R
ALMER
Storage
CACHE YOUR
FOOD
THE
MODERN WAY
LAMB
PORK
BEEF
POULTRY
MEAT SAUCES
RELISHES PICKLES
CHEESE SPREADS
COLD MEATS
THE MIDDLE WAY TO A BETTER WORLD (Cont. )
By Rep. Jerry Voorhis of California
The method of cooperation has proved by
far the most effective means of enabling
the farmer to secure something like his fa
fair share of the price the consumer ulti
mately pays for food in tho United States
and Canada.
By means of cooperatives, moreover, tho
farmers have added to the total incono of
agriculture and kept in the hands of rural
producers that portion of tho cost of food
which was onco represented by unnecessary
middlemen's margins.
The marketing cooperative is the farmer's
sales agency. It belongs to him and re
presents his interest in the distribution
channels of tho country as no other typo
of agbncy in tho world could do. It has
meant,'where the cooperatives have been
strong, tho difference betwoon having as
much as 60 per cent of the consumer*s
dollar reach the pockets of the actual
producers of a food commodity instead of
50 percent of the consumer's dollar reach
the farmer and the other 30 per cent go
into the coffers of handlers and middle
men of one kind or another.
Cooperation then is -a means of organizing
the consumer buying power of tho people
in such a way that it can be employed by
them to acquire on actual ownership stnko
in the modern industrial machine. What
the cooperative really doos is to transfer
what otherwise would be an unnecessary
profit-margin into on investment on tho
part of tho members of tho cooperative in
Cont. from column 1.
the ownership of their business*
Since cooperatives belong to the people
whom they serve, they inevitably bring in
to the economic life of the nation a com
petitive element which is always striving
to bring a better quality product to the
people than they had before.
Arc cooperatives enemies of democracy and
freodon? Are they enemies of private
onterpriso? fro, Quite the contrary is ob
viously true. The coopcrntivd i3 the best
hope of truo economic freedom, of true
private enterprise, if you will, for the
millions of common people around the world.
It is the only way I know of in which they
can own the things they pay for.
The farmers of America formed their co
operatives largely to deal with one of two
probloms, Tho first of these problems was
the inability of farmers at the time of
harvest to secure a fair and just price
for their crops when their only market was
controlled by a few powerful middlemen.
The other major cause of tho formation of
farrier cooperatives vras tho inordinately
high'prico of many staple farm supplies;
food, fertiliser nnd potroleun products,
for example, Earners found that by or
ganising thenscIves to do business cooper
atively they could in effect have one
farrier or one farmer's agent nakc purchases
of these supplies in largo quantities,thus
saving a portion of the exorbitant margins
of profit foimorly charged by handlers
■and producers,
Moreover, with a group of loyal cooperative
co-ounors of such a distribution'system to
depend upon as regular customers, it was
possible for those cooperatives to start
in to monufacutre food, fertilizer and
petroleum products and thus to establish
a yardstick of real costs of production.
In this manner monopolistic controls more
broken domi.and the entire community bene
fited, v/hethor they r/cro •members of the
cooperative or not.
If .America stands for anything, she stands
for opportunity for the common man; nnd the
cooperative offers that common nan his best
chanco to share in tho ownership of tho
highly integrated business and industry of
today,
Furthermore, cooperatives aro the opposite
of government oimcrship because they offer
the one best chanco for private individuals
in our no.tion to solve their economic pro
blems nithout reliance upon government.And
finally, cooperatives aro one of tho best
defenses of true private ontorpriso for the
reason that thoy almost alone have proved
-bio to stand across tho path of nonopo*-.
Listic control of businoss and .industry
md open up once again opportunity for fair
Jonpotition on tho part of all,
(lover before have cooperatives boon so need
3d as a moans of solution to the problems
of American farmers or as a means of re
storing opportunity for otmorship and henco
for a solid stake of the udlfaro of a freo
society for all-tho pcoplo.