THE ECONOMIC PROTEST 217 



farmers in the future will market their products in 

 increasing numbers through cooperative associations. 



"In the past farmers have known all too little," 

 says 0. D. Foster, in a very illuminating article on 

 this subject, "about controlling and solving their 

 problems in business fashion. The farmer is as 

 much a manufacturer as the man who owns a fac- 

 tory and the marketing of farm products is as much 

 of a commercial venture as the selling of hoisting 

 cranes or any other commodity and requires just as 

 high a degree of intelligence as any other business 

 enterprise. The farmer has been criticized for his 

 lack of knowledge of marketing. The problems 

 which crowd him are of an entirely different nature 

 and he does not have any opportunity to learn the 

 demands of the trade. One thing which farmers 

 must be made to realize is that consideration of the 

 marketing problem of any given crop should begin 

 prior to the time when they plant their seed, and 

 that they have performed only half of the functions 

 of production when they have harvested their 

 crops. . . . 



"There can be little question of the value to the 

 farmer in cooperative action. These organizations 

 conducted along business methods have given agri- 

 cultural marketing standing in the business world. 

 They mark a step forward in the world of agriculture 

 for they raise the standard of production and secure 

 the economies which come from large scale organiza- 

 tion and cooperation. They wield enormous influ- 



