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SOUTH SIDE HM8XH0EE. N »y of J. O. C u n n lghatn.l German Farm Women Returning From Market. Co-Operative Farm Products Marketing How l i Is Done in Europe and May Be Done in America to the Profit of Both Farmer and Consumer By MATTHEW 8. DUDGEON. <r CO OPERATIVE GERMANY. a t a n f c Berlin, Germany.—The German fa rm e r calls upon co-operation to sell im hie supplies. He asks It to mar- bls eggs and his butter. It dis tils alcohol out of his potatoes and m akes wine for him out of his fruit. Everyw h e re in Germany you will find co-operative elevators and warehouses for storing grain, cooperative soci eties for Improving the breed of live stock, co-operative banks for furnish ing loans to members, co-operativ^in- aurance companies for insuring against every Imaginable damage. Co operative societies are formed to meet the needs of agriculture at every turn —producing the raw material, convert ing the raw m aterial into salable form, and placing the finished product upon the market. “Agricultural co-operative societies have become so numerous in Germany as alm o st to Jostle one another. There are at the present time more than 26,- 000 of them .” These are the words of Henry Wolff, the great authority upon agricultural co-operation, and we have found his statem e n t true. These 26,- 000 societies have nearly two and a half million members. Over half of 'th e s e societies are credit associations, which have a working capital of over 1400,000,000. Moreover, the number of societies and the number of mem bers are constantly increasing. The German farm er who in his way is an individualist and as independent as is the American farm er, has learned that co-operation is his salvation and be lieves in allying himself with his neigh bors for the common economic de fense. How German Farm er Co-operates. Everything the German farm er does he does co-operatively. If he wishes to purchase a farm he gets a 60 or 60 year loan from a Landschaften bank. When he finds it necessary to buy im plements or live stock, or seeds, he uses money borrowed from a co-opera tive credit society, making short time loans. He gets his equipment of a co operative store which furnishes him a guaranteed article at the lowest pos sible price. For when co-operation sells to the farm er, everything from garden ieds to threshing machines is guar- _ teed. If he wishes to insure his property he goes to a co-operative in surance company, which will insure bis crops against loss by hail or wind; another co-operative insurance agency Insures his house jgaln s t fire, while another insures his live stock against sickness, accident, or legal destruc tion, following the discovery of tuber- miosis or other contagious disease. H is stock cattle come t6 him from a co-operative breeding farm. From co operative associations he gets his sci entific instructions as to the care of his cattle, as to the best feeds,. as to th e cure of animal diseases, as to the valuation of crops, as to fertilizers. H is milk and cream he takes to a co operative creamery, from which it is ■old co-operatively. His very hens lay co-operative eggs which within pn hour after they are laid may bear the stam p of a co-operative organization. Even the farm e r's wife has a ten dency toward co-operation and is as alive to its advantages as is the farm e r himself. Everywhere we find the omen intelligent and conducting lr domestic affairs as scientifically as do the men their farms. W ater Supply Companies. One form in which co-operation has evinced its efllciency in Germany is a rather unique one, and is one which a t least in some parts of the United S tates is worthy of careful study by American farmers. Scattered through out Germany there are many co-opera tive societies for supplying water to its members. There are in the prov ince of Hanover alone, for example, 15 ouch companies. W h ether the commu nity has been large or small, these supply companies have generally suc ceeded. The advantages of co-operation In ,hacking the problem of water supply v e been thus summarized: “By co lon a sufficient sum of money be raised to enable a source of wa it- to be tapped, unquestionable as to softness and quality; 2. Co • V \ \ h I operation ensures extrem e economy in m aintenance and management; 3. Co operation enables the sm allest commu nity to provide itself with a really good w ater supply.