66 
American Agriculturist, January 27,1923 
League Wins Great Legal Victory 
Decision in Barnes Case Vindicates Farmers’ Cooperatives 
E very farmer who believes in or¬ 
ganization and cooperation will re¬ 
joice with the thousands of members 
in the Dairymen’s League Coopera¬ 
tive Association in the far-reaching decision 
just handed down by Referee James H. Mer- 
win in the case of Barnes vs. Dairymen’s 
League Cooperative Association and the 
Borden’s Farm Products Com¬ 
pany. The decision is a complete 
victory for the Cooperative As¬ 
sociation. It will be remembered 
that the plaintiff, Barnes, a 
farmer and patron of the Borden 
Company at its Westmoreland ii 
plant sought an injunction to re¬ 
strain the Borden Company from 
refusing to take his milk. Barnes 
claimed and tried to prove a con¬ 
spiracy on the part of the Borden 
Company and the Dairymen’s 
League Cooperative Association 
to fix the price of milk and to re¬ 
fuse to buy from him unless he 
joined the pooling association. 
The trial of the case lasted for 
weeks during the past summer. 
A large amount of publicity was 
given to the case and a real at¬ 
tempt made to hold up any effect¬ 
ive operations in the way of 
real cooperation on the part 
of milk producers. Time and time 
again milk marketing associations 
throughout the country have been 
brought into court through the efforts of the 
enemies of cooperation for the purpose of re¬ 
straining and crippling the growth of the 
cooperative movement. In every instance 
such efforts have failed, although they have 
been unfortunate in costing the associations 
large sums of money which producers can ill 
spare and in giving the general public wrong 
ideas of the real work and purposes of co¬ 
operation. f 
This makes the second case in which the 
League has won an outstanding victory in 
legal battle with its enemies. Last year a 
lawyer farmer of Binghamton brought action 
against the League for damages claimed to 
be sustained because the League prevented 
him from marketing his milk. The result of 
this attack on the organization was a “no 
cause of action” verdict. 
In handing down the decision in ’the 
Barnes case. Referee Merwin said in part 
“The defendants have not entered into any 
illegal conspiracy and the plaintiff has no 
cause for action whatever. 
“The defendants have done no blacklisting 
or boycotting, nor have they indulged in any 
of the underhand practices which so often 
have been under condemnation by the courts 
in cases like this and which have always had 
a strong influence upon the decision of the 
court. 
“I cannot on the evidence con¬ 
vict the Borden Company for any 
complicity in any scheme to force 
its patrons to join the pool and it 
certainly has a legal right to pur¬ 
chase its milk of any indivdual 
or groups of individuals that it 
wishes.” 
A statement issued by the Co¬ 
operative Association on the de¬ 
cision says: 
“The decision is not only a vic¬ 
tory, but a complete justification 
of the cooperatives’ position. The 
decision is peculiarly significant, 
in that similiar decisions have 
been rendered in the Western 
States and the cooperative move¬ 
ment h^s thereby obtained a very 
strong position. 
“Nevertheless, this is the first 
important decision in the Eastern 
States, which has gone into the co¬ 
operative marketing proposition 
exhaustively and is, therefore, 
very far-reaching in its result and 
will be historical. 
“The cooperative associations, in its de¬ 
fense, has upheld the cooperative movement 
from every standpoint, and therefore, its 
action will be of great service to all coopera¬ 
tive marketing associations in the United 
States.” 
Kick in the Right Direction 
T he Grange Monthly tells the following story about 
kickers in organization work, which is particularly 
worth thinking about by every member of the Dairymen’s 
League Cooperative Association. 
In one of the State lecturers’ conferences we heard tell 
about a herd of mules at pasture being attacked by wolves. 
The mules huddled together in a circle with heads out to 
see the attacking pack and began to kick. They kicked 
each other to death and the wolves ate their carcasses. If 
the mules had put their heads together and kicked out, they 
would have kicked the wolves to death. The Grange exists 
to keep the heads of the farmers together in thought and 
when they kick, they kick out on all sides. 
Alas, what a lot of farm organizations have kicked 
themselves to pieces! Be a kicker, but be sure whom you 
are kicking. Never let your heels be ivhere your head 
ought to be. The decision in the Barnes case shows that 
the courts are standing by honest farmers’ cooperatives. 
League members are soon to determine whether they can 
stand by themselves. —The Editors. 
