The Camden chronicle. (Camden, S.C.) 1888-1981, May 08, 1914, Image 6
Co-Operative Farm
Products Marketing
How It Is Done in Europe and May lie Pone
in America to the I*rofit of Both
Farmer and Consumer
By MATTHEW t*. DUDGEON.
(Copy i J0hl, ivH, VVi'Kofri N?wip*per i nlon.j
EGGS FOR EVERYBODY.
Copenhagen, Denmark l>ld you
know thai the people 111 New York
?lon<* eat on** hundred fifty million
do/en ol <'KK? every year and Hint
I hey something like forty the mil
lion (Jollgrn? I >I<I you know tltul an
expert Iihk estimated thai each year
America cuts uoiii?thlnK I i k ?? one thou
sand million dollar* worth of eggs? i
How Eqqh Spoil.
When tin* farmer used to go to town
his wife wmil along v>lth a basket of
eggs containing posalbly four or ntx
or ton dozen of them These eggs we're
delivered to the general country store
keeper and I n hi <mkI of paying for them
in ranli tin' merchant gave trade lu
exchange 'I he price of eggH was low
and when I he prlco was further re
doced by translation into sugar. or cof
fee nt a high prlcO the results were of
rio groat significance. Kgg selling
then was In fact a nmall buslncHs Ah
a Hinall business It wan not for a long
Mine developed alohK scientific llhes.
The hon laid only when tho weather
wbk good. She lain a fresh egg of
course, hut it wan likely to lie around
in dirty neat until tlnie and a summer
heat made it a very hud egg to look
nt and a worse egg to eat. Not all
<ggs spoiled but ho many went had
that. scattered through the lot sent In
by the farmer they lowered the grade
<>f all bo that even the freshet went
only as "eggs" because no otic knew
they were "strictly fresh."
Strictly fresh eggs were practically
unobtainable iih a 111 alter of fact. Aft
er the farmer'* wife delivered the eggs
to the merchant he kept them around
n few., days or maybe weeks until he
had a fairly largo shipment. They
might be in (In- ('('liar and they might
be in (lie back of i he store where ltl
w as wanner, but at any rate they
gained nothing in llay.or or quality
from bin storage Then he sent, them}
to some merchant in the county,
seat nearby. This dealer kept them
awhile until an accumulation made a
shipment . possible to the city eomtnls
sion merchaul in Milwaukee, Boston ,
or Kansas City They then might be
sold bv t he commission agent to the
retail 'trade or I hey might be put In
cold storage or they might be shipped)
to some; distant place. But you may.}
rest assured that It was- some time be
fore the egg laid on th?' tm'm found i
itH way to the breakfast table of the >
city consumer Much time hud been
consumed, unnecessary expense had.
been Incurred in going through t h 1 h
slow, unbusinesslike, unscientific sys
tem -of distribution. Hut worse than
A Few Oani6h Eggs.
the delay and c\|H!Ubc involved was
the fart that the ckk which started
down tin- line from the lien as ":i
strictly fresh" egg hud little chance
of reaching its dest i nut ion as anything
but a had egg
A Wasteful, Expensive Process.
The whole process is wasteful Last ,
sumnifj1 in Missouri titerallv hundreds'
of wauon loads of egns were driven off
into the woods and dumped simply
because they had none had upon the;
hands of those who were not able to :
market them promptly Then too the'
loss and damage, from breakage is con
Side ruble, and one authority has esti
mated that the bundling of e^ns by
those who pack and ship them is so in
expert that each year seventy five mil
lion dollars worth are broken and lost
In transportation.
Is It any wonder that when eggs du
ally reach the consumer they often
?cost him more than twice what the
farmer received for them? Is it any
>onder that the farmer Is dissatisfied !
?with the price he receives when it is :
sometimes less than one-half what the
consumer pays Is it any wonder the'
city man kicks at the price which he 1
pays, kicks again when he tinds that
the high priced eKtfs are had oKgs
A Better, More Businesslike Way.
