276 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



marketing commission with state and local organizations for disseminat- 

 ing information and stabilizing the movement of produce. . . ." 



Sapiro often discussed the marketing problems of the farmers with 

 both Weinstock and Lubin. He had served as counsel for the California 

 State Marketing Commission. As counsel, he took the records of the 

 California cooperatives and analyzed them. He selected those features of 

 the cooperatives which he believed were responsible for success and 

 devised his model plan, also known as the California plan. 53 This is what 

 he brought before the Chicago grain-marketing conference in July, 1920. 



Sapiro repeatedly emphasized the point that if it was to succeed, the 

 marketing association to be formed had to gain title to most of the wheat 

 in the country. "You won't start this thing unless you have 51 per cent 

 of the wheat in the nine most important wheat states tied up under this 

 system. When you get 51 per cent of the nine most important wheat states 

 tied up you can go ahead and nothing can stop you." The convention did 

 not adopt his entire program, but there were many who subscribed to it, 

 as later events proved. 



There were other phases to this Sapiro plan, none of which were orig- 

 inal with him. The association had to devote itself exclusively to business 

 and to the principle of "one man, one vote." Directors were to be elected 

 by districts. Payments for crops were to be made from a pool, so that 

 growers of like quantity, kind, grade, and quality would get the same 

 price. The association had to be in a position to finance the farmer at 

 harvest time, when he needed credit the most, and was "not to start 

 operations before a set minimum of business is assured, so it will have 

 enough of a given crop to be able to meet necessary overhead, without too 

 great a burden on any one bushel, etc." The contracts with the members 

 provided a penalty for those who did not deliver the pledged crop. Above 

 all, the organization had to "hire the best men possible to run the associa- 

 tion; expert sellers to do the selling, railroad men to handle the traffic 

 problems, lawyers to do the legal work, and bankers to look after the 

 finances." 



Merchandising methods were hardly overlooked. Crops had to be 

 graded and packed to attract the consumer. Advertising methods had to 



53. Edwin G. Nourse, The Legal Status of Agricultural Cooperation (New York, 

 1928), pp. 94-95. 



