364 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



reap its reward in the marketing of potatoes. In general it is 

 believed that where there are no well-established central mar- 

 kets subject to Government supervision, farmers will have to 

 look to federated local companies in order to compete success- 

 fully in the distribution of their products. 



The success of the Wisconsin cheese producers' federation gives 

 ground for confidence in the ability of farmers to handle suc- 

 cessfully the distribution of their products in distant markets. 

 This organization has its headquarters at Plymouth, Wisconsin. 

 Prior to its organization the farmers living in the vicinity of a 

 cheese factory met once a year and hired a cheese maker to 

 convert their milk into cheese at so much per pound. So far 

 as could be determined the cheese maker did not get any too 

 much for his services. But the cheese was sold on an unregu- 

 lated market at a price which was unsatisfactory to the farmers. 



The farmers had little or nothing to do with the selling of the 

 cheese. They left this function to the cheese maker, who had 

 no interest except the getting all of the cheese passed as first- 

 grade product, as he had agreed to stand the loss if the product 

 was not up to standard. This led to many irregularities, and 

 left the farmer in a position to take whatever was handed him. 

 In time he complained, and with the help of the State Board of 

 Public Affairs and the Agricultural College and the blessing of 

 a local leader who was willing to work for nothing and board 

 himself in good missionary fashion, these local groups of dairy- 

 men who took milk to the same factory were converted into 

 corporate units known as cheese producers' associations. These 

 in turn were federated into the cheese producers' federation. 

 This latter organization hired an experienced salesman to sell 

 the product of over forty cheese factories. They were unable 

 to rent space in the public cold storage warehouse of Plymouth. 

 This emergency was quickly met by building a warehouse for 

 their own use. Six seasons have passed, and the federation has 

 proved an unqualified success. This gives ground for the belief 

 that wherever the farmers have the right mettle they can 

 cooperate successfully to reach out into the central markets. 



In any case there is plenty of work for the state to perform in 



