They planned to build a fourth ele- 

 vator but when the other company 

 learned of the scheme, it offered to sell 

 its elevators to the co-op. The new 

 company borrowed $18,000, sold $6,- 

 000 of stock and the deal was made. 

 The cooperative had found its place, 

 filled an economic need. 



When an enterprise is financially 

 and economically sound its future de- 

 pends on its management — the human 

 element. 



Irvin W. Larrick, former elevator 

 manager with the Stonington Elevator 

 Company, was employed by the co-op. 

 To him was given the responsibility of 

 carrying out the policies and rules es- 

 tablished by the board of directors. 



Larrick had served his former em 

 ployers for ten years and had made an 

 unimpeachable record of intelligent ele- 

 vator management and sound trade 

 practice. According to Vice President 

 Dwyer, Larrick had the confidence of 

 directors and patrons of the coopera- 

 tive right from the start. 



Policies formed early in the life of 

 Stonington Cooperative Grain Com- 

 pany, to which the manager strictly 

 adheres, have already done much to in- 

 sure its continued success. Frank Gar- 

 wood points out these fundamental 

 rules under which the company oper- 

 ates: 



Rules for Success 



(1) Pay all patrons the cjuoted price 

 for each grade of grain regardless of 

 the distance they must haul it; the 

 company is organized to serve local 

 farmers. 



(2) Base the price paid for any pa- 

 tron's grain on the tjuotation prevail- 

 ing when his last load crosses the scale. 



(3) Sell all grain within 48 hours 

 after it is taken in ; allow no patron to 

 store his grain in the elevator. 



(i) Run no credit risk; deduct cus- 

 tomers' bills for salt, coal, feeds and 

 other supplies from their grain checks. 



(^) Hold directors meetings once 

 each month and. if possible, act on 

 all business introduced. 



((i) Issue one share of common stock 

 to each patron as provided in the by- 

 laws regardless of the amount of grain 

 he has to sell. Each share of common 

 stock carries one vote in the annual 

 meeting and permits the holder to 

 share in patronage dividends. Com- 

 mon stock is non-transferable and has 

 no par value. 



"In general, we treat all patrons alike 

 and have no pets. And above all, we 

 are careful about credit," is the way 

 Vice President Dwyer sums up the 

 co-op's policies. 



Some of these rules may seem strict 

 but they h.'-ve brought results. Larrick 

 says that farmers who formerly sold 



their grain to other elevators are now 

 bringing it to Stonington. 



In addition to strict adherence to 

 sound policies, the cooperative has 

 stripped margins to the core. In other 

 days, according to Garwood, it was 

 common practice for elevator operators 

 to take eight and nine cent net margins 

 for handling grain. On some grains 

 the margins ran as high as 10 and 12 

 cents. 



Compare these profits with the three 

 and three and one-half cent average 

 margins the cooperative takes. And 

 even with these low margins the co- 

 op paid a cent per bushel patronage 

 dividend. Is it any wonder that the 

 privately owned elevator company de- 

 cided to sell out when the co-op was 

 organized.-* 



The Stonington Cooperative Grain 

 Company is a co-op all the way. A 

 large percentage of the grain handled 



is responsible for the success of the 

 company, folks in the community point 

 to him as the one who has contributed 

 most to the cooperative's success. 



Frank Garwood is of the orginal 

 Connecticut stock that settled in Chris- 

 tian county one hundred years ago. 

 There is something of the pioneer in 

 Frank. Although he is )ust past 50, 

 he has had an active part in the prog- 

 ress of the county. 



He is one of the most active mem- 

 bers of the Christian County Farm 

 Bureau, having once served as a direc- 

 tor. Although he IS not an office 

 seeker, he is a director of the Christian 

 County Farmers Supply Company. 



Garwood has long been interested 

 in plant and soil improvement. He 

 graduated from the University of Il- 

 linois, college of agriculture, in 1905 

 and has applied the Illinois system of 

 permanent soil fertility to his farm 



EVIDENCE OF WELL-MANAGED SOa — THE GARWOOD HOME 

 Before the roo{ was on, a cyclone struck, jerked the pump from the well, left the 

 new-laid brick unscathed. 



is marketed through the Illinois Grain 

 Corporation and is sold on the terminal 

 market by the Farmers National Grain 

 Corporation. 



Livestock feeds, one of its leading 

 sidelines, bears the Blue Seal trade 

 mark of the Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany. The company's books are audited 

 by the Illinois Agricultural Auditing 

 Association. 



Who takes the credit for establish- 

 ing and operating the coop through 

 its formative period ? No one. Folks 

 around Stonington are not that kind. 

 If honors were to be awarded the en- 

 tire community would warrant recog- 

 : nition. Farmers might agree, howe\ er. 

 that most of the work -r.-as done by the 

 directors and their manager. 



Although President Garwood claims 

 no laurels, insists that Manager Larrick 



operations each year since. The CJar- 

 wood farms of nearly 1000 acres are 

 among the most productive lands in 

 the county. 



The pioneering strain exists, too. in 

 the latest generation of Garwoods as 

 the sign, "Hybrid Seed Produced by 

 F'rank Garwood and Sons. " on a new 

 seed corn drying house attests. Harold 

 Garwood who graduated from the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois in I<M5, is the sponsor 

 of this project. His brother Donald is 

 the other partner. 



While a communitv m.iv be meas- 

 ured by the success ot its cooperatives, 

 it mav be well to remember that the 

 succpss of a community is based largely 

 upon its people. Any community that 

 can boast of active, pioneering fam- 

 ilies like the Garwoods must, logically, 

 be a good place in which to live. 



DECEMBER, 1937 



11 