\ It is not impossible that there is in this German experience a suggestion for the irrigation companies in western America, where mismanagement and graft seem to have prevailed. Cer tainly a truly co-operative association ganized upon the one man one vote plan, freed from all motives of exces sive or speculative profits, and man aged with the efllciency that ts tradi tional in co-operative concerns could never have made shipwreck of so‘ many fair prospects as have some of the irrigation companies in the west ern states. Plowing by Steam. The owners of the big wheat farms in the northwestern parts of the United States might sit up and take notice of some of the co-operative power plow companies which are operating in Ger many. At present there are 46 such societies. The entire power equipment is owned by the society, and its mem bers, even though they occupy com paratively small farms, are by this means enabled to have the benefit of the improved and cheaper work of the power plow. Experience here shows that the power plowing plant, consist ing of a set of plows, tackle and steam or electric power, cannot be main tained economically unless it has something like 2,000 acres upon which to operate. The concerns are most care fully managed. A good machinist is always in charge of the outfit. In ad dition to his salary he is allowed a commission upon every acre plowed. He has entire charge of the operations and requires all members to remove all obstructions before work is under taken. The rates are carefully graded according to the soil, the depth and the accessibility. In some cases, also, a less charge is made for plowing dur ing the slack periods, the price being raised as the demand for services of the equipment Increases. Co-operative Automobiles. It is said that every well-to-do Amer ican farm er has an automobile. In Germany, where the acreage is small and the farm er has less capital to in vest in his equipment the farm er jolhs with his neighbor to purchase an auto- me bile and a large number of co-op erative motor societies have been fdrmed. These machines, however, are not the touring cars and runabouts that, a re ordinarily used by the Ameri can farmer, but are the most prosaic utilitarian motor trucks which can move immense quantities of produce over the hard level roads of the Ger man provinces. German scientists and inventors have with great ingenuity produced machinery that accomplishes with lit tle effort alm ost everything which in years past called for hard labor. The demand for power Is consequently great and growing constantly. This has led to the organization of elec trical supply works in connection with other agricultural co-operative organ izations. Of these there are 610, which are purely co-operative, al though there are in Germany over 2,000 companies which furnish more o r less electrical power to those inter ested in agricultural pursuits. Co-operative Societies Federated. The co-operative spirit has not ceased when it has led the farm er to co-operate with his neighbors to form a local co-operative concern. The Ger man genius for organization has led to a most elaborate system of co-or dination between the various local co operative associations. For example, all co-operative dairies within a prov ince will be united together in a cen tral association which unifies and har monizes the work of all the local or ganizations. TJiese central provincial societies are in turn in an empire- wide federation with headquarters at Berlin. You will therefore in that city find several central concerns, each of which is allied with hundreds of local societies. This centralization scheme ^as many advantages. It pro vides for supervision, inspection^and co-operative credit audit which leads to good accounting systems and good business methods. The central office serves as a bureau of Information and advice. In case of m arketing the central society, by rear son of its size and financial resources, gets into m arkets which would be al together inaccessible to the little lo cal concern. W ithout centralization German co-operation would be much less effective than it is. • Increased Quantity, . J Here in Germany, as elsewhere, co operation has not only enabled the farm er to make the most out of what he produces, but has increased the quantity and improved the quality of the product itself. This has been true in every line where co-operative or ganizations have become active. The results in dairying are fairly repre sentative. In Braden burg tests were made in 1908 which covered the pro duction of over 1,000 cows. The av erage yield of milk per cow was found to be 2,661 kilograms, producing 95 kil ograms of butter, and n etting a profit of 108.06 m arks per cow. In 1910 the average yield had increased to 2,885 kilograms of milk, producing 101 kilo grams of butter, and netting 132.65 m arks profit for each cow, an increase of 24.59 m arks per cow, a m a tter of |5,000 on the 1,000 cows. German Co-operation Democratic. German co-operation is^ to para phrase the recognized form ula for democracy “of the members,, by the members, and for the m e m b e r s . N o body thinks of a German co-operative society as organized for the purpose of declaring dividends. The utm ost returns th a t those who hold shares receive is a five o r six per cent, profit. If a creamery, for example, finds it self with undivided profits it does not distribute them to the members in pro portion to the shares they hold, but to the members who as patrons bring in the milk and cream, and they go to them in proportion to the quantity and quality furnished by each. These profits constitute