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Show MARKETING EDUCATION NEEDED The unfortunate thing about the economic situation in which the farmer farm-er found himself in 1920, was that perfectly good plans for co-operative undertakings on the part of the farmers farm-ers have in many instances proved unsuccessful un-successful for the reason that the wrong thing has been expected. This is the opinion of Dr. H. C. I Taylor, chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Agri-cultural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture, who in discussing the farmer's' part in solving the market- ing pi-oblems, said: "When falling prices are inevitable, I it is unfortunate to ask that a new ! system of marketing be tried- as a ! means of keeping prices from falling. It is entirely possible that an improvement improve-ment in the mechanism of marketing-may marketing-may reduce slightly the cost and thus prove itself efficient if operating independently in-dependently of falling prices and yet be looked upon as a failure because of losses incurred due to the downward down-ward swing of the price curve. It is recognized, however, that desperate conditions seem to justify desperate efforts to find some remedy and we can hardly blame the farmers for grasping at anything that gives promise of saving their sinking ship. One cannot feel, however, that if our analysis of the farmer's econojmic problem had proceeded with an educational educa-tional campaign a little earlier much of the misfortunes in co-operative undertakings un-dertakings of the last two years might have been avoided. "The long list of falures of co-operative grain elevators," says Doctor Taylor, "does not point to the conclusion con-clusion that co-operative marketing is not a good thing for the grain farmer. It simply shows the importance import-ance of good business methods on the part of co-operative undertaking the importance of not speculating on the products being handled and all the dangers resulting from profits of the fat years among the members and having no surplus with which to I take care of inevitable losses in the j lean years." . Doctor Taylor says he is thoroughly thorough-ly convinced that "just to the extent that price fixing has an objective in ! co-operative marketing is kept in the foreground and the hope of monopoly price for farm products is a dominant j motive on the part of farmers in entering en-tering co-operative organizations, the movement is doomed to fail. Agriculture Agri-culture includes too large a portion of the total population to prosper without the prosperity of the nation as a whole, and successful co-operation must be based upon efficient service ser-vice to the public at a fair price, even though its prime objective be the welfare wel-fare of the co-operators. Even if the farmers were willing to submit to central control regarding the quantity quan-tity of crops to be planted, nature is so dominant a factor in determining determin-ing the supply of food in any given year, that control of prduction is out of the question." Discussing the results of the recent re-cent pig census, Doctor Taylor says it is probable that the American farmers farm-ers would be better off and the consumer con-sumer suffer no injustice if a third of the brood sows held for fall litters were marketed at this time. |