The Camden chronicle. (Camden, S.C.) 1888-1981, March 27, 1914, Image 3
Co-Operative Farm
Products Marketing
How It Is Done in Europe and May Be Done
in America to the Profit of Both
Farmer and Consumer
By MATHEW 8. DUDGEON
(Copyright. 1914, WMUrn N?wip?p?r Union,)
WHY IRISH .BUTTER IS GOOD.
The Omagh Co-operative Creamery.
Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland. ?
Wlmt the city woman needs Is butter
that Is standardized and always of a
uniform excellence ? butter which
comes as fresh and comes as straight
ub may be from the cow on the farm
td tho table in the city dining room.
With the husband singing In her ears
the song of high cost of living ? and
What husband is not driven to such
songs in these days of high prices ?
she feels that she must get butter that
can be bought at something Icbs than
the fanqy prices charged in the exclu
sive delicatessen shops to which she
is driven in her efforts to insure her
family a good grade of butter. Ask
her and sh* will tell you that if co-op
eration will enable her to get good but
ter at a price made somewhat less by
the elimination of excessive distribu
tion' charges then she is heartily for
cooperation.
r The city man of course, wants a
good butter to eat. The farmer wants
to make money from his dairy. They
have been telling us in America that
direct co-operative marketing will give
each what he wants; that co-operation
has repeatedly accomplished these re
sults where it has been tried in Ire
land, in Holland, in Denmark and in
(iermany. If co-operation will do this,
it Ik well to look into it for good but
ter in important ? and financial profits
are worth while. So some of us are
over here in Ireland to see if co-opera
tion really is a benefit both to the city
eater and to the rural producer.
The co-operative creamery here is
turning out good butter-r-none better
anywhere. Wo think we have found
why Irish butter is good, why it brings
|to the farmer a good price in this city.
The butter Is good because co-opera
tive creameries use good methods of
butter making; because their patrons
get good milk from good cows, take
good care of It, and deliver it in good
'condition tp the creamery; and lastly
because when once made it is hurried
;off to a consumer before it can get
stale. They get a good price for it be
cause it is good butter.
On the other hand, the city gets it at
a reasonable price because co-opera
tive marketing in Ireland is direct
marketing; because the butter com^s
quickly and directly from the cream
ery to the city home with little added
.expense for much handling by many
?middlemen.
Why Farm Butter Is 8ometimes Bad.
The writer remembers summer but
?ter made from cream skimmed from
uncooled milk and. kept. on the warm
pantry shelf during the long hot day?
until churning time. It was hardly butr
ter ? it was in fact commercially
ranked "grease." It brought six cents
per pound, and as butter was worth
Jess. ?
Failure to make good butter was in
evitable. Nor were the tired farmers'
wives to be criticised for the poor re
sults obtained. Th6y had no facilities
for keeping the milk and cream clean
and cool, no facilities for making but
ter, no facilities for keeping It.
Co-Operation Lightens Labor.
What the woman on the farm most,
needs 1b to be free from the burden of
the endless handling of milk, cream
and butter, from skimming the milk,
and churning the cream and from salt
ing and working and molding the but
ter ? from all the labor entailed In the
| production of home-made, hand-made
[butter. She needs It if she is to have
any life outside the kitchen and the
milk room.
The laborious weariness of the un
eventful existence of the farmer's wife
has produced many candidates for the
insane asylums. More than one worn
unfortunate has been taken into
?cWtody because her household duties
have chained her to a maddening
monotony unralUved by opportunity
[for intercourse, and have made impos
sibly any thought above the churn and t
the cook stove. One Wisconsin1 farm- j
*er*s wife was adjudicated by the coun
ty judge to be afflicted with insanity. !
L~When the judge announced the deci
sion to the husband he was incredu
lous. "It can't he she's got insanity
or anything else, he said. "She's had
no chance to catch 1L She hasn't set
a toot off the farm fdr 14 years and no
Neighbor has stayed at oar house long
enough to give her anything." *
If co-operation in the production and
marketing of butter will take off even
a small p%rt of the burden of the farm*
era' wife, if It will give her time to
straighten up from her work at table
and tub and leave her free to remem
ber that she is a human being with a
head and a soul, if it will permit her
to get off the farm oftener than once
in 14 wears ? if co-operation will do
this or help by ever so little to do it,
the woman on the farm Is for co-opera
tion.
An Ungallant Irishman.
We have found one man here in Ire
land who is opposed to co-operation.
Walking along a country road near
Omagh we came upon a shrewd faced
Irishman who was very ready to talk
about co operation. He was evidently
a man of some Intelligence and, judg
ing from his manner and address, a
man of some experience and success
in business. So we engaged him In
conversation about co-operation and
its effects.
