14 Cooperation in Agriculture 



industrialize agriculture to the extent that the secondary 

 industries have been industrialized. The fundamental 

 aim of the farm, as ably emphasized by Dr. Carver in 

 his " Principles of Rural Social Life," is to establish an 

 estate where a vigorous family can be developed and per- 

 petuated. The farm is not primarily a money-making 

 unit. It must furnish an income sufficient to enable the 

 family to enjoy a social life and to have enough for intel- 

 lectual and aesthetic pleasure, but the operations of the 

 farm and the business connected with it must be cen- 

 tered around and be made a part of the family develop- 

 ment. Any movement that through over-commercializa- 

 tion of the farm weakens the building of the home as the 

 fundamental aim is unsound and in the end will prove a 

 loss to the strength and to the best traditions of country 

 life. 



How far then can the farmer go in organizing agriculture 

 along modern industrial lines? To what extent does 

 agriculture lend itself to business organization? What 

 are the principles of organization best suited to agricul- 

 tural industries? Which are the agricultural industries 

 that are capable of organization? What are the facts 

 that have caused some of the agricultural organizations 

 to succeed, and what are the rocks on which most of them 

 in the past have been wrecked ? How can the methods 

 of marketing, the problems of cooperation, and rural public 

 policy questions be handled in relation to the farmers 

 as a class? These are some of the questions that the 

 farmers all over the country are asking at the present time. 

 They are problems which students of rural economics 

 are considering, which public men are discussing widely, 



