Show uy co operative cooperative 0 jr ifil a A fa farm rm products X M marketing marke AZ A Z 0 a how it J Is done in europe and may be done in america to the profit of both parm farmer er and consumer bi MATTHEW DUDGEON copyright 1914 newspaper unior 1 t teaching danish agricula Agri agricultural cult oral students how to hansle handle a horse A OPERATIVE cooperative CO BACON FACTORY denmark we take oft off our biats to tho the danish packing house bouso and its ita product nero hero a most effi efficient cleril packing house takes a high grade pig and manufactures him into the best bacon oh earth it if armour or cudahy or morris were here lie he would be compelled to join us in our salutation of the packing houses of denmark here Is the last word as to efficient scientific treatment of 0 the dead porker but in denmark they demand something more than scientific treatment in the packing house tho the danish theory Is that to produce good bacon you must go back into the history of the pig they want to know of what breed he was that he be was raised in a sanitary pen on pure wholesome food that he was between live five and seven months old and weighed from ISO to pounds when butchered ile he nay may not bo be a scrub picked up by the buyers and rushed into the yards to be killed and cured as may be the case jn n america the danish pig Is in an emelett elB eM cler cleTt scientific agency ogency for transforming pure milk and grain and root crops and fodder into fine pig meat and so when the best packing house aliouse methods deal with the best beat pig tho the result Is sure to be the best bacon and the farmers after they have raised the pig and cured the bacon in the bacon factory which they themselves own insist that they get the profit from the sale so these danish farmers keep possession of the bacon until it is placed upon the counters of the retail dealers in england rn in this way they get all the profits there are in the entire process organized without money this Is tho the way in which it Is done the bacon factory hero here at fredericks sund Is owned by farmers there ire are big farmers and little farmers among them some of them have only five acres and others have hundreds of acres somo some contribute only one or two hogs per year while others send theirs in by the hundred strange to say while the factory now represents a very large investment and while the farmers who own it have in the aggregate great wealth the plant was established without the direct investment of one dollar thero was wag no capital paid in and there were no bonds issued A large number of farmers simply got together organized elected officers and directed that these officers should in their behalf borrow sufficient capital at the nearby bank to erect the plant and start the business and the bank stood for it well knowing that the cited liability of hundreds of farmers who were interested in tho the bacon factory was the best security ii in the world well knowing also that under proper management a bacon factory was itself one of the roost most sound and profitable business ventures into which these cheso samo same farmers could go high grade manager this concern la is owned by thrifty closefisted close fisted moneymaking money making farmers but they do not run this business on any narrow gauge plan they know that incompetence does dobs not pay they want good results and so employ tho the best superintendent and manager that monetary considerations erat ions can secure ills name Is frederick L sleek ile iio Is an educated widely read much traveled scientifically trained business man who understands farming and hog raising in all its details lie Ile known all about pigs from breeding to eating ho he has studied every known process of transforming a live pig into the finest bacon ile he knows all about tho the products byproducts by bo be they sausage or fertilizers made from the blood ho understands the problems of transportation por tation he Is familiar with the markets of the world and with the lemanda demands of each into hla his plant ho hl has all tho the latest efficiency doyl devices ces ile he is in tho the broadest sense i com competent patent efficient high priced manager overcoming unfair competition although for some twenty or thirty years operation cooperation co has been in sue sf operation in denmark no co aratine ara tive society can count upon tho the lounce 0 fc rivalry and competition from private de dealers alore earlier in the game gaine moro more than one operative cooperative co society was sadly hindered in being outbid in its efforts to purchase the products of its members it Is hard indeed for the farmer to realize that he should accept 10 per hundred for hla his pigs from a operative cooperative co society while tho the outside dealer Is offering him 11 per hundred the private dealers here played the game that they aro are playing in america whenever any operative cooperative co concern started doing business the private dealer at once outbid it here as in america the farmers sometimes abandons abandon their operative cooperative co society and sold to tho the highest bidder occasionally the operative cooperative co concern was waa pushed to the wall and went out of busin business esl here as in america the private dealer immediately dropped his price and the farmer was where he was before getting whatever price the dealers agreed upon among themselves no selling to rival dealers it did not take the organizers of the operative cooperative co movement long to reallie realize that this could not go on consequently when a new organization Is started now the matter mattar is fully explained to the prospective members they aro are told tola that unless they expect to give unlimited loyalty to the concern ce unless un less they are willing to agree to tr 1 ng all of their output to the society even witch when the society la Is outbid by private dealers alere