11 
INDEPENDENCE AMONG FARMERS. 
Too much has been said by way of encouraging a false idea of 
independence among farmers. The farmer is, in the proper 
sense, the most independent of all professions, but until recently 
he has been too independent in the sense that he has refused to re- 
cognize the imperious necessity of combining for his own good. 
Perhaps the most conspicuous feature of all modern business is 
the combination of related interests and of numerous individuals, 
in order to cheapen the cost of production, sale and transporta- 
tion of products; and in order to make it possible to secure a large 
market outlook for the produce of each concern. In this move- 
ment the farmer has lagged behind all other professions, but with- 
in the past few years the establishment of co-operative associa- 
tions among farmers has brought such conspicuous success that 
organization along this line is progressing rapidly. At first co- 
operative movements among farmers were poorly organized and 
their methods were ill-advised. | Such associations, therefore, had 
short and precarious lives and left discouragement in their wake. 
At present, however, these associations for co-operative purposes 
are being established on a business basis with a better understand- 
ing of the purpose of the organization and with more certainty of 
rational management and success. There are now in existence on 
the mainland about 80,000 co-operative associations among farm- 
ers, including a membership of more than three million farmers. 
Nearly every line of agriculture has been organized on a co-opera- 
tive basis and wherever these co-operative organizations have been 
established the best financial success has been accomplished by 
the farmers concerned. 
ADVANTAGES OF THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT. 
The chief advantage of co-operative associations, from a busi- 
ness standpoint, is that it enables the farmer to meet the present 
demands of the trade in agricultural produce in the way in which 
all other lines of industry are carried on. Traffic in fruit and 
vegetables, as well as in other agricultural products, is not carried 
on at present in terms of quarts, dozens, bushels, or even wagon 
loads ; but in crates, tons, car-loads and cargoes. It is obviously 
impossible for one farmer, unless he has control of a large area, 
to furnish any kind of farm produce in quantities which would 
appeal in a business way to dealers or to transportation companies. 
If the farmer has but a few crates or bushels of produce or a 
few dozen eggs to sell, he cannot secure favorable rates in trans 
