; it makes us easy prey for men in every other calling. History of 

 man from the beginning until the present proves that nothing really great 

 can be accomplished but through co-operative efforts. As an example of 

 what co-operation can do I wish to show you the working results of some 

 two hundred farmers who have found that their so-called independence was 

 costing them too much and who have now adopted the dependent or co-op- 

 erative plan in marketing their grain. I refer to the farmers' elevator com- 

 pany of Ruthven, Iowa, not because this company is anything more than 

 any one of the many farmer companies now doing business, for, as you 

 know, the movement is fast becoming popular all over the grain growing 

 sections of the west, but because I am more familiar with this company. 

 The Ruthven market is now receiving grain from over a large circle of the 

 surrounding country, and from the present outlook we believe at least 600,000 

 bushels of oats will be received from last year's crop. Now let us do a little 

 figuring; the farmers at Fostoria held a meeting on the 31st of last Octobe 

 to talk over the matter of organizing an elevator company. Three people 

 from Ruthven, including the writer, attended this meeting. We went by 

 team to Spencer, stopping a short time on the way at Dickens. Oats were 

 selling on that date in Ruthven for twenty-four and one-half cents per 

 bushel; Dickens market was twenty-three and one-half cents; Spencer mar- 



