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information on subjects connected with the marketing and distributing 

 of farm products, and for the employment of persons and means necessary 

 in the city of Washington and elsewhere.'' 



At a meeting held in the Department of Agriculture on April 29, 1913, 

 Mr. G. Harold Powell, general manager of the California Fruit Growers' 

 Exchange, made the following valuable suggestions for the work of the 

 department : 



''(1) Determine the principles on which farmers' business organiza- 

 tions can be successfully founded and operated. 



"(2) Work out the principles of law which should be incorporated 

 in state and federal legislation and which would permit the proper organiza- 

 tion and conduct of farmers' associations. 



''(3) Study the distribution of farm crops as practiced by farmers' 

 organizations and other agencies in order to determine the weaknesses, the 

 wastes in distribution, the abuses and extravagances of the distributing 

 system, and illegal practices, if such exist, and as a result set forth the 

 principles of state and federal legislation which would define the functions 

 of the various distributing agencies, correct such abuses as legislation can 

 reach, define and set forth the principles of co-operative organizations, and 

 assist the farmers in the formation of their organizations. 



'' (4) Help the farmers after they are organized to develop a system 

 by which they can secure for themselves better information regarding crop 

 conditions, the movement of crops, the supply in different markets, and the 

 daily prices, this information to supplement the general data which the 

 department may furnish the public. 



" (6) Investigate the methods of handling, grading, packing and pre- 

 paring farm crops for market, to bring about a greater uniformity and to 

 correct the abuses which now cause a large proportion of the trouble in 

 the dealings of the producer with the distributing agencies." 



When this is done the work of co-ordinating the forces outside the cities 

 may be said to be under way. Important as this work is, it must fail 

 unless the distributing facilities in the cities are co-ordinated so that they 

 may take care of the produce which the farmers send to them, without 

 uncertainty, waste and loss. 



Producers' associations are likely to be successful where the country 

 in which they operate produces a single staple crop, their efforts being to 

 market their products and to see that they are graded and packed properly. 

 It is somewhat difficult for a producers' association to flourish in a locality 

 where many different sorts of crops are produced. It might be well, there- 

 fore, for studies to be made in different localities for the purpose of finding 

 out the most profitable crops for the neighborhoods and urging the farmers 

 to confine themselves to them. Co-operative associations among the 

 consumers in the cities have not been very successful in this country because 

 of the individualistic tendencies of the people, which prevent them from 

 co-operating easily, and the fact that cash payments are displeasing to 