as it were an addi tional price, which the patrons receive for their product. All, too, are man aged upon the “one man one vote” plan. The member who holds only one share and brings in the milk of only one cow has the same voting power as the farm er with a thousand shares and a thousand cows. Co-operation is most emphatically democratic. Good Quality end Good Business. German cooperators themselves ascribe the success of their societies largely to good quality and good busi ness methods. The societies pride themselves upon the fact th a t their output ii better than that of privately owned plants. Their goods are in de mand, they say, not because they are cooperative goods, but because they are good goods. The societies almost without exception have required that m anagers shall be skilled men with both experience and training. These positions pay good salaries, and can didates spend tim e and money quali fying themselves to hold them. As a result these concerns are most busi nesslike in every particular. The plants are efficient, the employers competent, and most excellent acr counting system s are in vogue. Co-operative Credit. It is noticeable that in Germany there are more co-operative credit so cieties than m arketing societies. More over, the average German enthusiast German Co-operative Elevator. will tell you that co-operation natu rally begins with co-operative credit, rather than with cooperative m arket ing. It does not necessarily follow, however, th a t in America co-operative credit associations phould precede co operative marketing. Conditions in Germany differ greatly from those in the United States. In the first place, the privately owned banking houses of Germany did not serve the German farm er even as adequately as the American banker is now serving the American farmer. In the second place, m arketing in Germany presents practically none of the difficulties encountered in Amer ica. Germany has by high tariffs forced the consumer to depend upon domes tic production. The local demand for almost every farm product exceeds the supply. As a result there gre two buyers demanding butter, for example, when only enough butter for one is available. There are no long hauls, as in Amer ica, no long distance commission busi ness. The producer more nearly meets the consumer face to face and gets his price. German m arketing as compared to American is direct, simple, and free from complexities. We must take the ^ counsel of the German who ranks co-operative credit as more im p o rtant than co-operative m arketing with caution, sinae he has dealt with reversed conditions. We are firmly convinced, after a careful survey, that a t least in America, the more prosperous scheme of co-opera tive m arketing is more im p o rtant than Third Baseman Bill Hopke, who Jumped the Utica team of the New York State league last year to Join the Federals, has applied, for rein statem e n t in ' organized ball. He played a few weeks with the Indian apolis Federals. • • • Philadelphia was the abiding place last season of the two men who lead the m ajor leagues in timely hitting— Frank Baker of the Athletics having led the Americans in this respect, lust as Oavvy Cravath did the Na-j tionals. * Should Clyde Engle fail to fill out tLe first base position for the Red Sox, in George WISaou, who topped the New England with a .366 average, they have a player eligible to compete with any of them for the Initial sack. • • x ' Jimmy Johnston. Ctib fielder, says he is going to do hie utm o st to stick with the Cuba and show the Sox they made a mistake in letting him go. The fleet-footed ex-Frisco gardener is showing all bis old-time speed. Larry Lajole, Hans W agner and Bobby Wallace have had many a \last season” in baseball, but what we want to know is: Will one from this trio be missing when the roll call comes around in October. e. • • Maranville to Evers to Schultz is music to the ears of Boston fans. In Chicago it will be Tinker to Far rell to Kadlng, and if the P. L. gets into the game it will be Boone to Peckinpaugb to Chance. More than 3100,000 has been raised to put the Beds on their feet in Buf falo, according to official information. The stands will be wooden, It is said, as the necessary permit can be ob tained from the city. In Bresnahan and Needham the Cubs have two of the heaviest catch ers In either league. Both of these men are way above weight and have an irksom e task to get rid of the un necessary poundage. George Graham, catqher of the To ronto (International league)Base Ball club, has been purchased by the Wich ita club. Graham has played with the Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia Na tional league clubs. • • •« J W. R. Armour of the .Kansas City club predicts that Jap Bar beau will not come anywhere near to filling the shoes of Shortstop Blackburns, hence he argues the Brewers cannot repeat for the pennant Joe Birmingham has four first base- men trying for the position. Besides the veteran, Doc Johnston, there are Jack Knight, Gene Paulette