THE ECONOMIC (iAIN OF COOPERATION'. 2t)7 



markets are inclined to absorb it, produced at a distance of 

 thousands of miles from its principal markets, and in great 

 part by uneconomical methods, and exposed to strong foreign 

 and domestic competition from those with wliom fruit is 

 rather in the nature of a by product. 



Under these circumstances it was found that the dumping 

 upon an unprepared market of such annually-increasing 

 products within a space of sixty to ninety days led to such a 

 large number of forced sales at prices ruinous to the producer 

 as involved a practical breaking down of the market. 

 Although a few of those most favorably situated, and free 

 from debt, were at least able to take in from year to year more 

 money than they paid out, the average farmer, more or less in 

 debt, and with insufficient capital, began gradually or rapidly 

 to fall behind. 



The local buyers, who, under the competitive system., 

 collect and grade the product, sell to the wholesale merchant. 

 Under the circumstances above described, it was proposed, as 

 a remedy, that the producers themselves should collect and 

 grade their own product, and from their own storehouses sell 

 to the wholesale merchant in car-load lots. 



There is certainly an apparent economic gain in this 

 method, as it involves the elimination of, first, the expense of 

 the buyer's visiting each farm, often many times, and, second, 

 the service of the employers of those buyers in selling their 

 goods. The first of these items is nearly clear gain; against 

 the gain in the second item, however, must be set the expense, 

 whatever it might be, of those engaged in selling the goods on 

 the part of the growers. 



The greatest gain anticipated in the transaction, however, 

 was the relief to the market arising from the fact that instead 

 of marketing an entire crop within a few weeks, the process 

 could be extended over some months, during which time, and 

 by the usual business methods, the immediate necessities of 

 the grower could be relieved by advances from banks, 

 obtained upon the general credit of the associated growers, 

 and secured by the fruit in store. 



There are also gains, not so readily apparent as the fore- 



