‘Pk  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
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A  Discussion  of  This  Co-operative  Business 
As  Started  in  D.  L.  Hartman’s  Article 
is  Hartman’s  Attitude  Selfish? 
ELFISHNESS  AND  INDIVIDUAL¬ 
ISM. — I  have  followed  Mr.  Hartman’s 
story  with  a  great  deal  of  interest, 
and  I  have  also  digested  it.  And  my 
digestion  is  very  good,  as  also  is  my 
assimilation.  I  had  also  read  the 
Hope  Farm  man's  discouraging  experience  with 
the  Paterson  market.  There  is  much  to  be  said  in 
favor  of  both  articles.  But  to  say.  as  did  A.  C.  C.. 
on  page  52,  that  Mr.  Hartman’s  spirit  of  individ¬ 
ualism  is  the  spirit  of  selfishness  is  not  putting  the 
case  in  very  gentle  form.  Selfishness  is  at  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  all  enterprise.  Without  Selfishness  there 
would  he  no  progress.  If  individualism  is  selfish¬ 
ness,  it  has  all  inventions  and  all  great  forward 
believe  in  co-operation.  If  an  ambition  to  excel  in 
all  good  things  is  selfishness,  let  us  pray  for  more 
selfishness  of  that  kind. 
CO-OPERATIVE  TYRANNY.  —  If  co-operation 
such  as  I  have  cited  is  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
educating  the  consumers  to  use  more  and  better 
products  at  a  living  price  for  the  producer,  I  am  for 
it.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  co-operation  such  as 
exists  among  the  coal  miners  and  the  coal  mine 
owners  has  no  other  reason  for  living  than  to  cause 
the  unfortunate  public  to  suffer,  the  sooner  we  put 
the  seal  of  our  emphatic  disapproval  on  that  kind 
of  co-operation  the  better  for  all  of  us.  Such  men 
as  Mr.  Hartman  are  in  advance  of  the  procession. 
They  are  not  satisfied  to  be  trailers. .  I  take  off  my 
hat  to  such  leaders,  and  I  shall  do  my  small  share 
Surely  he  does  not,  or  he  would  not  so  boldly  launch 
out  into  a  generalization  on  the  whole  marketing 
question  and  censure  The  It.  N.-Y.  for  the  active 
campaign  it  has  waged  for  years  to  get  growers  to 
co-operate  and  form  marketing  agencies. 
COLLECTIVE  WORK. — Perhaps  the  farm  papers 
have  not  all  appealed  to  the  best  there  is  in  farmers 
in  this  campaign,  but.  something  radical  has  been 
necessary  to  stir  them  up  and  bring  some  action. 
The  individualism  of  which  Mr.  Hartman  boasts 
may  be  fine  for  one  so  fortunately  located  as  he  is. 
but  might  almost  be  pronounced  a  curse  in  the  case 
of  the  great  majority  of  growers  who  cannot  pos¬ 
sibly  have  any  hand  in  the  actual  marketing  of  their 
crops.  It  is  this  individualism  which  makes  it  nec¬ 
essary  for  a  producer  to  have  to  be  “knocked  down 
Ayrshire  Grade  Herd  at  Metropolitan  Life  Sanitarium  in  Northern  New  York 
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movements  to  its  credit.  I  even  believe  that  selfish¬ 
ness  is  the  prime  factor  in  all  co-operation. 
ORGANIZED  CO-OPERATION.— For  my  part  I 
would  be  very  glad  to  co-operate  with  my  neighbors 
if  they  showed  a  desire  to  come  lip  to  my  standard. 
But  I  am  too  individualistic  to  bring  my  standards 
to  the  low  level  of  the  ambitionless  crowd.  Is  not 
co-operation  such  as  obtains  with  the  citrus  fruit 
growers  of  California,  or  the  apple  growers  of  Ore¬ 
gon  and  Washington,  and  the  onion  growers  of 
Texas,  selfishness  in  the  mass?  I  believe  in  well- 
organized  co-operation  where  there  is  enough  of  a 
given  commodity  in  a  community  to  make  it  worth 
while  to  command  a  living  price  for  a  standardized 
product.  But  in  States  where  the  holdings  are  com¬ 
paratively  small,  and  the  growers  are  isolated,  in¬ 
dividualism  will  prevail  for  many  years  to  come. 
DIFFERENT  STANDARDS.— If  my  timid  neigh¬ 
bor  is  satisfied  to  receive  15  cents  to  20  cents  per 
quart  from  the  retailer  for  his  strawberries,  while 
I  get  directly  from  the  consumer  50  cents  per  quart 
for  mine,  there  is  no  common  ground  for  co-opera¬ 
tion  between  us,  however  much  said  neighbor  may 
in  holding  up  their  hands  while  they  hold  aloft  the 
noble  standard  having  “ Better ”  for  their  device. 
Shall  we,  who  honor  and  respect  progress,  forever 
sacrifice  our  ideals  to  the  boisterous  demands  of  the 
market  place?  Or  shall  we,  as  men  who  have  a 
mission,  strive  for  the  better  things? 
Massachusetts.  louis  craton. 
Selling  from  a  Distance 
INDIVIDUAL  RESULTS. — I  belong  to  the  great 
army  of  producers  who  must  market  by  the  refriger¬ 
ator  car  route  through  the  regular  channels  of  trade 
and  have  nothing  to  say  about  the  price.  Mr.  Hart¬ 
man  seems  to  be  fortunately  located  for  marketing 
his  strawberries  and  other  produce  on  the  Miami 
market  during  the  height  of  the  tourist  season,  when 
trade  is  brisk.  Ilis  methods  sound  good  and  lie 
appears  to  be  on  safe  ground  as  long  as  he  sticks  to 
bis  own  particular  style  of  marketing.  But  I  won¬ 
der  if  he  realizes  that  the  quantity  of  fruit  and 
produce  marketed  after  his  plan  is  only  a  drop  in 
the  bucket  compared  with  the  vast  quantities 
shipped  in  ca riots  from  th.*'  great  producing  centers? 
and  kicked  in  the  slats.”  as  (1.  Harold  Rowell  used 
to  say.  before  he  will  join  a  growers’  association. 
But  once  producers  are  tied  up  to  a  co-operative 
marketing  organization  their  sense  of  fairness  and 
square  dealing  may  be  depended  upon  to  assert 
itself,  and  there  is  no  taint  of  labor  union  tactics, 
of  which  Mr.  Hartman  cdtuplains.  Everyone  who 
has  followed  the  development  of  the  co-operative 
movement  in  this  country  knows,  for  instance,  of 
the  high  ideals  of  the  California  Fruit  Growers’ 
Exchange.  This  organization  stands  for  absolute 
fairness  to  all  concerned  in  the  handling  of  citrus 
fruits  from  producer  to  consumer  and  is  largely 
patterned  after  by  newer  organizations. 
THE  LARGER  VIEW. — I  think  if  Mr.  Hartman 
would  visit  other  sections  and  talk  with  producers 
he  would  get  a  larger  view  of  the  marketing  prob¬ 
lem.  He  would  learn  that  individualism  is  losing 
out  in  the  Appalachian  section  of  West  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  where  the  peach  and  apple  orchards  of 
the  writer  and  his  brothers  are  located,  and  also  to 
a  still  greater  extent  in  the  Far  West. 
CALIFORNIA  CONDITIONS. — For  the  past  four 
