92 
sale of all sorts of agricultural products, but also to the pur- 
chase of necessities for farm use. Numerous cooperative 
stores have ,been established under the ownership of farmers 
for purchasing and distributing fertilizer, farm machinery, 
furniture, seeds and other necessities of the farm. A cooper- 
ative woolen mill is in operation in New Mexico, where 
2,000,000 pounds of wool are annually manufactured into 
clothing and the clothes are sold to members of the coopera- 
tive society at somewhat less than one-half the commercial 
price for clothes of similar quality. Cooperative banks, in- 
surance companies and telephone companies have been estab- 
lished by farmers and have given excellent satisfaction, to- 
gether with great economv. There are hundreds of coopera- 
tive telephone companies throughout the mainland which fur- 
nished unlimited service within a radius of fifty miles for from 
$v3.00 to $10.00 per year to each member. 
Enough experience has been had with cooperation among 
farmers to demonstrate conclusively that any farm enterprise 
and any necessity of the farm may be successfully managed 
in a cooperative way. In succeeding articles I propose to 
give a few examples of how -cooperation has bten put in oper- 
ation among farmers. Perhaps the first objection that will be 
made to any plan of cooperation inHawaii is the difficulty of 
organizing a workable plan. This difficulty rests primarily 
on the diversity of race among our small farming population. 
The difficulty is sufficiently obvious to every one, but the reply 
must be overcome before any great progress can be made in 
the marketing of farm produce. 
Article VII. 
As an example of what may be accom-plished among a farm- 
ing community of ordinary intelligence and business ability 
it may be well to mention the little rural town of Ruthven, 
Iowa. In the countryside about this town there are five co- 
operative societies which have passed the experimental stage 
and are thoroughly established financially and in the minds 
of the people. A local telephone plant Avas bought by the 
farmers and established upon a cooperative basis. Within 
two years 270 instruments were put in operation and the cost 
for unlimited ser\dce is noAv $7 a year, as compared Avith $18 
a year before the cocperatiA^e plan Avas adopted. No farmer 
AAdio has produce to sell can afford to be Avithout the means 
furnished by a telephone for putting him in communication 
Avith the market, so long as telephone serAuce can be obtained 
at such a remarkably cheap rate. 
A cooperatiA^e creamery, company Avas organized among the 
farmers the folloAving year, and in addition to paying a higher 
