43 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



enterprises is confidence. It is important, then, that men of the 

 highest integrity and unquestioned honesty should be at the 

 head of the association. Managers and directors will be sus- 

 pected of graft sooner or later. They will have plenty of oppor- 

 tunity to receive private commissions on purchases or broker- 

 age on sales. They must be strong enough to withstand such 

 temptation when it is presented to them. There are always 

 many people to become jealous of the prominence which the 

 managers and directors must necessarily have. A common mis- 

 take made in farmers' organizations too, is to expect to secure 

 a manager for thirty, forty, or fifty dollars a month, who is cap- 

 able of handling twenty-five, fifty, or a hundred thousand dol- 

 lars worth of business in a year and paying good dividends. Men 

 capable of doing this can earn at least five to ten thousand dol- 

 lars a year from private enterprises. A successful cooperative 

 enterprise cannot be expected to succeed unless it has at its head 

 a man of experience, tact, and ability, who understands mar- 

 kets, buying and selling, and is a master of the business. vSenti- 

 ment has no place in cooperation. Because a certain man owns 

 stock, is influential in the community, and has a son who needs 

 a job, is no reason why he should be given an important place at 

 the head of the concern. There will always be scheming for 

 places of advantage in cooperative enterprises the same as there 

 is in politics or business, but all this must be "cut out." 



A successful cooperative enterprise must, first of all, have 

 capital. This is often not taken into serious consideration. 

 Enough capital must be available to give stability to the organi- 

 zation and not cripple its opportunity for purchase and sale. 

 Cooperative enterprises must keep out of debt. They must do 

 a cash business, and must keep their rating and business stand- 

 ing first class. 



The farmers or cooperators themselves are usually responsible 

 for the failure of their own enterprises. The stockholders are 

 often guilty of such neglect as would down any business in a 

 few months. After a manager and board of directors are elect- 

 ed, the stockholders seem to think that it is their especial priv- 

 ilege to stand off and find fault with the management, rather 

 than to consider the project as a thing of which they are a part. 

 They grow suspicious and jealous, ruptures are caused which 

 keen men in other lines of organized business are quick to detect 

 and tske advantage of. No cooperative enterprise can flourish 



