THE ECONOMIC PROTEST 209 



wheat, cotton, tobacco, live stock, fruits, rice, wool, 

 dairy products, peanuts, and vegetable products of 

 all kinds. In fact, there is scarcely a marketable 

 farm product that is not now being sold somewhere 

 through cooperative associations. Experience has 

 demonstrated that both perishable and non-perish- 

 able products can be marketed successfully on a co- 

 operative basis. In fact, the nature of the product 

 is a less important consideration than the available 

 quantity and the territorial scope of the market. 

 For example, it requires a larger amount of capital 

 to finance a cooperative cotton or wheat association 

 than a vegetable association. These products are 

 sold in both local and foreign markets. These fac- 

 tors present problems that do not generally exist for 

 more perishable commodities produced on the 

 farms. It is a fact of great importance that all kinds 

 of commodities are being marketed cooperatively 

 and that the directorates of the associations have 

 been reasonably successful in adapting their meth- 

 ods of marketing to the particular commodity they 

 are charged with disposing of to the consuming 

 public. 



Hostility to the Cooperative Marketing Movement 



That hostility and opposition to the cooperative 

 selling of farm products would develop was inevit- 

 able. The plan involved radical changes in financial 

 policy. It vitally affected the interest of middlemen 

 whose influence in many cases was very great. 



