Voi.. LXX. No. 4119. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 7, 1911. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
CO-OPERATION AMONG FARMERS. 
America the Field for It. 
MACHINERY MAKES CO-OPERATION NEC¬ 
ESSARY.—Cooperation or working together has been 
the most striking development in the last SO years. It 
was made possible by the development of machinery; 
not only made possible but made necessary. One in¬ 
dividual alone could not run a railroad nor own it, 
nor could one person run a factory or a telegraph 
line. To make use of steam in transportation and 
manufacture the company developed, then the corpo¬ 
ration or a body of men working together for their 
mutual benefit. Industries that could be readily 
worked up by the corporation, as mining, manufac¬ 
turing, transportation and merchandising, have made 
rapid progress. The necessary experts could be en¬ 
gaged, the size of the 
business being such 
that a little saving 
would mean more than 
the expert’s salary. In 
a small business this 
would not have been the 
case. In this way all 
parts of the business 
from the management 
of the laborer to the 
selling of the product 
have been carried on in 
the most progressive 
way. 
WHY FARMERS 
DID NOT CO-OPER¬ 
ATE.—The greatest in¬ 
dustry of all, the farm, 
did not lend itself to be¬ 
ing worked by the corpo¬ 
ration. Being worked 
on the small scale, there 
was not the same incen¬ 
tive to bring in the best 
methods. In fact many 
thought that they knew 
it all even if they had 
not been on a farm. 
That is in a measure 
changing now, as the 
price of products and 
land is higher, and as the 
soil is less productive. 
The National Govern¬ 
ment has in a measure 
supplied the farmer with 
experts in the staff of the experiment stations. This 
has gone a good way to helping the farmers, but 
has by no means solved the problem. When the 
manufacturer wants expert service he does not mere¬ 
ly send for a report of the expert. He actually wants 
him on the job, and that is even more true in farm¬ 
ing, as each individual farm has its differences in 
soil, in contour and in previous management. Den¬ 
mark solved the problem by detailing an expert to 
a certain territory, who went from farm to farm, 
giving personal advice and instruction in regard to 
producing and marketing. The result has been that 
in 30 years Denmark has risen from a country un¬ 
known to the agricultural world to the front rank 
for quantity and quality of its agricultural products. 
America is pre-eminently the land of cooperation, 
only it has not extended to the farms. The work 
on the farm is done in a more crude way than in any 
of the other industries, the impression being that 
anyone can farm. So our young man starts out, gets 
land cheap, full of its virgin fertility, raises crops, 
gets what he can for them, and if the income is no.t 
sufficient, why economize down to it, longer hours 
of work, fewer necessities and luxuries. 
WITAT CAN BE DONE.—The problem can be 
tackled from two standpoints, production and mar¬ 
keting, or both together. A good example of the 
former is at New Salem, N. Dak. The U. S. Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture wanted to start a breeding cir¬ 
cuit with the aim of developing a strain of dairy 
cattle that would be better adapted to Northwestern 
conditions than those in existence. So cooperating 
with the North Dakota Experiment Station New 
Salem was selected. Some of the farmers had Hol- 
steins and others bought them, till there were 15 
farmers keeping Holsteins. They organized the 
North Dakota Holstein Breeders’ Circuit. The U. 
S. Department of Agriculture and the North Dakota 
Experiment Station together hired a well-trained man 
to go from farm to farm training the farmers in 
keeping records and instructing them in the feeding, 
breeding and care of their stock. In three years this 
has become one of the most progressive and well-to- 
do communities in the State. Last year, 1910, when 
the drought took all the crops, these New Salem 
farmers did not notice much difference in their cream 
checks. Thii year eight of these 15 farmers put up 
silos, a larger number than is to be found in any other 
locality in the State. They also secured the silos at 
a much lower price and saved in freight. 
OWNERSHIP OF MACHINERY.—At Ruso, N. 
Dak., 10 farmers own a traction engine and thrash¬ 
ing outfit. They not only do their own thrashing, but 
have an engine gang plow, so that when the engine 
is not in use running the separator it is used for 
plowing or other heavy farm work. These farmers 
also buy their farm machinery together and effect 
quite a saving in this way. There are over 200 far¬ 
mers’ elevators in the State working on two plans. 
The Equity Elevators pay a certain per cent on the 
stock and the other profits are pro rated among those 
who bring grain. The other plan is that the stock¬ 
holders take all the profits. Stores are also operated 
on these two plans. In those run on the equity plan 
the stockholders get a certain per cent on the stock 
they hold, the rest of the profits are pro rated among 
the patrons of the store. Then there are telephone 
lines, insurance companies and creameries that are 
owned and run by farmers’ cooperations, but essen¬ 
tially on the plans outlined above. These different 
ways of cooperating can be combined in one com¬ 
munity or worked separately. The necessity of the 
expert is very evident. 
The National Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture 
has been working along 
this line in the South, 
and plans on working in 
the North, too. Their 
agent, however, will have 
too large a territory, so 
that the State will need 
to make some provision 
along this line. The far¬ 
mer should perhaps 
make some payment, too, 
toward the expenses of 
the expert. 
THE CO-OPERA¬ 
TIVE OWNERSHIP 
OF MACHINERY is 
going to be an important 
feature in the future. 
Much of the heavy farm 
work can be done cheaper 
with a power tractor 
than with horses, yet the 
size o£ the farm will 
likely not be large 
enough to warrant the 
use of a power tractor 
on just one farm. One 
automobile could like¬ 
wise do service for sev¬ 
eral farms. Then who 
knows what improve¬ 
ments in machinery the 
future has in store? 
They will likely be of 
such size as to be most economical on the large tract 
of land. The cooperative selling and buying when, 
done on the Rockdale or Equity plan, the patron shar¬ 
ing the profits pro rata, gives the farmer the profits 
that would otherwise go to middlemen. 
THE DIFFICULTIES.—Nothing has been said 
about the tremendous difficulties to be overcome; the 
prejudices, the jealousies, the distrust of neighbors. 
These will yield slowly, but they must be controlled. 
The man who cannot work with his neighbor has not 
much chance in the business world, nor will he in 
farming in the near future. Education, papers, tele¬ 
phones, good roads, railroads, trolley lines and the 
auto, in bringing us into closer contact with our neigh¬ 
bors, are paving the way for cooperation in the produc¬ 
tion and marketing of farm crops. Each locality has 
its own problems, which can only be solved by those 
immediately concerned, who know the difficulties in the 
way. w. c. PALMER. 
North Dakota. 
