MARKET METHODS AND PROBLEMS 551 



in a regular, systematic manner, so as to cause the least loss to pro- 

 ducer, handler, and consumer. Under this system storage products 

 should never be compelled to beg a market; the demand will always 

 find the supply. The chief advantages, therefore, of co-operative 

 action are standard grades, standard packs, uniform packages, ship- 

 ment in carload lots, f.o.b. sales, a controlled rate of dispersal, pre- 

 determined destination, dispatch in the settlement of claims, and 

 regulation of rates of transportation and of sales, so as to give each 

 producer a standard price for a standard product. 



To accomplish this is a difficult task. Human nature is the most 

 variable and the least controllable commercial commodity. Co- 

 operation means united action, and true co-operation in the sense in 

 which it is used in this connection means united action for the benefit 

 of all concerned the producer as well as the consumer. Co-operation 

 which involves financial risk and financial responsibility has never 

 proved successful when based on fraternal agreement alone. To suc- 

 ceed in any business enterprise which requires the concerted action of 

 individuals of different training and different temperaments, there 

 must be a common bond of union of sufficient importance to give them 

 a common interest. This can be secured in the business world only 

 through a money consideration. In order, therefore, that co-operative 

 action involving the growing, handling, transportation, and sale of 

 perishable products may be successful it must carry a financial obli- 

 gation sufficient to command the interest of the co-operators. It is 

 true that in an association of this character the participants place at 

 stake the return of their labor in the form of the crop produced, but 

 in order to insure the patronage and the loyalty which is necessary 

 to the stability of any co-operative action a membership requirement 

 must be made sufficiently large to prevent a member from withdrawing 

 from the association for slight cause. A method which has been suc- 

 cessfully used in some of the associations is to require a cash member- 

 ship fee sufficient to raise the required capital for conducting the 

 business of the association. 



The amount of capital stock will vary with the character of the 

 association, whether it be a growing and distributing organization or a 

 growing, distributing, and purchasing organization. In order to pur- 

 chase supplies for its members the organization will require a much 

 larger capital than will be necessary for a growers' and distributors' 

 organization. That would be in the neighborhood of $2,000, while 

 the stock necessary to add the purchasing and handling feature must 



