i March y 1931 



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THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Seventeen 



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"Organize to Get What 

 ^ — You Want," Says Grimes 



Tells Story of Co-Operation Among 

 Independent Grocers 



CHAIN organizations which mobil- 

 ized the buying power of millions 

 of people have changed the farmers' 

 market from a seller's to a buyer's mar- 

 ket, J. Frank Grimes, Chicago, presi- 

 dent of the Independent Grocers' Alli- 

 ance of America, said in addressing the 

 annual meeting of the I. A. A. at 

 Springfield, Friday morning, January 

 30. Mr. Grimes spoke before a ca- 

 pacity audience of close to 1,000 people 

 in the Majestic Theatre. •:'•/:;*"■;.:: 



"The unorganized group is an easy 

 victim to organized business," he said. 

 "The only way the farmer or the small 

 business man can meet modern condi- 

 tions is through powerful organization. 

 Through organization alone you can 

 demand and get a fair price for your 

 products." 



Mr. Grimes pointed out that the 

 large chain organizations are constantly 

 hammering down prices and wages. "I 

 wonder if it is a coincidence," he said, 

 "that the agricultural depression with 

 low farm prices came simultaneously 

 with the growth of chain stores. Profit 

 in the rural community is necessary if 

 it is to grow, and profit is being taken 

 from rural communities to the big 

 cities through chain organizations. Our 

 organization," he continued, "has 

 adopted a policy of co-operating with 

 producers' organizations. 



Less Food Consumed 



Mr. Grimes spoke of the changing 

 trends in food consumption, called at- 

 tention to the fact that many luxuries 

 such as automobiles, radios, as well as 

 college educations for children com- 

 pete with food in the family budget. 

 He stated that the housewife of today 

 is the cleverest shopper the world has 

 ever seen, that women save on the food 

 bill that they may have more money to 

 spend for other things. He presented 

 figures showing that average consump- 

 tion of fof^d is declining because of the 

 slim f ;urr fad followed by many 

 womcr, the d.'sire aroused for luxuries 

 thrjiigh advertising, less food required 

 by workers because machinery is doing 

 much of the heavy work formerly done 

 by men. 



"One chain organization boasted 

 that it saved $3 50,000,000 to consum- 

 ers in one year," he said. "But at the 

 same time it took $3 50,000,000 from 

 the income of the producer and $300,- 

 000,000 more from employees and 

 workers by constantly pounding down 

 prices to the grower and wages to the 

 employee. 



I. A. A. SHIRLD AT URBANA 



Karl Adams of Moweaqua, Shelby 

 county, was the high man on the Illi- 

 nois livestock judging team in the last 

 college judging contest at the Interna- 

 tional Livestock Exposition, Chicago. 



Adams will have his name inscribed 

 on the shield donated by the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association which hangs 

 in the New Agricultural building in 

 Urbana. 



Twenty-three teams competed in the 

 contest. Illinois placed 10th. The name 

 of the high man on each Illinois team 

 will be placed on the shield annually. 



"Farmers need a powerful organiza- 

 tion to advertise their efficiency, to 

 demand for the grower a fair share of 

 the national income. You can get any- 

 thing you want," he continued, "if you 

 organize right to get it. 



"Probably the greatest difficulty that 

 confronts independent business, and co- 

 operation among farmers' local business 

 associations, is the peculiar individual- 

 istic ideas and ideals that have devel- 

 oped around the individual business," 

 he said. "Men who own tbeir own 

 small business somehow seem to inher- 

 ently resent taking suggestions and fol- 

 lowing the example of anyone else. 

 How often we hear the statement made 

 by an individual: 'I own my own busi- 

 ness and I am going to run it to suit 

 myself. If I go broke it's nobody's 

 business but my own.' And it is be- 

 cause of these impractical and peculiar 

 ideas that the independent businesses of 

 this country have failed to use the 

 enormous power that lies within their 

 very grasp. • 



. Not Good Business 



"It is only within the last four or 

 five years that definite steps have been 

 taken toward harnessing this power and 

 combining together great numbers of 

 individuals to do things that could not 



possibly be done by the individual 

 working alone. The agitation looking 

 to the organization of independents in _^ 

 business is at last beginning to have its 

 affect. Men are beginning to see that 

 it is not good business to be so inde- 

 pendent in their own thought that they 

 refuse to co-operate with their fellow 

 men and go down into bankruptcy and 

 oblivion as far as their business is con- 

 cerned. They are now beginning to 

 learn that it is far better to co-operate 

 with others within their industry there- 

 by harnessing its power, bringing to 

 themselves greater advantages, perpetu- 

 ating their own business, and produc- 

 ing greater net profit. 



"It is this unused power of the in- - 

 dependent in business that is at last be- 

 ginning to awaken consciousness of the 

 enormous possibility that lies within / 

 their hands if they will utilize it. 



"I am very happy to state that in 

 the grocery business this awakening 

 has taken on definite shape and at last 

 the grocers of this country who have 

 been considered the weakest type of in- 

 dependent are now enjoying benefits 

 and advantages equal or surpassing that 

 of their great powerful competitors. 

 They have awakened to what they can 

 do when they play ball together. 



^'■"'■■■' Had a Weakness 



"For years efforts were made to bring 

 them together and harness this power. 

 Associations were formed. Various buy- 

 ing exchanges and advertising clubs ; 



came into being, all of which had one 

 fundamental unsolvable weakness. They : 

 lacked directing organization powerful • 

 enough to draw to itself keen minds, 

 the finest talent, best brains, and to 

 evolve a program complete in every de- : 

 tail that would match or excel that ^ 

 of the strongest competition. 



"In the grocery business disaster 

 seemed to be overtaking the independ- 

 ent. This new competition which 

 puzzled the independent began to get 

 stronger and stronger. Its growth was 

 very rapid. Its success was staggering. 

 The profits it made drew unlimited 

 financial support. It expanded with 

 great rapidity and completely over- 

 whelmed the individual. It looked as 

 though, as far as the grocery business 

 was concerned, any fight the independ- 

 ent put up would be hopeless and use- 

 less. 



"About four and one-half years ago, 

 after-much experimenting and after re- 

 peated failure, there came into being — 

 what is now known as the Independent 

 Grocers' Alliance of America (I. G. 

 A.). In the early experimental days 



the grave mistake was made of leaving 



to the individual retailer and whole- 

 saler the complete execution of what- \ 

 ever plans were formulated. :■; ; :':V ^ii- 



