AGRICULTURAL
ORGANISATION
EDWIN A. PRATT
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
AGRICULTURAL
ORGANISATION
ITS RISE, PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
ABROAD AND AT HOME
BY
EDWIN A. PRATT
author of
'the organisation of agriculture," "the transition in agriculture,
" A history of inland transport and communication," etc.
LONDON :
P. S.KING & SON
ORCHARD HOUSE
WESTMINSTER
igia
AgrJc Usi,t
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MR. ROBERT A. YERBURGH, M.P.,
One of the earliest supporters of Lord Winchil-
sea's British Produce Supply Association ; formerly
President of the National Agricultural Union, and
President from its inauguration, in 1901, of the
Agricultural Organisation Society; who, through
his foresight and his appreciation of the real wants
of Agriculture, was mainly instrumental in effect-
ing the transition in this country of Agricultural
Organisation from combination^ based more or less on
political action, into co-operation^ established primarily
on principles of self-help and mutual help ; who thus
became the Father of Agricultural Co-operation on
organised lines in Great Britain, and to whose
strenuous efforts in helping to ensure the successful
operation of the Agricultural Organisation Society is
materially due the recent evolution thereof from a
voluntary body, of limited means and opportunities,
into a State-recognised Organisation, aiming at the
accomplishment of a National Work on National
Lines, the present brief record of the rise of Agricul-
tural Organisation and its development, progress
and aspirations in Great Britain is respectfully
dedicated by
The Author.
308304
N
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in 2007 with funding from
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PREFATORY NOTE
Under the terms and conditions of a grant from the
Development Fund, the Agricultural Organisation Society
is to undergo a transition from a voluntary into a State-
recognised and State-aided bod}^ whose function it will
be to conduct along National lines a National work of great
magnitude, complexity and importance ; though the fact
should be clearly understood that the State aid here in ques-
tion is not in the least degree inconsistent with the develop-
ment of the self-help principle, inasmuch as it will be given
to a propagandist association which has for its mission the
organisation of agricultural co-operative associations estab-
lished for business purposes in accordance with self-help
principles, and not themselves entitled to receive a State
subsidy inasmuch as they are associations trading for a
profit.
This reconstitution of the Agricultural Organisation
Society under the conditions indicated may be regarded as
a fitting occasion for passing under review the main objects
and leading principles of Agricultural Organisation in
general, the economic causes that originally led to its
adoption, the extent to which it has been resorted to in other
countries, and the developments in Great Britain that have
preceded the new departure now being taken under the
auspices of the State.
This story it is the purpose of the pages that follow to
tell. The present volume is based mainly on a ** Memoran-
dum on Agricultural Organisation '* drawn up by the writer
and presented by the President, Mr. Yerburgh, and the
viii PREFATORY NOTE
Secretary, Mr. J. Nugent Harris, to the new Board of Gover-
nors of the reconstituted Agricultural Organisation Society
on the occasion of their first meeting, on October 9th, 1912,
after the reconstitution ; but various matters of detail which
would not interest the general reader, together with refer-
ences to certain new schemes or proposals still to be matured,
have been omitted, while a new chapter on " The Movement
in Ireland,*' and, also, one giving " Simimary and Con-
clusions," have been added.
My own interest in the problems thus dealt with dates back
to the year 1892, when, on the occasion of the National
Agricultural Conference referred to on pp. 89 — 92 (a
gathering which could only suggest for the resuscitation of
depressed agriculture such remedies as Protection, Bime-
talism, reduced taxation, changes in the land laws and the
formation of a Parliamentary Agricultural Party) I con-
tributed to The Times of December 6th and 7th, 1892, two
articles on " Australasian Produce in English Markets,'*
in which I gave details as to what was then being done
by Australia and New Zealand in the way of organising
their agricultural industries on such lines as would allow
of greatly increased food supplies being sent here under the
best and most remunerative conditions. On December
26th, 1895, I contributed to the same paper an article on
" Colonial Governments and Colonial Trade," giving the
later developments in respect to agriculture in New South
Wales, Victoria, South Austraha, Queensland, Tasmania,
and New Zealand, with an account, also, of what was being
done in Canada. Inspired by the announcement that Mr.