the re is no use ue in starting st arting a society at all it Is fully explained to them that the high prices which may be offered can only be temporary and that the permanent welfare of the community demands that the operative cooperative co concern be organized and be loyally supported the matter thus fully before them the danish farmers do not hesitate to enter into a contract to deliver all their product to the local operative cooperative co society the members of this bacon factory hero here are under absolute agre agreement to deliver pigs to no other dealer although any member may of course use such hogs as ie he needs tor for hla his own use it a member delivers pigs to any dealer he Is penalized ile he has gone into this agreement with full knowl its purpose As a result nc no one seems seema to be in the least dissat isfried although occasionally co compete comp etl tors offer prices that are indeed tempt ingi the manager told us however that repeatedly lie he had bad farmers not only express satisfaction over the profits which they were recell receiving ng but when in addition to a fair price they have been paid a dividend they have repeatedly remonstrated that it seemed to them they were getting more than they should out of the co con corn cern sixty thousand pigs per year wo we handle from sixty thousand to seventy thousand pigs each year said the manager during parts of the year two thousand pigs per week will como come in these all are nearly of the same ago age and size practically all being between twenty four and twenty eight weeks old and weighing from to pounds they have been fed almost the same food and have been raised upon conditions that are absolutely uniform slight differences occurs in the individuals some being a little tatter fatter than their mates others differing in the quality or of meat although it would take at ad expert to detect these our annual turn over of bacon amounts to about a million and a belf dollars we send out some fresh pork our leading article Is cured side bacon ham and shoulder attached we send out also lard sausage boneless ham bam and a number of products byproducts by you ton will note as you go through the fac tory that every product which we sand out to Is marked with a government stamp with the number za which is tho the number of this factory utilizing all except the squeal all the waste from the factory is carefully cared anred for we do not destroy a particle of material that comes in some one has said that the only i thing we have not been to rn ake money out of Is the tha r for example wo we manufacture bone meal for oed foed we turn the tha 13 blood to od into of 61 most a special plumy of which is shipped to Ge and 11 holland alland and used largely upon I 1 clr famous tulip beds we burn nothing most of tho the offal goes back to tho the farms of this region as manures there la is no more profitable use for it it the very water with which we slaughter rooms is used flush out our as a fertilizer r each ach friday we send bend out quotation of prices which will prevail during the coming week about one halt half of our output however Is sold in advance on standing orders from england they direct us to send bend them so many hundred pounds at the ruling price they understand of course that we will fix a fair mayket price upon what we send them with these bacon however it to la who want good question of price as a not so much a que question stion of quality and it Is because of our quality that wo we have these standing orders fixing prices each of the factories has a local price fixing committee consisting ot ol the president of the local society a well leown farmer who Is not a director of the soc society lety and the manager manage of tb the 0 factory the manager of course produces the latest market reports telegrams and all other information obtainable as to the results of provi ous shipments the state of the mar map ket and its whether up or down atter ai ter providing foi a small which goes to the sinking fund and allowing a quarter of a cent per pound for working expense the committed decides upon the prices which should be paid and which it will recommend to the general district committee the district committee of the fed oration of bacon factories meets onca a week to fix the prices which are tc prevail for the following week thil general committee first learns the views of all the local factory corn com in the district and sets the tb prices according to their recommend recommends a eions that Is to say eay if five loca committees recommend 45 ore pel pound while five others place the alg urea at 46 the general committee sets seti it at 45 h it pays the farmer wo we are now paying a a little ovel fifteen dollars per hundred weight other private dealers pay tho the same price but with the private dealer the first return Is all the farmer will avei get for his pigs each year we iab la aside something for our resel reserve ve fund and something to pay oft off what we bor rowed at the bank after we have hav done one this we declare an annual divi bend which amounts to from fro to on each hog that has beet beer delivered to us you see also thai at the end of the ten years perlo each farmer has a share in our lish ment here which may be termed an additional price for his pigs un der our system each farmer has at interest in this concern when it li it florally paid for in proportion to th nur number riber of pounds of pork which lit h has delivered to us during all these years we figure that the average amount which has been laid aside and invested in this plant Is about aboul twenty five dollars per member we do not pay this in cash to them but issue a certificate which Is evidence that they own a share in this plant and in the business which we are do ing here this Is not a closed corporation po ration but any farmer who wishes to join it can do so by paying the estimated value of membership |