Contrast this method of handling
with the way it is done bv the cooper
ative organizations abroad Denmark
leads in egg marketing as m th> mar
keting of almost every other farm
produce. At Frederickssund in Den- ,
mark, for example, ten thousand farm- |
ors own an egg packing establishment, j
Every farmer gathers every ogn from
tho nest every day. In hot weather he
is required to gather the eggs twice a i
day. At least three times a week ho j
*ends In his egga to one of the collect
lug points which urn located conve
niently. Thence they go to the cen
tral station Thjpy are good. clean eggs.-j
too, for not only have they been
promptly gathered and kept In a cool
place, but the nests themselves are
kept clean and frost), Ah the egg Is
delivered It Is carefully tented; no egtj
which Ih had either In appearance or
In substance, passes muster. lCvery
egg bears n stamp Indicating ' who de
livered the eg g to the association. The
fanner who Honds In a bad egg Ih
lined. These 10,000 farmers through
their manager whom they hired and
who lu a highly skilled man. ship. most '
Of these eggs directly to the retail
dealers In Kugland The manager, an
he himself told us, abHolutely refuses
to aell through the London commis
sion men because they demand a per
centage which cuts down the profit of
the farmer who produces . the eggH
and raises the price to the city man
who eatu them. At the moment of
shipping lie knows. JuHt where there
Ih a demand for eggs and consequently
Is Hure that the eggs will be promptly
accepted and promptly resold. 80 effi
cient Ih this proceHH that within hIx
days after the egg Ih laid by the hen
It may be on the table of the consumer
In distant England.' During every
minute of that hIx days the egg has
been ho well cared for that. It has had
no chance to deteriorate In quality in
the ^lightest degree. Not only does
the farmer receive a good price for
this egg but, because the proees? of
distribution Is so efficient and Inex
pensive, the .final retail price Is rea
sonable and the consumer profits as
much as the producer. The stamp of
a Danish co-operative association on
an egg Is a guarantee of quality.
Co-Operative Egg Export.
Some of tile smaller Danish socle
ties had in the beginning a little ditli
culty in standardizing their product
and hi establishing stable prices. To
assist lu accomplishing these two ob
Jects the Danish Co-operative lOgg Ex
port society was organized in 189u
The purpose <?f this organization Is to
standardi/i* the output and bring about
greater liability in prices. The cen
tral society is made up of a large num
ber of local associations each of which
contains at least ten members
Kach producer must stamp the eggs
with his own number and that of the
group to which he belongs- t-'va-i it rs
possible to ascertain exactly who sup
plied each egg The farmer who sends
In a bad egg Is lined The eg gs are
then sent to packing centers, whence
they are shipped according to a llxed
price determined a week in advance
by the managing committee.
Although not twenty years old the
Danish lOgg Rxport society consists of
5f?0 groups and did a business. In 1908,
of more than $?>. 000,000. Danish eggs
bring fancy prices because they are
always fresh, well sorted, well packed,
and guaranteed
Dutch Eggs.
Tho organization of egg societies
has also been taken up by the Dutch
farmers, the system adopted being
practically the same as that which
prevails in Denmark
Ik)chI societies are formed and a (III
iated to a Central Provincial federa
tion. which is responsible for grading,
testing, packing, and shipping. The
eggs are collected by the local socie
ties ami forwarded regujarlv to the
Central Depot. Kvery member of a
local society is furnished with a num
ber, which must be stamped on tho
eggs before delivery. The 'eggs are
carefully tested, and a member supply
ing stale eggs is subject to a penalty
of one dollar for every egg rejected.
The Association of Co-operative
Creameries in l.imburg was the first
to take up the co-operative export of
eggs. The province of Frlesland fol
lowed There ts a poultry association
which works over the whole of Hol
land. and has eleven provincial
branches, but this association does not
trade, having been established to pro
tect the interests and develop the in
dustry of poultry farming generally.
The Frlesland Export Federation was
established in 190.T and tho total value
of -the shipments in 1900 was about
$100,000
How Irish Eggs Are Sold.
A recent activity of the Irish Agri
cultural Organization society has been
the establishment of poultry products
associations, patterned entirely after
the Danish system already described.
This is. of course, about the simplest
and easiest form of a co-operative en
terprise to establish, as the outlay of
Invested capital is small, the returns
prompt and continuous and the prod
uct at leasf the eggs, readily stand
ardized Tho eggs, in taci are not only
stamped, sorted and packed as by the
Danes, but the producers are paid for
them almost entirely by weight instead
i of by number. These co operative egg
[ companies have succeeded beyond ex
pectation and the value of the egg ex
j ports handled co-operatively is about
i equal to the dairy exports, although
I the poultry produm tR of much
I value than dairy produce.
In flermany the "gg? are marketer; I
much a i ?h? y arc in Denmark in ' lie
on?* provlov e. of 1 1 tin over there are for |
example oik* hundred forty two coop
era li ve poultry socletlui Hom<- of]
these oombllin the breeding of(poultry
or the other forms of cooperation with
the selling otjS'KK* Ninety-eight egg;
socle! leu, however, are devoted eU:l
tlrely to egg selling and In the year
19 in disused of 27,ft00,000 eggs r?-ul- 1
l/in# tlurefrom over $400,000. 00 for
distribution among their cooperative
. members.