"I am against it," he said. "There
is no sense in it." And he gave us in
forcible and picturesque language the
story of how he had been personally
injured in his business by co-opera
tion. It developed that he had been a
buyer of farm produce ? a commission
merchant in a small way. "Now there
is no money in it," he said, "since the
margin between what the city man
pays and what the farmer receives is
cut dowiv The farmer sells through
the co-operative organization directly
to the city merchant." Reluctantly he
admitted that maybe it was better for
the farmer aild better for the olty con
sumer who had little with which to
buy food. "But' it's hard on us com
mission men. It's putting us on the
rocks. I am not buying butter at all
any more. The co-operative creamery
here has run me out."
We asked him if cooperative butter
making did not make the work of the
farmer's wife and daughter easier.
"Of course it does," he said. , "And lit
tle good it is doing them. They don't
have to skim the milk and churn and
mold and salt the butter now and so
they go galavanting over the roads on
their bicycles. They don't stay home
at all any more. They're worse about
gadding than city women," and he
shook his head with misgivings.
So, if it be true, as our Irish friend
in his self pity proclaimed, that co
operative butter making and butter
marketing is going to make It cost the
consumer less and net the farmer
more, we suggest that both maker and
eater will be for it, the ex-commission
merchant to the contrary notwith
standing, They will both In city and
country be Interested In seeing co-op
eration accomplished. Certainly the
country woman who feels the burden
of butter making will welcome a pro
cess by which she is to get an oppor
, tunlty to see something besides the
top of the cook stove and the Inside of
the big churn. And we do not believe
that the ordinary American farmer
will object to co-operation even if It
does give his wife and daughter time
to get out upon the road in buggy or
bin bicycles.
The Omagh Creamery.
When we learned that the Omagh
Cooperative Creamery system of mar
keting was cutting down the margin
of price between farmer and consumer
? was both raising the price to the
farmer and lowering the price to the
consumer, we concluded that it was a
concern worth considering. Even the
accusation that made it possible for
the farmer's wife and daughter to get
out on their bicycles occasionally did
not unduly prejudice us against It- The
Omagh creamery is capitalised by con
tributions from 600 members who in
vested from Ave dollars, up to $260
each. But the voting Is not by share*.
It is on the one man one vote plan.
The flve-dollar man votes Just as often
and as forcibly as the $260-dollar man.
The members voting thue elect a
board of directors. These in turn have
the best man they can get as manager.
But he must be more than a butter
maker. He must be a good business
man and an expert in marketing. No
matter how much money is made, It
must all go back to: the members la
proportion to tae bitter fat delivered
to til* dreamery after a dividend not
" , ?. .
exceeding fire per cent, la paid to the
stockholders. Five per oent. to the
limit of profit to shareholder*. Thla Is
the rule In all oo -operative enterprises
I lu Ireland. It la organised primarily
! that profits may go to the man who
! brings In the cream. It la not ranked
as a particularly fine lnveatment for
the aharebolder.
Differs From American CrssmeHsa.
We flud the mechanical proceeaes of
butter making mucb the same as those
In the best up-to-date American butter
factorlee. We do find, however, that
this co-operative Association has had
an output that la of more uniform ex
cellence than that of the American
factory. Here each member aeema to
I realise more fully than doee the Amer
ican farmer that the utmoat vigilance
must be exercised lu keeping the milk
and cream fresh and free from all Im
purities, that keeping up the quality of
the butter Is as much his business as
the butter-maker's. Therefore he
breeds and feeds and carea for hie
cows and handles his milk on aclentlOo
lines suggested by co-operative Instruc
tors and Inspectors. The farmor is
saving hie own Interests, of course, for
a falling off of quality and reputation
means a falling off In the price ob
tained for butter. The creamery teats
carefully, not only for butter fat but
for freshness and flavor.
Supervision and inspection.
Then, too, tho Irish Agricultural Or
ganization society, which is the central
federation of all co-operative societies,
inspects the crcamery and its output
frequently, points out defects and
helps to remedy them. The business
side is not neglected. The organiza
tion society has complete business su
pervision of the creameries, which
must keep their accounts and records
in tho way and on forms prescribed by
this central body*. The creameries re
port to the organisation society and
their books and accounts are period
ically audited by the organization so
ciety's auditor.
Co-Operation Does the Work.
In short, the butter is good because
of co-operation. The members co-op
erate with each other and with the
Omagh .creamery; the Irish Agricul
tural Organization society co-operates
with the Omagh creamery; the Omagh
creamery is federated with hundreds
of other creameries and is federated
with and co-operates with the Irish
Wholesale society through which the
butter is marketed. It is co-operation
everywhere and the object of it all is
to produce good butter, to market It in
good shape and to get a fair price for
it.
