THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Thirteen 



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Concentration of Selling Power 



Farmers Need 



"Jim" Stone Tells How Agriculture Can Meet Organization of Industry, at Monmouth 



' and Jacksonville Picnics ' I 



HOW farmers can meet 

 industrial organization 

 by which stockholders of a 

 corporation concentrate 

 their money and buying 

 power under the control of 

 a few intelligent managers, 

 was told by James C. Stone, 

 vice-chairman of the Fed- 

 eral Farm Board, who spoke 

 at Farm Bureau district pic- 

 nics in Monmouth and Jack- 

 sonville, August 29 and 30 

 respectively. 



"Farmers, likewise, can 

 concentrate their products 

 and their individual selling 

 power under the control of 

 co-operative marketing as- 

 sociations," said Mr. Stone. 

 "The methods of operation 

 of these two organizations, 

 the corporation and the co- 

 operative marketing associa- 

 tion, are similar and the ob- 

 jects to be accomplished are 

 the same in both. 



A Modern Plant 



"The successful manu- 

 facturer has a well-con- 

 structed, conveniently ar- 

 ranged plant with modern 

 machinery and employs ca- 

 pable and efficient manage- 

 ment. If he did not do this 

 he could not meet the com- 

 petition of the plant which 

 is competently and efficient- 

 ly managed. In fact, the 

 main object of any success- 

 ful industrial plant is to 

 manufacture the best possi- 

 ble produce at the lowest possible cost, 

 and industry has been able to accom- 

 plish this by employing the best expert 

 ability. 



Talk Down Own Business 



"Another fundamental in connection 

 with industrial success," said Mr. Stone, 

 "is that production is regulated in large 

 measure to potential consumer demand 

 and is sold to the public through a 

 highly organized and efficient sales de- 

 partment." 



Here the speaker paused to reveal 

 one apparent difference between stock- 

 holders of a corporation and members 



tC^T'OU can't legislate the farmer rich. It is 

 ■L possible to give equal opportunity to agri- 

 culture, and the Marketing Act opens the way. 

 It is our job to use the law in helping the farm- 

 er. If it hurts someone else it is just too bad." 

 The speaker suggested that it might be neces- 

 sary sooner or later to adopt a plan of grading 

 land according to its fertility, 

 in the interest of adjusting 

 production to demand. "We 

 can't possibly gro'w wheat on 

 $200 land in Kentucky," he 

 said, "and compete 'with the 

 Kansas farmer who grow^s 

 w^heat as successfully on land 

 valued at $12 to $15 an acre. 

 We must learn to produce the 

 best product possible at the 

 lease cost." 



Referring to the produc- 

 tion of tobacco in his home state, he pointed out 

 that the four or five buyers of that product w^ho 

 purchase nearly 90 per cent of the Burley tobacco 

 grow^n there have all the advantage in buying 

 from 130,000 unorganized producers, where the 

 weakest groover, financially, sets the price of 

 the crop. 



Mr. Stone was introduced by President Earl 

 C. Smith, who made his first public appearance 

 since his recent illness. 



In a short preliminary talk Mr. Smith out- 

 lined the setup of the Illinois Grain Corporation, 

 stating that the opposition to co-operative grain 

 marketing program apparently 'was being 

 financed by enemies of farmer co-operation. He 

 stated that an announcement regarding the I. A. 

 A.'s policy on the proposed revenue amendment 

 'would be made follo'wing the next meeting of the 

 board of directors. 



.Ins. C. Stone 



of a co-operative association. "Too 

 many farmers talk down their own 

 business," he said. "Moreover, they 

 listen to attacks against their own or- 

 ganization without defending it. Most 

 stockholders of a corporation boost it 

 and defend it against attacks. But not 

 so with many farmers. They not only 

 listen passively to malicious propaganda 

 spread by their enemies, but they even 

 go so far as to attack their own busi- 

 ness, their own organization, when it 

 should have their full support and co- 

 operation. Farmers too often listen 

 gullibly to falsehoods about their lead- 



ers and their co-operatives, 

 expressed by those who have 

 a selfish interest in retain- 

 ing control of the selling 

 end of the farmer's business, 

 without a word of protest. 

 You don't hear stockholders 

 of a corporation talk it 

 down like some farmers do 

 their co-operative." 



Continuing the analogy 

 between industry and agri- 

 culture, Mr. Stone pointed 

 out that there are some six 

 and one-half million farm- 

 ers operating that number 

 of individual farm factories, 

 largely without regard to 

 what their neighbors are 

 doing or what the market 

 will take at a profitable 

 price. 



Each a Manufacturer 



"Each individual farmer 

 is a manufacturer," he said. 

 "His farm is his plant. If 

 his soil is fertile and his 

 farm machinery modern, his 

 plant is then well equipp>ed 

 to produce a good quality 

 product at a reasonable cost. 

 If his land is [>oor and his 

 machinery inadequate, he 

 has a hard time to compete 

 with the farmer whose land 

 is fertile and who uses up- 

 to-date machinery' to culti- 

 vate it." 



The speaker cautioned 

 farmers to keep in touch 

 with the latest develop- 

 ments in research carried on 

 by the state experiment station and 

 advocated by the county advisers. He 

 suggested that farmers get all the avail- 

 able information regarding probable 

 market requirements and then adjust 

 their production in line with this in- 

 formation. 



Heed U. S. Reports 



"For several years the Department of 

 Agriculture at planting and breeding 

 time has been supplying farmers val- 

 uable information about the prospective 

 supply and demand of agricultural com- 

 modities. ■ Where the situation seemed 