To belong to the society each farmer
pays an entrance fee of twenty-live
cents; shares In the society cost each
$1.20 of which, however, only twelve
cents is paid down, the balance befog
gradually paid by a distribution of (liv
id- ?ml:- upon the trading profits. Tho
Cooperative society at Hanover owns]
a substantial brick egg house from
which 44O.OO0 eggs are sold each yeur.
The collector who is paid 50c for every
one thousand eggs collected calls once
a week at the farm house of each
member of the co-operative egg sell- j
Ing society. The wonvitn who tests,!
sorts and packs the eggs is paid fif
teen cents for every one thousand |
eggs passing through her hands. A.
clerk from a neighboring dry good*
store attend* to Urn billing and keeps
the books of the society, receiving
twenty-five c*?nts for every one thou
sand eggs handled and recorded Sum
ming up all the expense Incurred by
the society In collecting, testing, sort-]
ing, packing and shipping the eggs It j
costs less than four hundred dollars j
to market almost half a million eggs (
The customers aro obtained In the
first Instance through the chamber of
agriculture at Hanover. This |s a sort
of rural chamber of commerce which ,
among other things keeps an up-io-i
dale list of customers who are good
pay and who are honest dealors. Each j
week- the society ships lurge consign- 1
merits to the various cities of the Oer- 1
man Empire seldom finding it neces- j
sary to export to foreign countries,
' Experience. shows that under this Ger
man co-operative system of marketing
the cash returns upon each do/an of
egRs are from three to six cents great
er than they were when they were
sold to the ordinary buyer. On the
other hand not a penny has been added i
to the cost to the consumers, who In
the majority of instances get egga
Danish Farm Yard.
che-ape-?- than they got them before and
of better quality. The more economic
leas wasteful system of marketing
makes egg production more profitable
to the farmer, leads him to produce
more eggs, increases the supply, and,
by the soundest principles of practical
business economics, lowers the price
to the consumer.
Americans Can Co-Operate in Eggs.
Nor has the. co-operative marketing
of eggs been confined to Europe W?
have in our own country some excel
lent inbtltutlons which demonstrate
that the co operative procedure which
is good for the European hen upon the
continent of Europe is good for the
American hen upon American solL
One of these is at Dassel, Minn.
These are the results in two years:
During the first year, the egg selling
society handled six thousand do?.eii
eggs, receiving an average of five
cents a do/en more for their product
than wan . paid for the miscellaneous
eggs on the same markets, thus mak
ing over $22 per member.
The second year, the association
shipped 60.000 dozen eggs, with the
came success, while the Dassel Prod
uce company ta private concern)
shipped 120.000 dozen more in carton
box lots In all, 180,000 dozen eggs
were sent from this Mttle town during
the year, for which these progressive
farmers received nearly $50,000 in
cash or $0,000 more than they could
have received under the old system,
whereas only enough eggs were for
merly taken in trade at the village gro
cery stores to supply the five hundred
people 11 vine in Dassel.
Other American Co-Operative Egg So
cieties.
At Hickory. North Carolina, a co
operative egg marketing grew out of
and became engrafted upon a co-oper
ative creamery business. That the
existing co-operative creameries can
easily :>nd naturally assume the funo
tlons of an egg marketing Institution
is evidenced by the success which
several Minnesota creameries have at
tained in this line
The co-operative society need not
necessarily be a largo organization.
The nine Mounds Egg association of
Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, consists of
only seven members The home of
one of the members constituted the
headquarters of the concern. Modest
RR was this venture it notted the mem
bers a very considerable margin above
the price which they otherwise would V
have been able to obtain As the foun
der said: "It requires almost no time,
the association runs itself" In fact
all that is needed today Is the con
viction that what has been done else
where car be done In any community "
In the United States if only the hens
ire on hand to do iheir shares
Bank Stock
For Sale
I am offering for sale, within
30 days, live thousand
($>,000) Dollars worth of
stock of the Loan & Savings
Bank, of Camden, S. ('.
L. L. CLYBURN
DeKALB. S. C.
BANK STOCK
WANTED
? ' '
I hereby offer Five I hous
and I* ive Hundred Dollars
($5,500.00) for the Five
Thousand Dollars of Loan
& Saving^Bank Stock, (50
shares) advertised by L. L.
Clyburn, that is to say,
ten per cent, above par.
Henry Savage
CAMDEN, S. C.
