THE BEE-KEEPERS* REVIEW 



441 



Bulletin of Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture. 



CO-OPERATIOX 



Some Suggestions Toward Solving One 



of the Most Vital Froblcnis cf the 



Present-Day Fanner. 



At the present time, when there is so 

 much discussion regarding co-operation, 

 and when there is such an apparent 

 need for a great advance along that 

 line, as relief from labor stringency and 

 complex methods of distribution of the 

 necessities of life, it is evident to all 

 who have studied the question of co- 

 operation from the practical standpoint 

 that the greatest need of the time is to 

 educate the pubHc to a thorough under- 

 standing of what real co-operation is, 

 and to impress upon the would-be co- 

 operator the fact that to co-operate is 

 more than to become a sort of half- 

 hearted member of some association, 

 with no real obligation on his part; and 

 it is further important that a warning 

 should be given so that the public may 

 not become the victim of smooth- 

 tongued promoters or over-zealous en- 

 thusiasts, who see great opportunities in 

 co-operation, but who have not become 

 familiar with the human equation in- 

 volved, which can be worked out only 

 by education of the individual co-oper- 

 ators, and is, therefore, a rather slow 

 and tedious undertaking. 



\ itwing the possible ways in which 

 co-operation can be of benefit, especially 

 to the farmer, without relation to the 

 difficulties of putting them into oper- 

 ation, the field is so vast and the ap- 

 parent benefits so great that it is indeed 

 disheartening when he realizes how 

 slow must be the growth which will 

 eventually plant thoroughly well-or- 

 ganized associations throughout our 

 country, having a membership whose 

 loyalty to their association will be sec- 

 ond only to their loyalty to country. 



Co-operative insurance has long since 

 ceased to be but an experiment. Mil- 

 lions upon millions of dollars of fire 

 insurance is carried throughout the 

 country by such companies. Rates have 

 been materially reduced, and adjust- 

 ments are made upon merit and justice 

 instead of by avaricious and technical 

 methods. 



The co-operative creamery in thou- 

 sands of cases has been of greatest ben- 

 efit, and when intelligently organized 

 and conducted has almost invariably 

 been successful: and right here let me 

 mention a possible combination which 



can be carried on to great advantage 

 with the creamery plant, where the same 

 management, same steam plant and 

 many other factors beside would work 

 ver\- auspiciously together. This com- 

 bination is the co-operative bakery and 

 the co-operative laundry. Why should 

 not the overworked country house- 

 wives, where the help question is so 

 hard of solution, be relieved by up-to- 

 date bakery and laundry methods which 

 are enjoyed in the cities? There are 

 thousands of plants of this kind in op- 

 eration in Europe where such co-oper- 

 ation is enjoyed. 



Co-operative marketing is of the 

 greatest importance if the "high cost of 

 living,'' the now ever-present cry of the 

 city consumer, is to cease. And yet at 

 the same time there are many instances 

 where the products of the farm waste 

 in the field. Great savings can be made 

 by co-operation in the purchase of sup- 

 plies, and this can be worked to the 

 greatest advantage in connection with 

 the selling association, the same plants 

 answering for both. By the combina- 

 tion of the two the association will be 

 enabled to hire a competent manager, 

 upon which so largely depends the suc- 

 cess of all our efforts at co-operation. 



Many States have created laws with 

 the object in view of aiding co-opera- 

 tive efforts. In New York State a law 

 for the incorporation of co-operative as- 

 sociations which is especially adapted to 

 such organizations was enacted. An- 

 other act passed by the same Legisla- 

 ture authorized the Commissioner of 

 .\griculture to appoint a superintendent 

 of co-operation, whose duty is to assist 

 in organization work. Such appoint- 

 ment was made, and the work is being 

 carried forward in conjunction with the 

 farm bureau. The New York State 

 Grange Co-operative Committee are 

 drafting plans of organization, and an 

 organizer is to be appointed whose duty 

 will be to assist local granges in or- 

 ganizing for co-operative work. Very 

 many elaborate plans are being pre- 

 sented for bringing the producer and 

 the consumer into closer relation, sorne 

 of which have a great deal of merit. 

 However, a word of warning should be 

 given, for these schemes offer great op- 

 portunity for shrewd promoters to get 

 rich at the expense of the would-be co- 

 operators. In other cases, where there 

 is no backing by those experienced in 

 handling farm produce, so many difficul- 

 ties are sure to arise with which the 

 uninitiated will not be able to cope that 



