July, 1910.] 



59 



and Co-operation. 



dealers to receive shipments of corn on 

 the same day, and the dealers are ex- 

 pected to pay whatever price they can 

 from the standpoint of their own profits 

 in the business. The growers appear to 

 assume that if their corn shipments are 

 divided among a number of dealeis a 

 competition in price will thus be accom- 

 plished, so that they will, therefore, 

 receive a higher price than otherwise for 

 their corn. As a matter of fact, this 

 manner of marketing brings about 

 exactly opposite effects. Each dealer, 

 in determining the price which he can 

 pay for corn, must first stop to consider 

 whether some other dealer is not paying 

 less and will therefore be in a position 

 to undersell him to the trade. Com- 

 petition is, therefore, downward, rather 

 than upward, since the dealers naturally 

 cannot take a chance of paying more 

 than some other dealer has paid. It is 

 only too evident that many growers fail 

 to recognize the fact that the dealer sells 

 on a margin, and is, therefore, not so 

 much concerned with the actual price 

 which he must pay for his produce, pro- 

 vided all dealers have to pay the same 

 price. So long, however, as one dealer 

 is not in a position to know what another 

 dealer has paid for a given product on a 

 given day, he will naturally offer a price 

 low enough in his opinion to meet the 

 price of other dealers. This unsatis- 

 factory condition could only be met by 

 shipping all of the corn to one place and 

 obtain, by auction or some other method 

 of sale, a uniform price. Under those 

 conditions dealers would gladly pay 

 more than they now do, for the reason 

 that a margin on a higher price yields 

 somewhat larger profits than the same 

 margin on a lower price. 



Article III. 

 An interview with a commission man 

 who ships considerable quantities of our 

 rice to the mainland disclosed the fact 

 that the rice growers are losing a part of 

 their profit on account of carelessness in 

 milling and grading their rice, and on 

 account of the lack of organization, and, 

 therefore, a lack of mutual understand- 

 ing as to standard qualities of rice requir- 

 ed by the market. The commission man 

 in order to make a sale of rice to the 

 mainland, must furnish small samples 

 upon which he receives quotations from 

 prospective buyers. A shipment of rice 

 made on such quotations must, obviously, 

 correspond in quality to the samples, 

 otherwise the agreed price will not be 

 paid, and embarrassment is experienced 

 by all parties concerned. 



Complaints have frequently been made 

 that too much cracked grain and im- 



perfect kernels are allowed to remain in 

 the milled rice. This lowers the value 

 of the whole product, and a correspond- 

 ing loss is experienced by the producer. 

 It is, unfortunately, sometimes assumed 

 by the producer that a small quantity of 

 cracked grains left in the milled rice 

 will not be noticed by the buyer, and 

 that the producer will thus be so far 

 ahead in the business deal. 



In plain English, this is an attempt at 

 deception and is invariably detected. 

 It is impossible to deceive expert 

 buyers as to the quality of goods 

 furnished, and since no firm will remitthe 

 agreed price upon a product which does 

 not come up to the sample in quality, it 

 is obviously necessary to be strictly 

 honest in this regard. 



It is a lamentable fact that so many 

 farmers have disregarded this point and 

 have believed that it was possible to 

 allow the quality of their product to 

 deteriorate without fear of detection on 

 the part of the buyer. This practice 

 works only to the harm of the farmer, 

 A product must meet the standard of 

 the sample submitted and must be uni- 

 form in quality, otherwise a loss is 

 experienced. The cracked grains and 

 boreenings, if removed as completely as 

 possible, would still be saleable, although 

 at a lower price. The remainder of the 

 milled rice, in first-class condition, would 

 then bring the prevailing market price 

 for a high grade product. 



The commission man in question 

 assured me that a loss of fifty cents per 

 hundred pounds is experienced by the 

 rice growers in shipping the rice to the 

 mainland, on account of a lack of organi- 

 zation and carelessness in grading the 

 rice. In some instances, this sum of 

 fifty cents would mean all the difference 

 between a profit and loss to the grower. 

 The matter has been submitted to the 

 rice growers, and some of them under- 

 stand the importance of it, and have 

 attempted to meet the demands of the 

 trade. Unfortunately, however, others 

 have neglected to do so, and this brings 

 about a lack of uniformity in the total 

 milled rice product. Continually objec- 

 tions are, therefore, made by the trade 

 on the mainland, and the price offered is 

 sufficiently low to make good the loss 

 which the dealer would experience in 

 handling an ununiform product. 



I have been assured that if the rice 

 growers of the Islands would form an 

 organization and make a determined 

 effort to furnish certain uniform quali- 

 ties of rice, that the commission men 

 would be willing to advance at once 

 75 per cent, of the value of the rice, So 