MONEY TO liOAN.
On improved farms. Easy terms
Apply to B. B. Clarke. Camden, S
C. . 60.
SAM WING LAUNDRY
Sm PHONE 91 ?
915] Broad St., Camden, S. C.
DO YOU KNOW
you can buy the very highest grade
groceries the market affords at our
place of business?
DO YOU KNOW
you don't have to be a merchant
to do this?
DO YOU KNOW
' ' . . ? --.-r
we are giving closer prices to the
trade than has been given in twenty
years ?
DO YOU KNOW
, we would be pleased to give YOU
these prices, and that we woujd
appreciate your patronage?
MURCHISON
Wholesale Supply Company
For SORE HEAD
(Chicken Pox)
Tills dread di?ease will
practicaHy ruin the flock
unless <juiek)y checked.
prail s
Sore Head iChicken Pox)
Remedy
25 and 60c
is a sure cure.
Finht lice, mites, ctc.,
with a sure weapon.
PraitS* Powdered Lice Killer
tie aW 4 Or. Is easily applied and .never fails.
Refuse substitutes; insist on I'ratts.
<? Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money Back
A'c< J'ratta 160 page I'ouUru Book
Koi* sale in ('jiimlcn by Springs O.
Shannon and Khanu* Bros.
COLUMBIA LUMBER &
MANUFACTURING CO.
MILL WORK
SASH, DOORS, BLINDS
AND LUMBER
PLAIN & HUGER STS. Phone 71
COLUMBIA, S. C.
Farm Lands For Sale
510 acres, more or less, known us the Spencer Place; situated 12
miles Southwest of Camden on the Coulter's Ferry Road; 100 acres of
open land, two horse farm under cultivation; land lie? well; good
stream running water; plenty of wood and good quantity of timber
on this tract. Price $10 per acre.
Farm of W. K. DeLoaehe, situate 2 1-2 miles Southeast of Camde*
containing 270 acres; 150 acres of open land, part of this under cul
tivation; timber and wood enough for place; land producing well; ad
joining lands have sold for $80.00 per acre; one five room dwelling*
a good barn and seven tenant houses. For sale at $3 5.00 per acre.
The I)oby Place containing 45 0 acres 3 miles of Blnney; 250 acr$5
open land, a part of this under cultivation; 100 acres pasture land
under wire.; some good opon creek land, plenty of^ wood and ?om?
timber on the place; good buildings; one overseers house,; 6 tenant
houses and two barns. Twenty-five mile creek runs through this pro
perty. Price $7,500. Terms: 1-4 cash, balance in three ^ears at the
usual rate of interest.
361 acres on Town Creek, four miles south of Camden; 00 acre*
open land; two tenant houses. Will sell at a bargain. Plat of same
? can be seen at our office.
137 acres on Lockhart lload known as the Wheat Place; seventy
one acres under cultivation; 3 tenant houses and one dwelling. Pr1c?
$22.00 per acre.
100 acres three miles from Camden betweeen the Kershaw and
Laborty Hill Rond; 50 acres under cultivation; one four room dwell
ing and barns. Price $3 5.00 per acre.
75 acres adjoining City Limits, known as Race Track Place of H.
(?. Carrison; one good overseer's house, severnl tenant houses and
barns; improvements 'first class; lands in high state of cultivation.
Price Reasonable
1,000 acres eight miles from Camden, on Charleston Road. - oa
if horn If'itln/nv urlili "I-""- ? u
? - - ? vii v,'?ru>tjion. Koau. oh
Southern Railway with siding and ware house; one new over-seer'e
house, eight tenant houses, 1 large barn, 1 gin house and equipment
and 1 cotton house. 1,200 acres swamp land, excellent for cattle or
hay culture;; 650 acres upland. 300 acres of the upland being of tbe
rinest land in the state and in the highest state of cultivation. Pric?
$21 an acre. Very easy terms.
352 acres of land known as the Creed property, eight miles North
of Camden; 2 00 acres open land, some timber and plenty of wood on
place; one half mile from good school; one five room dwelling, barns,
one store building and ten tenant houses. Price on application.
Terms: one-third cash, balance to suit purchaser.
Small farm, property of H. M. Fincher, one mile East of Camden;
one new $1,200 dwelling and barns; land in high state of cultivation
10 acres of this land produced seven 500 weight bales of cotton and
144 bushels of corn. Price $3,000. Terrms 1-6 cash, balance at 1
per cent on easy terms.
Wo also have listed with vis a good selection of City property. ?
C. P. DuBose & Company
Real Estate City Property Farm Lands