CO-OPERATION 131 



really helps them in buying and selling and de- 

 veloping their communities. Naturally, the 

 effective cooperative groups are in the most 

 highly developed communities; the general farmer 

 is yet insufficiently helped by the societies. 

 The need is not so much for a greater number of 

 societies as for a more complete organization 

 within them and for a more continuous active 

 work. 



Farmers seem to be increasingly feeling the 

 pressure of the organized interests that sell to 

 them and buy from them. They complain of 

 business understandings or agreements between 

 all dealers from the wholesaler and jobber to the 

 remote country merchants, that prevent farmers 

 and their organizations from doing an indepen- 

 dent business. 



The greatest pressure on the farmer is felt in 

 regions of undiversified one-crop farming. Under 

 such conditions, he is subject to great risk of 

 crop failure; his land is soon reduced in produc- 

 tiveness; he usually does not raise his home sup- 

 plies, and is therefore dependent on the store 

 for his living; and his crop, being a staple and 

 produced in enormous quantities, is subject to 



