ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCERS 97 



the fruit picked by experienced gangs deny that it is proper 

 for the association to determine the quantity to be picked 

 at any given time. This controversy affects much more 

 vitally the framework of the cooperative organizations. It 

 is, in essence, the old controversy between centralization and 

 decentralization. A complete answer to this problem will 

 have to be deferred until the exchange system as a whole 

 has been described, but at this point a few aspects of the 

 controversy are pertinent. First, what are the effects of 

 adopting the method of individual initiative? In this case 

 the association merely exercises the function of an agent: 

 it receives the fruit which is picked at the pleasure of the 

 grower, packs it, and turns it over to the selling agency. 

 No particular marketing policy can be worked out if the 

 gr6wer has complete freedom of delivery. If a half way 

 policy is adopted and the directors have the power to desig- 

 nate pools to which they advise that certain percentages be 

 contributed many growers will take the advice, and a be- 

 ginning can be made toward a marketing policy. Complete 

 independence of the grower is a possibility, and such in- 

 dependence was the common method of procedure during 

 the early days of the cooperative movement. As an ex- 

 ample of the difficulties this system involves, however, it 

 is evident that an association could book few orders for 

 delivery at specified dates, for if members did not happen 

 to bring in fruit at the proper time the orders that had been 

 taken could not be filled. 



When the association controls the movement of fruit the 

 situation is quite different. Now a definite campaign can 

 be mapped out, and the directors can decide in advance, 

 subject to. revision according to the vicissitudes of the sea- 

 son, what fruit shall be shipped, and when and where, so 

 as to obtain the maximum returns for the crop as a whole. 

 Under the individualistic system the sale of a few cars at 



