Irish Farmers Thrive On 

 Co-operation and Fixed Prices 



, /Jo^fJ the Irish Free State pro- 

 ^^1 i ■ tects its farmers and encour- 

 ^ / / ages them in cooperative 

 marketing and buying was revealed in a 

 meeting of lAA directors and staff mem- 

 bers Thursday evening, November 18. 

 John F. Cassidy, director and general 

 manager of the Irish Agricultural Whole- 

 sale Society of Dublin, Ireland, was the 

 speaker. 



Mr. Cassidy, who is in the United 

 States "on a holiday," spent more than 

 an hour discussing cooperatives in Ire- 

 land and answering questions for stat? 

 members. He previously spent most of 

 the day, accompanied by Lloyd Marchant, 

 inspecting the offices of the lAA and 

 Associated companies. 



Irish farmers get fixed prices for their 

 products and they are protected from the 

 outside by a system of tariffs, Cassidy de- 

 clared. "You can buy Irish butter che.ip- 

 er in London than in Dublin because a 

 bounty is paid on exports," he said. 



Grain prices are fixed by the govern 

 ment and farmers are asked to produce 

 all they can. This is possible because 

 the countr)' has limited productive ca- 

 pacity unlike the U. S. Surpluses of o.its 

 and barley are disposed of through mill- 

 ing quotas — a fixed amount of barley 

 and oats must be ground with a certain 

 amount of maize for cow feed." 



Irish farmers sold their wheat this 

 summer at the fixed price of about SI. 72 

 a bushel. Barley brought two cents a 

 pound. All wheat grown in Ireland is 

 used for food. Barley is malted, made 

 into porter, ale and whisky. Some is 

 used for livestock feed. 



"Practically all farmers own their own 

 farms or partially own them," f'assidy 

 said. Gladstone, Premier of England, 

 took steps years ago to buy land from 

 landlords to .sell to tenants. Farms of 

 Ireland, at that time were owned by 

 some 200 big absentee landlords. Rent 

 was around five dollars an acre and the 

 tenant paid the taxes. 



The average size farm in Ireland today 

 is 60 acres. Farms of 100 acres are con- 

 sidered large and if a man has a farm 

 larger than that, he would have to have 

 a good reason for keeping it. 



Land sells for about $125 an acre in 

 the better sections. The tenants are deep- 

 ly rooted to the soil and farms are passed 

 from father to son. 



In 1922, Ireland was divided into two 

 democracies, Irish Free State with 26,500 

 square miles covering most of the island, 

 and Northem Ireland with 5200 square 

 miles in the north. The Irish Agricul- 

 tural Wholesale Society, established about 



1880, is the only commercial organiza- 

 tion that withstood the division, still 

 serves both parts of Ireland. 



"The strength of our organization is 

 due largely to the social atmosphere we 

 foster among country folk. We estab- 

 lish the social aspect of our society first, 

 commercial activity then follows as a 

 natural course," Cassidy explained. 



The Wholesale Society serves 96 per 

 cent of the farmers through -480 local 

 societies. The local societies are usually 

 built up around a cooperative creamery. 

 The managers of all co-operative cream- 

 eries are college trained men who have 

 had butter making and creamery experi- 

 ence. In addition to managing the cream- 

 ery they also handle feeds, fertilzers, 

 dairy equipment and other supplies. 



Cooperative creameries are financed 

 through the sale of shares. Each patron 

 buys one $1 5 share in the co-op for each 



purpose types. They milk only about 8 

 months a year, from March to Novem- 

 ber. Their ration is grass most of the 

 time, hay in winter. Milk is delivered 

 to the local central separator. The skim 

 is taken home for the pigs and calves. 

 Sanitary requirements are much higher 

 in the fluid milk areas around the cities 

 where the cows must be TB tested. 



Ireland has approximately 3,000,000 

 people and is about the same size and 

 shape as the State of Illinois. Farmers 

 are in the majority and have great in- 

 fluence in the legislature there. 



Wages in Ireland are less than they are 

 here. Farm workers get from six dollars 

 a week in outlying areas to eight and a 

 half dollars near the cities. Room and 

 board are not included but workers live 

 in little two and three room cottages 

 which they rent, with an acre of land, 

 for about .36 cents a week. 



The standard of living is lower in Ire- 

 land than here although the prices for 

 foods and other goods in Chicago are 

 comparable to prices in Dublin. Most 

 farmers have wireless receivers but they 

 are mostly secondhand. Radio sets are 



COOPERATIVE LEADER FROM IRELAND VISITS lAA OFHCE 

 Lloyd Marchant. left, and lohn F. Cassidy looking over the lAA RECORD. 



COW he owns. This he is glad to do be- 

 cause the co-op is the sole market for 

 cream. 



"Our farmers get about 21 cents, never 

 over 23 cents a pound for their butter- 

 fat," the speaker said. "Butter sells for 

 about 32 cents retail. Irish butter in 

 England sells much cheaper." 



"Our Wholesale Society does not re- 

 turn patronage dividends. The saving 

 to local societies is accounted for in the 

 purchase price of the goods they buy. 

 Many local co-operatives, however, give 

 their patrons fertilizer instead of money 

 for dividends. 



Cows in Ireland are mostly red dual 



taxed and the revenue is used to produce 

 radio programs. 



Automobiles are not as common there 

 as here. Gasoline costs 29 cents a gal- 

 lon and taxes on autos are extremely 

 high. The tax on a V-8 Ford was re- 

 cently cut from $150 to $80 a year. Cars, 

 like tobacco in Ireland, are mostly Amer- 

 ican makes. 



Mr. Cassidy complained that Ameri- 

 cans fail to get enough sleep, turn their 

 nights into days and that such a pace had 

 tired him out. He left Chicago for 

 Washington where he will see govern- 

 ment officials and rest a few days before 

 returning to Ireland. 



32 



L A. A. RECORD 



