Cooperation 187 



Speculators and those engaged in the distribution of farm 

 products have organized and operate to the great detriment of 

 the farming class. 



To enable farmers to meet these conditions and protect 

 their interests, we have organized the Farmers' Educational and 

 Cooperative Union of America, and declare the following pur- 

 poses : 



To establish justice. 



To secure equity. 



To apply the Golden Rule. 



To discourage the credit and mortgage system. 



To assist our members in buying and selling. 



To educate the agricultural class in scientific farming. 



To teach farmers the classification of crops, domestic econ- 

 omy, and the process of marketing. 



To systematize methods of production and distribution. 



To eliminate gambling in farm products by Boards of Trade, 

 Cotton Exchanges, and other speculators. 



To bring farmers up to the standard of other industries and 

 business enterprises. 



To secure and maintain profitable and uniform prices for 

 grain, cotton, live-stock, and other products of the farm. 



To strive for harmony and good will among all mankind and 

 brotherly love among ourselves. 



To garner the tears of the distressed, the blood of martyrs, 

 the laugh of innocent childhood, the sweat of honest labor, and 

 the virtue of a happy home as the brightest jewels known, y 



Membership in the Union. The membership in the 

 union is confined to farmers, farm laborers, rural me- 

 chanics, rural school teachers, physicians, or ministers of 

 the gospel, who are not engaged in banking, merchandizing, 

 practicing law, or belonging to any trust or combine for 

 the purpose of speculating in agricultural products or the 

 necessities of life, or directly affecting injuriously the 



