CONFERENCE ON CO-OPERATION 



77 



and forming a co-operative association, which we did. We think 

 that we have accompUshed a good deal along that line for the first 

 year that we have been in business. We took up the canning factory 

 end of it — growing tomatoes for canneries. By forming the associa- 

 tion, we were able to get an advance of one dollar per ton on toma- 

 toes the very first thing, and very much better treatment also. 

 The old contracts which the factory men had always offered to 

 us as individuals were considered very unfair. At times it was 

 almost impossible to grow a crop for the canners under the con- 

 tract which they offered the individual grower and make any money. 

 We brought about a good change there. One thing we have done 

 besides getting a better contract is in receiving earlier payment. 

 The factories never paid before the fourth of December, and we 

 are now able to get payment the fifteenth of September. We have 

 better treatment also with reference to packages and the delivery 

 of goods. Formerly, many of our growers were held up for hours 

 waiting to unload their tomatoes. 



Our Association is growing very fast. We have taken in one 

 hundred and fifty new members within the last thirty days. They 

 have come to realize that it is a good thing. They can see the benefits. 

 We have also been of great help to them in buying, as well as selling. 

 On mixed fertilizers we were able to save from four to seven dollars 

 a ton, and from three to four on chemicals. 



One thing we did last summer was in the red raspberry deal. 

 As handled in our country, it is every man for himself, shipping hap- 

 hazard to nearby markets, which become glutted, and the growers 

 have to take little or nothing for their berries. Upon my becoming 

 Secretary and Treasurer of the Association, I got in touch with 

 some of the larger markets of the country, and also with a goodly 

 number of our best retailers in nearby markets. Also, I was able 

 to get hold of men who would buy those berries in carload lots for 

 fruit juice purposes. I will say that we got the highest price that 

 was ever paid for red raspberries in carload lots, as high as thirteen 

 cents a quart, and we sold one car at fourteen, f. o. b. our loading 

 stations, the buyer paying for icing and other expenses and return- 

 ing crates. That made us a very good outlet, and I was able to sell 

 all the berries I could get hold of. It also made the price for the 

 retailer, for the home ma.^ket, and for the nearby markets. Our 

 markets within a hundred miles would wire for berries. Back would 

 go a wire, "Selling today thirteen cents,'* and while there was a 



