MARKETING 223 



ping point buyer are eliminated. A co-operative shipping 

 association in one state saves its shippers annually over 

 $6,000, according to figures given out by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. These co-operative 

 shipping associations are organized for the most part in 

 connection with other enterprises. Some handle in ad- 

 dition to swine and other live stock, lumber, coal, grain, 

 feed and farm implements. A few handle live stock ex- 

 clusively. The financial arrangement is generally for 

 the shippers to share pro rata in costs and to pay the 

 manager or shipper a flat rate per car of from $6 to $10 

 for the first car and $5 each for additional cars on any 

 one day. In some instances the fee may be put on 

 the shipping-weight basis, the manager to receive from 

 5 to 10 cents per hundredweight. The advantages of 

 such a co-operative shipping arrangement are obvious. 

 The railroads give better service in this way, better 

 prices are usually obtained, one can make a shipment 

 when he is ready regardless of the number he may have, 

 the member does not have to deal with the local buyers, 

 and these, with the other advantages offered, are suffi- 

 cient to justify the existence of such an organization 

 whenever a sufficient number of hogs are produced in 

 a community. 



Lack of shipping facilities. Under the present method 

 of production the individual breeders and the different 

 sections are not producing a sufficient number of swine 

 to justify the most efficient methods of marketing. Even 

 the railroads in the South do not handle shipments of 

 swine with the same facility and satisfaction as in other 

 sections where more are produced. They are rapidly 

 overcoming this drawback, however, and as soon as swine 



