148 Cooperation in Agriculture 



to turn out a product of good average grade. The co- 

 operative creamery has the highest quality of butter-fat 

 to work with and may spoil it through unskillful manipula- 

 tion. The centralizer employs the highest class of butter- 

 makers and depends on them to overcome the disadvan- 

 tage of a comparatively lower grade of raw material. 



A Business System for Cooperative Creameries 



If the cooperative creamery is to hold its own in the 

 future, it will need to improve business methods in the 

 organization of the creameries, in the equipment of the 

 factories, in the economies in manufacture, in the purchase 

 of supplies, and in the development of a system of dis- 

 tribution and sale of the butter. In no other way can 

 it exist permanently as an important factor in the develop- 

 ment of the American dairy industry. There are many 

 local creameries in the dairy states that can always meet 

 competition with the superior grade of butter that they 

 manufacture, but, as a national movement, the farmers' 

 creamery will need to readjust the methods of handling 

 the business side of the dairy industry, or else the handling 

 of the dairy products will pass into the control of the cor- 

 porations that are formed primarily to make a profit 

 on the dairymen's product rather than to develop a vigor- 

 ous, healthy dairy industry. 



The average cooperative creamery cannot reorganize 

 along these lines. The volume of business transacted by 

 each is too small to warrant extensive reorganization. 

 These creameries are in a similar condition to the apple- 

 growers' associations of the Northwestern states. There 

 are many of these small associations, each of which acts 