Quality and Brand*.
But quality after all la the whold
thing. If butter is not good no system
of marketing, no business methods, no
exercise of federated strength, no co
operative endeavor can do anything
for it. The Omagli creamery makes
good butter and for years has made
good butter. It has a well established
reputation for good butter which is
worth at leaet one cent for every,
pound that it makes. In order to be
able to collect this cent on each pound
it must mark each pound that it sends
out.
And printed upon the wrappers and
stamped upon the cases is the guar
anty of quality: "Guaranteed Pure
Centrifugal Creamery Butter, Ftnest
Quality."
Butter Central Label.
But more Important still is the au
thorized label of the Irish Agricultural
Organization society issued from its
headquarters at the Plunkett house in
Dublin. It goes upon only the best of
butter. It goeB not upon a case or
cake or cover, but upon the butter It
self. The label is printed upon thin
tissue paper. When it is placed upon
the butter it is stamped with a die
that fixes the label firmly upon and in
"*tbe butter and tears the paper bo that
it cannot be removed ^nd used again.
This label is -guaranteed as carefully
as are the cotns of the realm. Bach
has a series number and can be traced
to the creamery to which It was deliv
ered. If by any chanc4 it is found up
on a. poor* quality of butter, the butter
is at once sent back to the creamery
to which the use of that particular
label was entrusted.
What We Need in America. ?
We have plenty of creameries Id the
United States. Some of them are
owned co-operatively by the farmers.
But the farmers stop Just short of the
highest success. The marketing is
generally haphazard. The different
creameries do not co-operate in sell
Ing. Often good butter goes bad be
fore it is sold. No one knows where
the demand is greatest today, when
the butter should be sent tomorrow.
The quality is seldom uniform. Many
a good butter maker with good butter
making equipment turns out poor but
ter because the patrons bring in poor
cream. The farmers do not co-opera
tlvely work for quality. The creamery
does not always discriminate between
the best f^esh cream and oream that is
a trifle stale and old. Butter buyers
cannot know what they are getting.
The name of the creamery upon a
package carries no guaranty of qual
ity. It is put on good and bad butter
alike.
A Definite Prescription.
What is needed In the United States
is, first, creameries supported by farm
ers working together co-operatively to
produce an absolutely uniform high
grade product ; second, a brand thft is
authoritatively filed onTy^ on butter of
the highest quality after official tests
and grading; and third, a central as
sociation or federation of creameries
that will perform the functions of the
Irish Wholesale society and of the
Irish Agricultural Organization society.
This central federation should control
the branding of butter, possibly under
state supervision; It should respect
and audit and advise with each sep- ,
arate creamery; it should aid in mar
keting the butter Intelligently - and
economically.
Bank Stock
For Sale
? ?? ?? ' ? ?
I am offering for sale, within
30 days. live Thousand
($5,000) Dollars worth of
stock of the Loan & Savings
Bank, of Camden, S. C.
L. L. CLYBURN
. DeKALB. S. C.
BANK STOCK
WANTED
i '
I hereby offer Five I houfi
and Five Hundred Dollars
($5,500 00) for the Five
I housand Dollars of Loan
& Savings Bank Stock, (50
shares) advertised by L. L.
Clyburn, that is to say,
ten per cent, above par.
Henry Savage
CAMDEN, S. C.
Brought to Civilization.
The latest addition to civilization
is the Watwa tribe, people who lived
like frogs In the unknown swamps
Of T^ake Bangweolo, Central Africa.
Thes swamps were quite impregnable,
and the people would not formerly al
low strangers to visit their haunts.
Now they have vacated the swamps,
and live on dry land. They have be
come law-abiding, willingly pay their
taxes, and even escort government of
ficials to their old-time homes.
Funerals Directed
We supply the beet of burial goods, con
duct funerals and relieve families and
friends of many unpleasant duties ince
dent to death. We are always prepared
to serve those who need our service.
B. R. McCREIGHT, CAMDEN, s. C.
i
)
Profit By The Experience
of Others
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We want your business and can make you oloso prlcos. Why?
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Inspect oyr stock of farm Implements, Disc Harrows, Subsoil
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Agents for Arab Horse Feed, Larr6w Cow Feed, also have
Just received a car load of Cotton Seed Hulls, car Oats, Car
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SPRINGS & SHANNON
Camden, S. C.
Realizing that the people of Camden are wanting
MONEY
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\V
Enterprise Construction Company
- *
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Address for the- present care of rtOMK BUILDKR8 8UPPL*Y COMPANY, Camden, B. C.