THE COMMUNITY IDEA 153 



with 5,000 bushels. The buyer who can afford to dis- 

 regard the individual with his small crop cannot ignore 

 an entire community. He is willing to make terms 

 with a community when he would browbeat the indi- 

 vidual. 



The Core of Cooperation. At the risk of repeti- 

 tion, let it be said once more that the local community 

 is absolutely the only possible foundation for sound 

 business cooperation in agriculture. One of the wisest 

 and most successful leaders in business cooperation in 

 this country says on this point: 



" It is fundamental that the unit of each agricultural indus- 

 trial organization formed to distribute and sell farm crops or for 

 other business purposes must lie in a comparatively small area. 

 The members must be well acquainted with each other, their 

 aims must be similar, and they must grow products of similar 

 quality and character if they are to succeed when associated with 

 one another. It is equally important that the membership be a 

 stable one and that the farm lands are not frequently changing 

 hands, a condition which often operates against the success of 

 the cooperative movement in the newer sections of the country. 

 If the products vary widely on account of differences in the soil, 

 in climate, or other environmental conditions, the grades are not 

 uniform and the producers cannot easily be held in a common 

 organization. The efforts that are frequently made to have a 

 single organization cover a wide territory are, therefore, not 

 likely to succeed. It is desirable from every point of view that 

 each rural community and each individual should retain its in- 

 dividuality to the greatest possible extent, that it should not 

 have local pride and ambition stifled by too general a mixture 

 with other sections, and that it should be encouraged to build 

 up a local reputation for its products that distinguishes it from 

 other communities." l 



1 Powell, G. Harold, " Cooperation in Agriculture," pages 19-20, 

 New York, 1913. 



