74 



CONFERENCE ON CO-OPERATION 



Housewives' League, were members. They started such organiza- 

 tion work. They found, however, that there was no law in the 

 Stiate of New York for incorporating co-operative organizations 

 that just fitted. By the advice of attorneys, they discontinued 

 the active organization, and they had introduced in the Legisla- 

 ture a bill which should provide proper methods of organization. 

 I think that bill will pass. A hearing was held recently, and there 

 was no opposition. 



Wherever we go, we find this same feeling of unrest so far as 

 the marketing end of our industry is concerned, and when I say 

 "our industry," I mean horticulture in general. No matter how 

 large the crop, the price for the consumer is maintained at the same 

 level. You can readily see the result. If you double the crop, 

 that crop becomes congested as it is shipped to the consuming 

 centers, and the price is lowered accordingly, but the advantage 

 that is gained from that lowering of the price is felt only by the 

 people who are purchasing at wholesale. Instead of lowering the 

 retail price to the same proportionate level and giving the con- 

 sumer the benefit, and opening up a larger channel, the same outlet 

 is maintained because the same price is maintained. That is the 

 reason why we see no difference. When you get a large crop, there 

 is no easier outlet. Hundreds of thousands of people in our large 

 centers never taste of the products that you grow. It seems strange 

 that in our large centers women and children and others who are 

 created so that they really require those things for their health and 

 their best development are denied them because of the avarice of 

 the middleman who steps in, and says, "I must have this price!" 

 The statement was made at the Board of Trade rooms that sixty 

 carloads of melons perished in the big Pennsylvania yards last 

 year because there could be no disposition made of them — yet 

 watermelons sold on the same level in New York right through the 

 season. 



In Boston I found this condition prevailing. This is in one of 

 the great greenhouse sections of the United States. Their glass 

 houses were full of beautiful head lettuce. They had hard work 

 to dispose of it, and lettuce was selling in Boston for eight to ten 

 cents a head. Those people are just as anxious for something to 

 relieve this situation as any of us are. I want to hear what others 

 have to say for their respective localities. 



