Changes in Industrial Methods 15 



and which agitators of the agricultural class are endeavor- 

 ing to answer in their efforts to organize the farmers for 

 class purposes. 



ORGANIZATION METHODS STILL EXPERIMENTAL 



To any one who has had experience in agricultural or- 

 ganizations of the business type, it is clear that the whole 

 question of rural economic organization is still in the 

 experimental stage. There have been thousands of busi- 

 ness organizations formed by farmers in the past to pur- 

 chase supplies, to handle farm crops, to convert them 

 into manufactured products, to distribute and sell them, 

 and to bring about a better rural condition generally. 

 Many of these associations are being formed at the present 

 time, and there is every indication that American agricul- 

 ture is just now entering an unusually active period of 

 industrial and social organization. Few of these organi- 

 zations have been successful, and it is probably not over- 

 stating the case to say that still fewer have been founded 

 on principles which if generally adopted would help in 

 the solution of the rural economic and social problem. 

 It is generally true that the so-called farmers' business 

 organizations have not been formed primarily to improve 

 the industrial relations of the farmer. They have usually 

 combined political questions, social and legislative prob- 

 lems, and business enterprise. Many of them have been 

 formed by impractical enthusiasts with high motives but 

 with little business experience, desiring to reform every 

 one except themselves, to wage war on their neighbors 

 who do not affiliate, to fight every competitor, and to 

 found the organization on enthusiasm, altruism, and gen- 



