Vol. J.XIX. No. 4034. NEW \ORK. FEBRUARY 19, 1910. weekly, Ji.oo per year 1 
DAIRYMEN’S PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION. 
How It Was Done in Oswego County, N. Y. 
In the Autumn of 1907, when returning from de¬ 
livering their milk to the local plants of the Mutual 
Milk & Cream Co. and the Selkirk Co., two farmers 
met in the road and began discussing the milk situa¬ 
tion. One had been reading of the Kentucky To¬ 
bacco Growers’ Association and of various organiza¬ 
tions of farmers in different parts of the United 
States, and asked the other whether, in view of the 
fact that farmers had been brought together in other 
places where they were interested in 
gr wing one crop, he thought it feasible 
to unite the farmers about Pulaski on 
the milk question. The answer was that 
he thought favorably of the idea. It 
was suggested that it was an opportune 
time, inasmuch as the farmers were mad 
to a white heat over the fact that one 
of the local plants had given out prices 
for a term of several months and then 
had cut them 10 cents per 100 pounds. 
There was nothing else to do but to 
take the milk to these plants, as the 1 
fanners had been led to believe that 
the coming into the locality of the big 
milk concerns of New York City would 
be a great boon to them, and they had 
deserted the cheese factories and let 
them go down. 
A call was made in the local paper 
for a meeting «f the dairymen who pat¬ 
ronized the two local plants of the 
Mutual and Selkirk companies, and the 
response was almost unanimous. Prac¬ 
tically every dairyman for miles around 
was present at this first meeting. There 
are two ways to get the farmers out. 
One is to get them mad over something 
like cutting prices or going back on 
an agreement, and the other is to serve 
a good dinner. Well, the farmers came- 
to this meeting and were ready for al¬ 
most anything. One of the two men who 
were originally interested in the move¬ 
ment, called the meeting together, and 
Mr. S. C. Huntington, a lawyer who is 
one of the heaviest farm owners in this 
locality, was selected as chairman, and 
the writer as secretary. It was the 
mind of almost every farmer present 
to form an association whose object 
should be to control the milk of every 
farmer who joined it, acting just as an 
individual would act. There was dan¬ 
ger of a milk trust, but Mr. Hunting- 
t n suggested that such a course was 
dangerous and was liable to bring us 
into trouble with the anti-trust laws. 
200 shares at $.7 each. Since then it has required 
more capital, and. has been increased to $3,000, and 
shortly will be further increased, as the demands of 
more business require it. 
Before the association was finally incorporated it 
had business to do, and the directors pledged them¬ 
selves individually to share in the payment of material 
and equipment necessary to start the Castor factory, 
a plant that had been idle for some time because the 
milk that was usually made up in it, had been di¬ 
verted to the milk stations and the condensery at 
Pulaski. The Mutual Milk Co. refused to take the 
CO-OPERATION OF CORN AND RASPBERRIES. Fig. 0 
well. He sug- 
a business corporation 
and in disrepute as 
gested that we form a business corporation which 
would have for its objects the making up of milk 
■ nto various products; and if thought necessary, to 
deal in the various farm supplies, etc. The ultimate 
final province of the association, as agreed to by a 
majority of its members, was to protect the farmers’ 
interests and principally to take care of their milk. 
I hat the farmers were forming a business corpora¬ 
tion wop Id evidently arouse suspicion among the busi¬ 
ness men of the town, and for this and other reasons, 
the new corporation was named “The Dairymen’s 
Protective Association of Pulaski, N. Y.” The shares 
■were made $5 each, and when 100 shares were sub¬ 
scribed for, the company was incorporated at Albany. 
Its original capitalization was $ 1 , 000 , consisting of. 
milk from the Fernwood district, and as the Castor 
plant was located in this territory and idle, the 
farmers in this locality asked the association to open 
this plant for them. An agreement was made between 
the farmers and the association whereby every farmer 
was to pay two cents per 100 pounds toward paying 
for the Castor plant, for all milk delivered at this 
factory. This arrangement has proven exceedingly 
profitable, and the farmers and members of the as¬ 
sociation are well pleased. This factory has been run 
for two years and is netting more per 100 pounds of 
milk than are the big concerns that put out fixed 
prices for six months or so. 
One year ago, the Holmes factory, an unused cheese 
and butter factory, was purchased by the directors 
and is now being equipped. I might mention here 
that in refitting these two factories, the farmers turned 
out and made a “bee" drawing stones, sand and 
gravel for putting in the cement floors, and thus no 
unnecessary cost was added to the indebtedness of 
the association. It was recently voted by the as¬ 
sociation to equip the Holmes plant with machinery 
and begin making up milk there as soon as possible. 
I he cream separator and other machinery are now 
being placed, and it is expected the plant will be 
running full blast within a few weeks. A paper 
was circulated among the farmers who would na¬ 
turally patronize this plant, to ascertain 
who would take their milk there, and it 
was found that about 650 cows were 
pledged, although the directors would 
,L\ have been encouraged had there been 
i\[ , only two-thirds this number. The treas¬ 
urer has- figured it out that should the 
Castor and Holmes plants both run un¬ 
til January, 1911, and receive the usual 
amount of milk, they will pay for their 
original cost and the cost of equipment 
and maintenance, and leave the associa¬ 
tion entirely free from debt at the date 
mentioned. Most of the farmers own 
one share and this would be the rule, 
were it not for the fact that at times it 
has been necessary to have more money 
in order to do business. The directors 
alone all hold five shares each and 
some of them as high as seven and ten 
shares each. Money invested in this 
concern is going to pay handsomely 
some day, and the directors have from 
the first insisted that only farmers and 
those closely identified with them, hold 
stock in the association. The associa¬ 
tion has no trouble in borrowing any 
money they may need at any time. 
While the capitalization is small, you 
might say merely nominal, the officers 
and directors feel a personal pride in 
the association, and would not allow it 
to become insolvent or bankrupt any 
sooner than they would their own in¬ 
dividual business. 
At first the farmers were slow in 
taking up with the idea for various 
causes. The idea of organization is 
obnoxious to the average individual 
farmer. Many hung off and tried to 
get all the benefits of such an organiza¬ 
tion without having to share in the 
risks and responsibilities. Some were 
dissatisfied because the original inten¬ 
tion of forming a pact to hold the 
farmers together as a man was finally 
abandoned as impracticable. Some 
farmers scented an idea of selfishness 
and chance to feather their own nests 
on the part of the officers and directors. We had 
to convince them that we were entirely unselfish 
in all our motives in so far as we were personally 
concerned. From being a weak and struggling as¬ 
sociation of hardly enough shares subscribed to hold 
it together and make it a legal company to do busi¬ 
ness, it has grown to an association of far-reaching 
importance and influence in this locality. This has 
all been accomplished within two years. While each 
individual is liable only to the amount of his sub¬ 
scription, yet it docs not stop there, but the farmers 
think of the corporation as their business, which 
it really is, and it practically holds them together on 
any question relating to the milk industry. As I in¬ 
timated earlv in its career, the time would come 
