256 



THE THIRD POWER 



other industry, profession and consumer in the country — are 

 being drawn closer in organization and cooperation. As they 

 all get their living from the farm, they will employ the sharp 

 practices that the stirring times have developed to beat down 

 the farmers' prices to the very lowest level. True, there will 

 be seasons of short crops, when prices will stay up, but in 

 seasons of large crops there will be absolutely no sustaining 

 power to prices of farm products unless the farmers will 

 furnish it. I defy any person to show me the man or set of 

 men who will protect another man or set of men in trade, who 

 will not try to protect himself. The grasping, greedy disposi- 

 tion is not the spirit of Christianity, but it is human nature. 

 The weak are always oppressed by the strong, the disorganized 

 by the organized. There is absolutely no safety or good pros- 

 pect in this country for an industry not organized. 



11. Q. Are there not too many farmers to cooperate? 



A. This is a popular fallacy that sound reasoning will dispel. 

 The great number of farmers will be the great element of 

 strength in farmers cooperating. All the farmers don't need to 

 hold crops at any time, as the markets will take immense quan- 

 tities of supplies every day. All that will be required will be 

 enough farmers to control that part that goes on the market 

 and creates a temporary over supply or surplus. This over 

 supply makes the low price on all. Take, for example, the 

 year 1901 : all crops except wheat were short; everything, corn, 

 oats, fruit, vegetables, meat, etc., brought high prices. Why? 

 Because there was no over supply at any time and the buyers 

 were eager to get all that was offered. Now let us see how 

 about wheat. It was a large crop. The price ruled low. 

 Why? Because growers of wheat fed the market faster than 

 it needed it ; yet the entire crop was consumed, although it 

 was the largest crop the country ever raised. No business can 

 maintain prices or control prices that markets a year's supplies 

 in a few months. Cooperation is intended to produce the same 

 condition that prevails when there is a short crop — i. e., keep 

 the stuff back on the farm or in warehouses until the demand 

 comes for it. Comparatively a small portion of the producers 

 can do this, even though the others won't try. If we have a 



MILLION OR MORE MEMBERS IN THE A. S. OF E., ENOUGH OF 

 THEM WILL HOLD THEIR CROPS BACK TO PREVENT THE TEMPO- 

 RARY OVER SUPPLY, IN SPITE OF ALL THE WEAK, STUBBORN FARM- 

 ERS THAT MAY BE ARRAYED AGAINST THEM. The A. S. of E. 



proposes, however, to make it profitable to hold crops. 



We train ourselves to watch ourselves, 



Until we find at length 

 We've made our very weakness 



The pillars of our strength. 