Chamberlain, then Secretary for the Colonies, had addressed
a letter to the Colonial Premiers asking for information on the
matters here in question, this article anticipated by about
eighteen months the Blue Book subsequently published on
the subject.
In this same year (1895) it was my privilege to be in touch
PREFATORY NOTE ix
alike with Lord Winchilsea and the Great Eastern Railway
Company in regard to the conferences between them alluded
to on pp. 93 — 4, and the publication in The Times of various
articles thereon, which I was enabled to contribute to that
journal, had the effect of bringing the whole subject of '* The
Railways and Agriculture *' under public attention. Of the
conferences between both the South Eastern (pp. 141 — 2)
and the Great Western (pp. 142 — 3) Railway Companies and
the agriculturists in their respective districts I can speak
from personal knowledge, since I was permitted to be
present thereat on each occasion. Lord Winchilsea further
enabled me to be the means of communicating to the world
the steps taken by him in connection with the British
Produce Supply Association (see pp. 95 — 9) in the earliest
phases of its unfortunate career.
A series of articles on " The Organisation of Agriculture,"
published in The Times at Easter, 1904, became the basis
of the book which Mr. Murray brought out for me under the
same title and in the same year. This book, of which three
editions were issued and 10,000 copies sold, gave details as
to the policy adopted in regard to agricultural organisation
in over twenty different countries, and it more especially
pointed to the fact that in most of these countries the
movement had been started on such simple lines as combina-
tion for purchase of agricultural necessaries or for credit,
those more complicated forms of combination in respect to
transport and sale which it had been sought to establish
at the outset in Great Britain having elsewhere been regarded
as the final achievement, rather than as the beginning,
of an agricultural organisation which could, also, be expected
in the United Kingdom only through the establishment
and successful operation of a specially qualified propagan-
dist agency. My later works on the general subject have
been " The Transition in Agriculture " (1906), " Small
Holders : What they must do to succeed " (1909), and
X PREFATORY NOTE
*' Traders, Farmers and Agricultural Organisation : An
Inquiry into an Alleged Conflict of Interests " (1912).
It may be thus considered that I am not entirely devoid
of qualifications for the task here attempted, while the
foregoing record of facts may help the British public to realise,
from the historical standpoint, the length of time it has
taken for what should have been regarded from the outset
as a National movement to be eventually established alike
on a National and on a sound economic basis.
To Mr. J. Nugent Harris, Secretary of the Agricultural
Organisation Society, and to the leading members of his
Staff I have to express my cordial acknowledgments for
assistance rendered to me in collating the details given as
to the various phases of the work done by that most active
of bodies.
EDWIN A. PRATT.
October, 1912.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Rise and Development i
II. Examples from Other Lands .... 22
III. The Position at Home 53
IV. The Movement in Ireland .... 74
V. Evolution of the Agricultural Organisation
Society —
A. EarUer Efforts 88
B. Progress and Development . . . .103
C. State Aid and Public Approval . . .114
D. Reconstitution 125
E. Devolution . . . . . .131
VI. Transport Questions 140
Vll. Work Done or Projected —
A. Co-operative Sale . . . . .161
B. The Dairy Industry 169
C. Eggs and Poultry 186
D. Sale of Live Stock 197
E. Sale of Grain, Hay, Seeds, etc. . . . 200
F. Organisation of the Wool Industry . . 202
G. Organisation of the Hop Industry . . 204
H. Co-operative Bacon Factories . . . 207
I. Grist MiUing . 212
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
VII. Work Done or Projected — continued.
K. Co-operative Credit 214
L. Co-operative Land Renting , . . 231
M. Co-operative Insurance .... 240
N. Rural Telephones . . . . . 247
VIII. Summary and Conclusion .... 250
Index
254
^
Agricultural Organisation
CHAPTER I.