Holstein Men Urge Extension of TB Work 
Spirit of Optimism Prevails at Annual Meeting of New York Breeders 
A GENERAL spirit of optimism, ex- 
pressed in several concrete sugges- 
tions for improvement in the cattle 
JK industry during the coming year, 
marked the third annual meeting of the New 
York Holstein-Friesian Associa¬ 
tion held at Syracuse on January — 
16. ■“ 
Among the noteworthy actions 
which showed the sentiment of 
the members, was the passing of 
resolutions condemning the dis¬ 
play of “bogus” butter at the 
Syracuse State Fair, requesting 
the Federal Government to con¬ 
tinue and extend the program to 
eradicate the ox-warble fly in the 
State, and urging the appropria¬ 
tion of sufficient funds to pay 
overdue indemities for tubercular 
cattle and to cover payments to 
July 1, 1923. _ 
The association, according to 
the report of the Secretary at the 
meeting, now has a membership of 1,175. 
During 1922, it conducted five sales, at which 
638 head of cattle brought $127,000. 
One of the most enthusiastic moments of 
the afternoon session came with the passing 
of the resolution against permitting the 
“bogus” buttter display. The wording of the 
resolution which called upon the United 
States Government to continue the campaign 
to eradicate the ox-warble fly, invited the 
federal authorities to put on a three year pro¬ 
gram in one county of the State. 
Professor H. H. Wing announced that he, 
Paul Meisner and Jimmie Bauermeister had 
judged the cattle consigned by the various 
Milo D. Campbell on Federal Reserve Board 
pool; Dr. D. B. Armstrong, Watertown; H. T. Far¬ 
rington, Lowville; Grant Low, New Berlin; Carl 
Schmid, Montgomery; D. R. Shaefer, Cobleskill; H. 
L. Stafford, Peru; L. D. Upham, Georgetown; R. E. 
Chapin, Batavia; A. A. Hartshorn, Hamilton; C. F. 
Bigler, Syracuse; C. L. Amos, Syracuse; Hari’y 
Yates, Buffalo; F. C. Overton, Adams; 
________ F. M. Jones, Clinton; J. C. Dald, Buffalo; 
—^ Prof. H. H. Ithaca; H. Morgen- 
thau, Jr., Hopewell Junction; H. V. 
Noyes, Oneida; C. B. Fletcher, Evans 
Mills. 
M ilo D. Campbell, President of the National Milk 
Producers Federation, has just been appointed by 
President Harding as a member of the Federal Reserve 
Board. Mr. Campbell is well known by organized farmers 
everyivhere and particularly in the East, ivhere he has so 
often spoken on their problems straight from the shoulder 
and worked so effectively to solve them. The farmers of 
America are to be congratulated on having a true repre¬ 
sentative of agricultural affairs in such an important posi¬ 
tion. We extend to Mr: Campbell our heartiest congratu¬ 
lations. 
clubs and had made awards to the following 
counties: First, Tompkins; second, Jeffer¬ 
son; third, Allegany; fourth, Onondaga. 
Delegates to Cleveland Nominated 
Nominees for delegates to the National 
Holstein Association to be held at. Cleveland 
this year were as folio,ws: 
F. M. Campbell, Wilson; F. D. Van Buskirk, 
Hornell; Fred Blewer, Owego; W. W. Stevens, Liver¬ 
The Board of Directors for the 
ensuing year are as follows: 
Harry Yates, Buffalo; Maynard Smith, 
Horseheads; W. A. Follett, Norwich; 
H. V. Bump, Cambridge; C. B. Marshall, 
Morrisville; R. W. Dennis, Comsted; C. 
F. Bigler, Syracuse; G. N. Smith, 
Watertown; E. J. Chaffee, Wassaic; H. 
L. Stafford, Peru; R. E. Chapin, Bata¬ 
via; Harvey Tarrington, Lowville. 
C. F. Bigler was re-elected pres- 
_ ident, with the following list of 
—- officers: Maynard Smith, first 
vice president; C. B. Marshall, 
second vice president; George Smith, treas¬ 
urer and E. R. Zimmer, secretary. The 
Executive Committee is composed of R. E. 
Chapin, Harry Yates, H. Farrin^on, and the 
President and Secretary ex-officio. 
In the evening more than 180 breeders 
braved the big snowstorm to attend the third 
annual banquet of the association. 
The first speaker. Secretary E. R. Zimmer, 
{Continued on page 75) 
