556 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



building. This saving would finance a national company with a capital of 

 from two to four hundred million dollars, which, with the head office in 

 Chicago, could establish branches in all the principal grain markets, and 

 this at no extra cost to the farmer, for he would receive as much as he now 

 gets. Instead of four hundred million dollars, fifty million would probably 

 be sufficient. The head office could send out stop orders to the locals in 

 Kansas and the Dakotas, for instance, to ship out no wheat, say for two 

 days, or two weeks, as the occasion required, and in this way hold the grain 

 off the market until it is called for at fair prices, the same as merchandise is 

 now held in warehouses and stores at full values. 



FARMERS' CO-OPERATIVE ELEVATORS. 



Farmers' Tribune. 



During the past year the co-operative farmers' elevator companies have 

 been gaining ground. The growth has been slow but sure until the move- 

 ment in the central west and the corn belt section is resulting in much good 

 to those sections where the place and conditions are right for the establish- 

 ment of such institutions. 



As might be expected, occasionally a company fails, but where this 

 occurs it may be attributed in most cases to a distrust on the part of the 

 farmers in the undertaking, together with poor business management on the 

 part of the directors and business manager. Experience has taught that 

 the manager must be a good business man with tact and judgment, and 

 back of him must be the farmers themselves with the right kind of a co-op- 

 erative spirit; they must thoroughly understand that the co-operative ele- 

 vator stands for a part of their own business. When they view the situation 

 in such a light, they will stand by the managers and board of directors. 



The idea of co-operation among farmers was first brought to the atten- 

 tion of the public many years ago by the Grange movement. It was the 

 Grange Association that raised the question of Congress having the power 

 over interstate transportation companies. They contended that Congress 

 had full authority to fix freight rates, and to the Grangers may be given 

 credit for the present interstate commerce law, which has saved the Amer- 

 ican farmers hundreds of millions of dollars. 



From the outgrowth of co-operation among farmers has come mutual 

 fire insurance companies, co-operative creameries and cheese factories, co- 

 operative telephone companies, etc. The present rapid development of 

 co-operation among farmers goes to show most conclusively that they are 

 realizing more and more the value of co-operation among themselves. 

 Slowly but surely the commercial world is feeling the force of this co-opera- 

 tion on the part of the farmers in their attempt to better their conditions in 