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT.
The extent to which agricultural organisation, in some
or other of its manifold phases, has been adopted in recent
years in almost every civilised country on the face of
the globe constitutes one of the most remarkable of
economical developments, and one that has, besides, had
considerable bearing on general social conditions.
Of the greatest and most direct interest to those actually
engaged in agriculture, the subject is also one that must
appeal strongly to all who are in any way interested in the
progress of nations ; and the story of how so remarkable a
movement was brought about, and of the results to which
it has already led, should appeal no less to the average
citizen than to the working farmer. It should, further,
lead to the conviction that, when so many countries
throughout the world which look to the United Kingdom
as the best market for their surplus produce are both
increasing the volume thereof and strengthening their
economic position, it is a matter of special importance
that British producers should enquire what are the special
advantages which (apart from cHmatic or other conditions
not capable of reproduction here) their foreign competitors
have secured for themselves from effective organisation,
and to what extent the example set by the foreigner should
be followed by the British farmer, alike in the defence and
for the promotion of his own interests.
Conditions naturally vary in all the countries concerned,
A.O. B
2. ,. . ., AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
^•■. <; ^ »c T v^ :,
and no system of agricultural organisation adopted in any
one of them might be suitable for exact reproduction in
any other country ; but there are main principles which
are, nevertheless, capable of general application. These
general principles are invariably determined by what have
been called " the urgent exigencies of economic life " ; and
in few, if any, countries are such exigencies more urgent,
from an agricultural point of view, than in a land like our
own where there is so great an industrial population to be
fed, and where, at the same time, so active a competition
has had to be faced by home agriculture in providing the
needed supplies.
To the economist the subject here under consideration
must be a matter of particular interest, since agricultural
organisation is effecting material changes in the circum-
stances of many different countries ; the politician will
see the growth in those countries of an Agricultural Party
which, in carrying on a new " Peasants' War " — not against
rulers, but against economic conditions- represents a
steadily-increasing force to be reckoned with by the makers
of laws ; and the psychologist will observe how a section
of the community hitherto distinguished in almost every
land for inveterate suspicion and distrust of neighbours
has itself mainly taken the initiative in a movement
essentially democratic in its origin — whatever the degree
to which State-aid has subsequently been rendered — and
directly designed to lead the agricultural classes to abandon
their said suspicion and distrust and operate on the lines
of common action for the securing of common advantages,
the social and individual results brought about having
thus been no less remarkable even than the economic.
Agricultural Combination in the Past.
In the principle of combination for the purpose of
fostering the interests either of agriculture as a science
or of agriculturists as a class there is, of course, nothing
new. Just as the cultivation of the soil is the oldest of
callings, so do we find in the agricultural industry some of
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 3
the earliest developments of that Spirit of Association
which, in this age of societies, leagues, unions and federa-
tions of every class and description, may be considered
one of the characteristics of present-day Society.
In France, for instance, agricultural combinations began
in the time of the Romans and were continued through
the mediaeval ages, leading up to the present widespread
form of legal association regulated by special statute. These
early combinations were brought about mainly by land-
owners who joined together, at different periods, for the
collective cultivation of their properties, for mutual defence
against drought or inundation, for the drainage of bogs or
swamps, for the organisation of mutual insurance, or for
the furthering of their general interests by the holding of
shows, the study of agricultural questions, and so on.
In Portugal the institution known as the Misericordia,
which, among other beneficent purposes — and on the basis
of fixed subscriptions — granted loans to farmers at a
certain interest, dates back to 1498 ; but it was the
Celleiros, of which the first was founded in 1576, that —
operated as benevolent institutions— more especially sought
to afford help to small cultivators by advancing them seed
at a fixed rate of interest, to be repaid in kind by the end
of the year.
