74 Cooperation in Agriculture 



office, or to one phase or another of a controversial ques- 

 tion. There are also many skillful politicians who en- 

 deavor to secure the support of the farmers' organiza- 

 tions in the interest of either measures or men, and, in 

 the heat of a political campaign the members of an organi- 

 zation, who as individuals are interested in practical 

 politics, often use every effort to secure the indorsement 

 of the association of the measures or men in which they 

 are interested. 



An organization formed by the farmers for industrial 

 purposes should not indorse candidates for office or take 

 part in a movement that is primarily political. There 

 may be public policy questions of an economic nature, 

 such as the tariff, railroad rate legislation, and other legis- 

 lative questions that affect the welfare of the industry, 

 on which it may be advisable for an organization to express 

 its judgment or to take an active part in the shaping of 

 the public policy affecting it. But even on these ques- 

 tions, a farmers' organization formed for industrial pur- 

 poses should be slow to act and should only express it- 

 self when a vital issue is involved. 



There are members in every farmers' organization of 

 widely different shades of political conviction. It is a 

 common practice of the opponents of the cooperative 

 method to endeavor to have an association commit itself 

 on a political question or to indorse a candidate for office 

 in order to create dissension among the members. Any 

 such action on the part of an association is sure to create 

 dissension and in the end to disrupt an organization. 



A cooperative organization that is formed to distribute 

 farm products or to purchase supplies or for any other 