and Roy Wood. The latter is making the best impression. Cobb, Speaker ana Milan have been picked as the three greatest outfield ers. Joe Jackson has been omitted because he is none too good a base runner, and covers but little ground in the field. \I don’t want Cobb for any price,\ was the declaration made by Connie Mack, in regard to the annual freak yarn of Clarke Griffith that the latter would purchase the Tiger demon for $ 100 , 000 . Branch Ricky has a young star trying for shortstop on the Brown nine. Hollander, the recruit, la one of Rickey’s celebrated collegians and is the sm allest member of the team. Pitcher Rudy Summers of the Chat tanooga (Southern league) club has Jumped to the Federal league, accord ing to information received by Man ager McCormick of Chattanooga Bert Niehoff, now a Redleg, is capa ble of bolding down third base this summer. So states Manager Charley Herzog, who has played th a t position for a lengthy period himself. Hughey Jennings believes that George Moriarty, with his .275 bat ting average, is a more valuable play er than any man who hit above the charmed .300 mark. Ralph L. Mattls, who led the Vir ginia league in batting last season, has signed to play with the Pittsburgh Feds. He is an outfielder and played with Roanoke. Manager Jack W right says he has organized a stock company at Inde pendence, Ky., and the fans are wild about the club going into the Spinney league. W hether or not the Federal league lives long enough to cash on its in vestment it will always rem ain a green memory with the ball players. A baseball manager's dream of heaven—Nap Rucker, W alter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Wally Schang and Jimmy Archer on one- team. • • • • Billy Bergen, for years In the Na tional league, has dedded to quit the game. He played with the Wilkes- ta r re team last season. SILK PLOUGHUN PEEVED. M e M i MB m An umpire must m aintain a dignified attitude on the field, and if there is one thing peeves Umpire Silk O’Loughlin it is to ruffle his dignity. He courts an argum ent, provided he gets the de cision, which Is usually the result, w rites Umpire Billy Evans. Catcher Krichell of St. Louis put one over on Silk last summer that drew a laugh from both teams and from the spectators within hearing dis tance. O’Loughlin failed to appreci ate i t His countenance so plainly disclosed this that Manager W allace feared his entire team might be sent to the club house for Krlchell’s bon mot. In baseball, when a. player m eets the ball squarely with his bat, some of his team m ates sing out, “T h a t’s putting the wood on it, old boy.” During the game in question O’Loughlin was working the plate and a foul tip struck his mask, near the top, sailing into the grand stand with terrific speed. \ To everyone it seemed that the ball struck O’Loughlin on top of the head, and while he delayed the game mo m entarily to recover his wits, there cam e from the St. Louis bench Krich- ell’s voice: “Nice work. Silk. T h a t’s putting the wood on it, old boy.” In an Instant O’Loughlin’s expres sion changed from pain to astonish ment. He glared at the St. Louis bench and Wallace was relieved when he failed to start a procession of ath letes to the clubhouse. Charlie Dooin Is trying hard to in duce George Stallings to let him have Bill Sweeney, now that John Evers has consented to play with the Braves. Dooin is In need of a player like Bill to fill in at second base. • • • i The national commission has re fused to reopen the case of the Ot tum wa club against the S t Joe club for the services of Player Parks. The national board has awarded Parks to St. Joe. Barney Dreyfuss, president of the Pirates, says the Evers sale will stand and the Cubs will not get paid for Johnny, but may be perm itted to pur chase some one to fill his shoes. Jim Shaw, the Senators’ husky re cruit, Is so pigeon-toed th a t every time Nick Altrock looks at him he thinks the youngster is falling over, and runs to hold him up. The White Sox will be sorry to see Bob Groom go to “the Federals. The W ashington pitcher never finished a game he started against them last year. • • • Hugh Jennings claims the tallest pitcher in either league. His name Is Miles Main and he is on the tooth pick order, being six feet six inches. The Giants are said to have the tall est battery in either league. Rube M arquard and Larry McLean are called the Eiffel tower twins. Now we know why Christy Mathew- son didn’t care to join the outlaws. Matty wants to remain a real Giant SPORTING WORLD University of Oregon’s new athletic field gt Eugene, Ore., will consist of two football fields, one of which will be used for soccer; three baseball dia monds, tennis courts and a quarter- mile running track with a 320-yard straightaw ay on one side. The Nebraska university football schedule as completed provides for eight games, beginning October 3. For the first time in many years Minnesota is not included In the list, Michigan Agricultural taking its place. The golf course at Montrose in Ire