In Austria associations of agriculturists, consisting
mostly of large landowners, began to be formed in the
second half of the eighteenth century with the object of
contributing to the progress of agriculture by means of
research, instruction, conferences, shows and the influencing
of legislation.
In the United Kingdom the Royal Dubhn Society dates
from 173 1, the Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland from 1784, the Smithfield Club from 1798, and the
Royal Agricultural Society of England from 1838 ; and
these organisations have, in turn, been supplemented by
many county or local agricultural societies, live-stoclj
societies and other bodies for the promotion or the pro-
tection of farmers' interests in general.
B 2
4 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
No one would deny .that very useful work has been done
by these older types of organisation ; yet their limitations
are no less obvious. The organisations here in question
have sought to promote the welfare of agriculture rather
than to meet the needs of individual agriculturists. They
have told, or shown, the farmer what to produce ; but
they have mostly left him to his own resources both in
raising the ways and means by which he can act on their
guidance and in disposing of his supplies to advantage
when he has got them ready for the market. They have
helped him greatly in the science of agriculture, but very
httle in the business of agriculture.
Hence there arose the need that the older type of
societies, while left to continue their own valuable work,
should be supplemented by a newer type which would
(i) popularise the agricultural science the older societies
were promoting ; (2) open out to the producer greater
opportunities for raising his supplies to advantage ; and
(3) organise his business for him on such lines that he
would be assured a better return therefrom than if he
were left to his own individual resources.
Thus between the old movement and the new movement
there should be no fear of friction. To a certain extent
the former has prepared the way for the latter ; but the
one is, even to-day, quite as necessary as the other, and the
two should be able to work together in perfect harmony.
To the bringing about of this newer movement, based,
not alone on sound economic, but also on co-operative,
principles, many different causes have contributed ; and
for a clear understanding of the whole position it is neces-
sary that these should be taken into consideration.
Agricultural Credit.
The beginnings of the agricultural organisation move-
ment of to-day are to be found in the initiation, in Germany,
of a system of agricultural credit in the special interest of
small producers.
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 5
In some quarters there is a tendency to discourage the
idea of cultivators " running into debt," as it is said, for
the carrying on of their enterprises ; yet farming is to be
regarded, not only as a business, but as a business in which
a facihty to obtain capital readily, on reasonable terms,
may be still more necessary than it is in the majority of
other businesses.
Whereas the ordinary trader, operating with borrowed
money, may expect to start almost at once with a turn-
over, the cultivator must prepare his fields, sow his seed,
await the processes of Nature in the growing and the
ripening of his crops, gather in the eventual harvest, and
then dispose of it on the market, before he can hope to
secure any return on his investment and his toil ; and he
must have the means to defray cost of seed, labour and
machinery, to cover rent, rates and taxes, and to support
himself and his family during the time when the money is
all going out and none is coming in.
On the other hand, the small cultivator has always
been in a position of special disadvantage, as compared with
large farmers or traders in general, in obtaining the often
indispensable loans, owing to his inability to offer what the
ordinary banker would regard as adequate security ; and,
in the result, he has been in all ages and in all lands the prey
of the money-lender, who has too often practised upon him
the most shameless usury, even if he should not have reduced
him to a position not far removed from that of actual servi-
tude. The money-lender may have pleaded that he ran
greater risk in lending to the small farmer than in lending
to the trader since the one had little that could be seized
in default of payment while the other had, at least, his
stock of goods ; but none the less may the cultivator have
been virtually the slave of the usurer. In a report on
Roumania, pubHshed in Bulletin No. 2 of the Bureau of
Economic and Social InteUigence, International Institute of
Agriculture, one may read on this subject : —
It may be objected that credit is still hard to get ; that 10 per
cent, interest is too high ; that here and there are small mis-
6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
appropriations ; that small abuses occur still ; and that the
exploitation of the peasant has not yet disappeared everywhere.
