The Ageicultural Crisis. 319 



Of special interest to South Africa at tliis time wlien co-operation 

 is on the eve of considerable extension, is the finding' of the commis- 

 sion that there is further need for organization and co-operation, not- 

 withstanding tliat tliere had in recent years been a marked develop- 

 ment of farm organizations upon co-operative lines for the purpose of 

 selling, sorting, grading, marketing, and processing farm products. 

 Losses to the farmer, it is stated, due to his failure to properly sort, 

 grade, and bulk his product are by no means inconsiderable. Indivi- 

 dual farmers, however, cannot economically purchase and operate 

 the necessary machinery and maintain the necessary agencies for 

 this purpose. It must l>e done co-operatively if tlie farmer is to do it; 

 otherwise (and as now obtains in South Africa), the farmer must turn 

 this phase of the function of marketing- over to some one else, who will 

 then, instead of the farmer, reap the profits incident to the better 

 sorting, grading, and packing of the produce. 



Far Eeaciiixc; Becommendatioxs. 



The recommendations of the Joint CUunmission cover a wide field, 

 viz., the legalization of tlie co-opeiative combination of farmers; 

 better credit facilities; an improved warehousing system; the imme- 

 diate reduction (since given effect to in certain respects) of freight 

 rates on farm products; an extension of the statistical divisions of the 

 Department of Agriculture; the provision of agricultural attaches in 

 the principal foreign countries producing and consuming agricultural 

 jiroducts; more accurate, uniform, and practical grades of agricul- 

 tural products, and standards of containers for same; the promotion 

 of better book-keeping' by farmers ; a programme of practical and 

 scientific investigation by the State directed toward reducing* the 

 liazards of climate and weather conditions, and of plant and animal 

 diseases and insect pests; more adequate facilities for handling 

 perishables at primary markets and for distribution at tlie large 

 centres; better roads to local markets: tlie imj)rovemeiit of com- 

 munity life. 



These then are the processes tlial were recommended to hasten 

 prosperity and avert the crisis in the agricultural industry of the 

 United States, a country with great natural resources, much wealth, 

 ;i hundred million people, and a higdily organized and extensive 

 Department of Agriculture. In the Union our needs are as great, 

 hut, in comparison, how few our resources? But with all their 

 facilities, the farmers of the United States, like ours, are not able 

 entirely to remove the present state of uneven values, for this is the 

 final recommendation of the commission: — "The renewal of condi- 

 tions of confidence and industrial as well as agricultural prosperity 

 is deiiendent upon a readjustment of prices for commodities to the end 

 that prices received for commodities will represent a fair division of 

 the economic rewards of industry, risk, management, and investment 

 of capital. These conditions cannot be brought about by legislative 

 formulas, but must be tlie result foi' the most part of the inter])lny 

 of economic forces." 



The Farmer's Maixstay. 



Wliat then must the farmer of South Africa do at this crisis to 

 hi'ing the lelief tlint lie so direlv needs;' He lias reason to call all 