land, where the game has been played for some 300 years, is being reconstructed according to a plan made by H. 8. Colt at a cost of $7,500. At the Lexington sale C. A. Valen tine of Columbus purchased a two- year-old trotting colt by Morgan Ax- worthy (2:17), out of the dam of Far- ra (2:08% ). Champion Johnny Kilbane has turned down a tem pting offer from Prom o ter Snowy Baker to display his ring cleverness In Australia. Pontius, football star, has had to leave Michigan because he was back in everything excepting gridiron stu- df— H ome , / 8 elps KEEP FIRE LOSS AT MINIMUM Advice Given New Yorkers Is Worth Heeding by Residents of the Smaller Cities. Don’t block the fire escapes. You m ay need them yourself tonight Don’t leave everything to the land lord. Inspect your own house from cellar to garret and locate all exits. Don't throw cigars or cigarettes out of windows. They drop on awnings and set them afire. Don’t allow children to play with matches. Don’t use m atches or candles In dark closets or cellars. Don’t keep m atchee ex c e p t In a tin box with cover attached. Don’t toss away a match unless completely extinguished, and then toss it into a metal or porcelain receptacle. Don’t fill lamps or oil stoves while lighted. Don’t use naphtha or gasoline for cleaning purposes where there are open lights or fires. Don’t put ashes on a dumbwaiter. Don't accumulate old beds and bed ding or other trash in cellars. Don’t allow delivery boys to tie back the dumbwaiter door In cellar; by this means fires have spread throughout buildings. Don’t neglect to have the chimney flue cleaned once a year. You are re sponsible, not your landlord.—From “Fireproofing a City,” by Joseph John son, Fire Commissioner of New York, in the American Review of Reviews. OWN THEIR OWN GREENHOUSE Leading Municipalities Are Beautify ing Their Streets With a Profit to Themselves, Tree planting campaigns are being carried on in many cities of the United States, resulting in profit and attract iveness to these cities. In SL Louis, for instance, the estim ated value of the 66,500 trees and shrubs turned out in two years by the two municipally owned greenhouses was $12,721.70. The original cost and maintenance ex penditures amounted to $4,000, leaving a net profit to the city of $8,721. For merly the park departm ent was forced to buy the trees they set out. In Philadelphia, the Fairmount Park commission, which has supervision of over 127,000 street trees in the city, is planning to turn many treeless streets into shady avenues as a step toward conserving life and health. A tr5e-planting campaign in Baltimore in 1914 will be extended to the plant ing of 1,500 trees, and during the win ter all the dead trees in the city will be removed. It is estim ated that by planting seedlings the city will in the course of three years save many hun dreds of dollars each year. Progressive Publicity. When you want a new cook you advertise. When you w ant to let the world know—which means the man around the corner and his wife—that you sell better meat or better carpets or better automobiles for less money than your competitor down the street you advertise. Therefore, if a big city wants to be bigger, if a prosperous city wants to be richer, why not a d v e rtiser Pub licity, in one way or another, has made m o st big fortunes and most big in dustries. Advertising, clever, consist ent, persistent advertising, has turned half-starved little businesses into sleek, well-fed corporations. Let Easterners wake up to the busi ness interests of their home town and build up their city commercially by* the same methods th a t they would adopt in booming their own business. Money spent on municipal advertising pays—cities out W est learned that long ago.—W ashington Herald. Gratifying Progress. The current decade is remarkable for the generality of the movement among American cities in way of de veloping the public service equipments and the improving of living condi tions. This march of progress is not an unreasonable reaching after vis ionary things, but is only in keeping w ith the Increasing populations and the expanding wealth of cities. In m o st Instances the betterm ents are based upon the perspective view— upon the consideration that the city m u st grow, and that this growth mdst be prepared for—but the betterm ents are needful and are not being pushed before the need for them has devel oped. Futurist Roses. In Bond street, London, there are to be seen some crude artificial roses with the label “Nuances futuristes.” A rose of h arsh toned pink would have a violet center, or a brilliant peacock green heart, one of violent mustard was centered with brown, while one of raw scarlet had an orange h e a r t The futurist rose has appropriately unnatural leaves with a dark metal lic sheen. Sunny Streets Desirable. In the city planning congress at Ghent there was muck advocacy of streets so laid out as to allow the greatest possible am o u n t of sunlight in order to secure the fullest microbi cidal action’ of the rays. > I
