THE ECONOMIC GAIN OF COOPERATION. 275 



buy from samples which are brought to them. Of course, if 

 for any product there is a hirge demand and small supply, 

 merchants will hunt for it; but I know of no such agricultural 

 product, and if there be one, its producers are not interested in 

 cooperation, which, as has already been said, is seldom under- 

 taken by those who readily find profitable sale for their prod- 

 ucts without it. 



An association of producers, therefore, having collected its 

 product, and pre))ared it for market, has only one thing to do, 

 which is to obtain a list of wholesale customers — of whom 

 there are but a few hundred in the country in any line — 

 advertise their goods, either by circulars or newspapers, and 

 then cause each customer to be regularly and persistently 

 solicited for orders. There is absolutely nothing more to the 

 selling of goods than this. It is, however, a matter of infinite 

 detail, requiring, in any considerable business, the unremitting 

 attention and effort of very capable men, not only to obtain 

 the orders, but to fill them with such promptness and entire 

 honesty as to retain customers wdien secured.* 



The necessary solicitation must be done by one of two 

 classes of men — brokers, or salaried traveling agents. Brokers 

 are men usually of some standing and responsibility, not 

 usually — but sometimes — having a " store," f but living by 

 the sale of commodities to merchants for a commission usually 

 paid by the seller. Of course, brokers are often employed to 

 buy goods, in which case they act for the buyer, and are paid 

 by him, and have regard to his interests only; while the broker 

 paid by the seller is bound mainly to consider his interests, 

 although, as a matter of fact, since his income depends upon 

 actual sales made, his tendency, from various causes, in case 

 of disagreement as to price, is rather to induce sellers to lower 



*For the benefit of cooperative societies, I will say that they will have little 

 trouble in finding managers who know how to do these things, but there will 

 be very great trouble indeed in finding those who will actually do them. 

 Attention to detail, not knowledge of principles, is the test of the business 

 man, and it is this labor which breaks men down. 



t A broker with a "store" is a commission merchant. The two classes 

 merge into each other. 



