8 COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



enabled business men so successfully to combine for com- 

 mon undertakings. Business men unite to overcome the 

 larger obstacles which confront them; farmers still try to 

 meet their problems single handed. Business methods make 

 possible the Pennsylvania Railroad and the United States 

 Steel Corporation; the methods of farmers engender in- 

 efficiency and stagnation. 



Essentials for a successful plan in simplifying the market- 

 ing situation are : ( i ) it must not be based on self-interest 

 alone; (2) it must not expect unduly to alter long estab- 

 lished customs; (3) it must be based on principles of effi- 

 ciency, involving some sort of concerted action on the part 

 of producers. 



Cooperative marketing to a large extent is in harmony 

 with these three principles. A properly managed coopera- 

 tive association can make a powerful appeal to a producer's 

 self-interest. He can be shown that if a large enough pro- 

 portion of producers consent to work together the possi- 

 bilities for gain are greater when he unites his efforts with 

 those of others than when he operates independently. In 

 addition he is offered the opportunity of becoming a part 

 of a social organization. This aspect of cooperation is 

 often neglected, but students of society agree that a man 

 inherently desires to belong to some kind of social group, 

 a club, a college, a lodge, a grange or a trade union. He 

 can be made to feel that he is an essential part of something 

 larger than himself. Thus loyalty is engendered, toleration 

 fostered and breadth of view developed. 



Neither does cooperative marketing depend for its suc- 

 cess on changing the habits of consumers. It recognizes 

 that the ordinary purchaser of food will continue indefi- 

 nitely to send in an order or go to the corner grocery to 

 procure daily supplies, even though it may be incontro- 

 yertibly demonstrated that economies might be effected by 



