RURAL COOPERATION 



the Philadelphia team was in a class by itself, and yet the 

 Boston club won four successive victories because of the most 

 superb exhibition of team-work the game has known. So it is 

 team-work, perfect cooperation, in the one village that has 

 put it on the map. It is the lack of team-work, of cooperation, 

 in the other village that has kept it farther down the scale 

 and on a lower plane. 



One of the bugbears of the hundreds of villages in the 

 Mississippi Valley is the Mail Order House. A recent report 

 of a large Mail Order House showed sales for the year in 

 excess oi one hundred million dollars. The following is a 

 condensed statement of an article that appeared in The 

 Banker-Farmer for September, 1914. 



Twenty-nine years ago, Hans Garbus of Iowa rented an 

 8o-acre farm. His possessions consisted of an old team, $50 

 in cash and a young wife. Being a man of integrity, he was 

 able to furnish his home and equip his farm on credit. The 

 first year was wet, resulting in a shortage of crops; so the 

 merchants of the near-by village, where he made his purchases, 

 were obliged to extend the time of his obligations. This they 

 gladly did, and, moreover, they continued to accommodate 

 him in his rise to affluence. In the course of time he had 

 acquired title to 200 acres of the best land in the state. Nine 

 years ago he concluded it would be good business to patronize 

 city mail order houses, and this he and many of his neighbors 

 began to do largely due to his influence, since he had become 

 a very influential man in his neighborhood. Then the near- 

 by village was quite progressive, having excellent schools, 

 wide-awake churches, active merchants and a most praise- 

 worthy community spirit. Then, too, Hans' farm would 

 readily command $195 per acre. Nine years pass. The 

 near-by village is a mere shadow of its former self. The 

 change was largely caused by organized buying from mail 

 order houses. The worst of it is, the present market value of 

 Hans' farm is $167 per acre (a depreciation of $5,600) and 

 all other farms near the little village have suffered a like 

 depreciation. This is due to the decadence of the village, 



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