MONMOUTH COUNTY FARMERS’ EXCHANGE 
How a New Jersey County Organized. 
Part II. 
A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.—Our county is one 
of the largest producing sections for potatoes in the 
State. Under normal conditions, the output would 
probably be about 3,500 to 4,000 cars of white po¬ 
tatoes, possibly more. With this field of operations 
open to him why should not the farmer organize an 
exchange and market his own produce, buy his seed 
potatoes as well as grass seed, Paris green, baskets, 
barrels, and manufacture his own fertilizers, when he 
can do it at cost? In fact, why should he not be 
his own middleman, and save the expense entailed by 
the old system? As I have stated, our exchange was 
organized to take advantage of the situation as it 
lay before us, to operate for the entire benefit of the 
farmer, and to reach out in every part of our terri¬ 
tory and help every other fellow who would come in 
with us to reap the advantages we enjoyed. With a 
membership of 300 in 
1908 to-day our stock¬ 
holders number 1,075. 
Our paid-in capital at 
the beginning was $7,000, 
to-day it is $74,350. The 
par value of our stock is 
$5 per share; to-day it 
cannot be bought for 
less than $7 per share, 
and is limited to one 
share to new members 
only. What a power 
there ought to be with 
this number of intelli¬ 
gent farmers working to¬ 
gether for the better¬ 
ment of each other! By 
standing by their organ¬ 
ization they can have 
anything they want that 
is right for them to 
have. Talk about the 
poor farmer in New Jer¬ 
sey no longer; he is 
coming to his own. The 
mortgage has been paid, 
and he brings his family 
into town no more in the 
“one-horse shay,” but 
rather do you hear the honk of his horn, bidding you 
step aside and let him pass, for he will not take the 
dust of the road any longer. 
A FIVE PER CENT. GAIN.—The farmers of this 
country produce $9,000,000,000 worth of goods per 
year. Why should not the greater part of these be 
marketed by organizations controlled by the farmers 
and thereby reduce the expense to a minimum? Sup¬ 
pose by organization we could succeed in reducing the 
cost of marketing the immense crop by only five per 
cent.; this would be a saving of $450,000,000 per 
year. It would be worth looking after, would it not? 
DETAILS OF MANAGEMENT.—We have a 
board of 15 directors elected by the stockholders an¬ 
nually, one director for each loading station. These 
directors appoint the officers and have general super¬ 
vision over the entire business. Our general office 
is in the center of the town of Freehold, Monmouth 
County, N. J. Our loading stations extend 30 miles 
west along the Pennsylvania Railroad and 20 miles 
east on the Central Railroad of New Jersey. We are 
connected with all of our stations by telephone, as 
well as all cities and towns in the country by long 
distance telephone and Western Union and Postal 
Telegraph companies. During the heavy shipping sea¬ 
sons we have a special office of the Western Union 
Telegraph Company located in our general office. 
Thus the manager is in direct communication with all 
parts of the country and with all of our agents and 
inspectors at every loading station, of which we have 
25, additions in prospect of three or four more the 
coming season. The members deliver their potatoes 
or other products to our agent at the stations and re¬ 
ceive a receipt for them and they are loaded into 
the cars for shipment. The agent about three o'clock 
in the afternoon notifies the manager the number of 
cars he is likely to have loaded by shipping time 
which is about five o’clock in our territory. 
HOW IT WORKS.—The general manager and his 
assistant in the meantime have issued their quotations 
to all of our salesmen in the principal cities, either by 
telephone or telegraph, and generally by three o'clock 
the output of the day has been sold. On a steady 
market orders continue to come until the day closes. 
shipments were about 1,200 cars containing 241,731 
packages of potatoes, fruit and vegetables, an increase 
of 37,792 packages. Our seed potato sales were 
larger than 1908, and our fertilizer was about $30,000. 
Our membership had increased to 500, and the capi¬ 
tal stock was now $31,275 and the net profits 
amounted to $6,702.53. A dividend of five per cent 
was paid. It is estimated that our members realized 
at least $60,000 more for their products because of the 
influence of the exchange. During the year 1910 we 
shipped 485,488 packages, about 2,575 cars, more than 
twice as many as the year before, and 39,818 more 
than 1908 and 1909 combined. Our total sales were 
$917,562.64. We handled 20,000 barrels of seed po¬ 
tatoes, an increase of 7,000 barrels, and paid our 
members an average of 49 cents per bushel for their 
potatoes the season through. Our fertilizer sales 
were 2,200 tons, valued at about $63,000, an increase 
of 800 tons, all mixed in our factories from the best 
materials that can be bought, and without a pound 
of filler of any kind. Our members, besides getting 
goods of the highest 
quality, obtain them at a 
saving of two to five 
dollars per ton. Our 
membership increased tc 
800 and the capital stock 
to $39,370. The net prof¬ 
its were $12,552.15. A 
dividend of five per cent 
was declared. The di¬ 
rect and indirect influ¬ 
ence of the exchange nc 
doubt netted our mem¬ 
bership at least one hun¬ 
dred thousand dollars 
more than they would 
have received without it. 
Our shipments for the 
year 1911 were about 
2,518 carloads, contain¬ 
ing 487,280 packages, an 
increase of 1,792, not¬ 
withstanding our potato 
yield was about 20 per 
cent less than 1910. In 
addition our sales of fer¬ 
tilizers were 3,233 tons, 
valued at $100,000, an 
increase of 1,233 tons. 
Our seed potato business 
Frequently the past season we had from 25 to 40 was about 7,000 barrels, valued at $85,000, an increase 
carloads ordered beyond our supply and, of course, of 7,000 barrels over the previous year. Our total 
these had to be shipped the following day. Then the business was $1,499,500.99, exceeding 1910 by $581,- 
business is over for the day, the prices obtained are 938.35, and 1908, our first year, by $1,045,086.88. The 
averaged, and the farmer credited with the average average price'paid the farmer for his potatoes, in¬ 
price for the same grade afid variety of stock, no mat- eluding round and long stock, was 89 cents per bushel, 
ter where he may reside. Bills of lading are sent to The estimated extra amount received by the farmers 
the general office so that the invoices and drafts may on account of the influence of the exchange was $125,- 
be sent out the same night. The detailed reports of 000. The membership increased the last year 245, and 
each station reach the office the next day, when ship- we have now 1,045 stockholders. The capital stock 
ments are verified and the farmer is credited for his has reached a total of $74,245, an increase of $24,915. 
goods. The price is given to each agent every morn- < A dividend of five per cent was paid on January 1. 
ing for the goods shipped the day before, and the ; The net profits were $17,469.51. The condition of our 
agent notifies the farmers. - i exchange to-day is as follows: 
SOME GREAT RESULTS'—Beginning with a Capital stock.•„. $74,245.00 
MISS OAKS 255,555 A.J.C.C., FROM THE JONES JERSEY FARM. Fig. 205. 
Surplus . 16,831.47 
Undivided profits . 7,612.75 
capital of $7,000 and a membership of 350 in July, 
1908, our first year’s business amounted to $454,414.11. 
We shipped 1,000 cars containing 203,939 barrels of 
potatoes and packages of fruit and vegetables. Our $98,689.22 
seed potato sales amounted to $39,965.45. It was We have a building and a set of wagon scales at 
estimated that we saved to our members about $55,- 20 of our loading stations, and three large fertilizer 
000 in that year. Our second year’s business was warehouses with about 18,000 square feet of floor 
$508,504.74, an increase of $54,140.63 over 1908. The space situated in such a way that almost all of the 