But, in spite of all this, we have left far behind the days when a
peasant could not borrow money unless he paid two or three
francs a month for every twenty francs ; when usurers swarmed
in and out of villages, and speculated mercilessly on dire need and
misery : when neither the law nor the administration could
protect the worker from this slavery, or mitigate his frightful
poverty, or prevent the abuses of speculation on labour which
led to the revolution of 1907.
India is an exceptional country in matters of finance,
since a rate of interest amounting to 12 J per cent, is there
regarded as reasonable even by the credit societies, and any-
thing below 9 per cent, is looked upon as a mistake ; but
even these rates are modest compared with the 24, 36, 60
and even 75 per cent, charged in different provinces by
village money-lenders.
It was the inauguration of the Raiffeisen system of rural
credit in Germany, where, in the middle of the nineteenth
century, the money-lender had become all-powerful in the
poorer agricultural districts, that showed the way out of the
difficulty by which the small cultivator was faced. His lack
of visible security was met by the formation of village or local
societies whose members became jointly and severally respon-
sible for the repayment of loans which they themselves
granted to men whom, from personal knowledge, they
regarded as worthy of confidence, while the loans were to be
applied to specified purposes of an exclusively reproductive
character.
Starting in this very small way, the Raiffeisen system
underwent various developments, eventually gave rise to
the creation of a net-work of societies, federations and state
or provincial agricultural credit banks, spread into many
different lands, and forms to-day the basis on which has
been built up much of the systematic organisation of agricul-
ture that has become so active a force throughout the world
in general.
Scientific Production.
The need alike for agricultural credit and for agricultural
organisation became greater by reason of the changes in
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 7
the methods of production due to the teachings of Liebig
and others, following on the discoveries made by them in
what they showed to be the science, and not simply the
practice, of agriculture.
Owing to the more intensive forms of cultivation which
thus came into vogue, there was brought about, on the one
hand, a greatly increased demand for artificial manures and
other requisites, and, on the other hand, the creation of an
army of manufacturers, agents and middlemen who, in
seeking to supply this demand, regarded agriculture from a
purely business point of view, and were apt to look upon
the farmer as someone whom, in the new conditions of
production by which he was faced, they could exploit to
their own advantage.
The advance in agricultural science thus meant for the
farmer that not only must he have the capital with which
to purchase the requisites in question — so that here there
came still further reasons for agricultural credit — but there
was the further material danger that if the manufacturers
of these requisites were none too honest and reasonable, and
if the middlemen dealers passing them on to him were alike
ignorant and unscrupulous, then, left to his own resources,
he might have to pay an excessive price for raw materials
of inferior quality, and also eventually gain an inadequate
return from his crops.
These results were, in fact, experienced in Germany almost
as soon as the system of scientific production came into
vogue ; and the earliest measures adopted to check them
took the form of " control," or " test " stations set up by
certain non-trading agricultural associations for the purpose
of analysing or otherwise testing the commodities in ques-
tion. This arrangement answered when the buyer himself
sent in the wares he had purchased, but was regarded with
suspicion if the middleman claimed to have had the tests
made before the sale.
When, therefore, the Raiffeisen banks began to spread in
Germany, the further expedient was resorted to by them of
arranging for the purchase of agricultural necessaries by or
8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
on behalf of the associated farmers through the instru-
mentahty of the rural or agricultural bank, which was thus
not only to provide the cultivator with credit, and so keep
him out of the hands of the usurer, but also to enable him
to lay out his money to the best advantage.
These arrangements, apphed in the first instance mainly
to fertilisers, were afterwards extended to the improved
machinery and the concentrated feeding stuffs which
agricultural science had likewise introduced in the interest
of better production.
Co-operative Purchase.
Meanwhile the great increase in the demand for all these
things had led the industrial and commercial interests
concerned in their supply to form ** trusts," " rings," or
" syndicates," with a view both to controlling the output
and to keeping up the prices. So there came still further
need for the farmers to combine in self-defence.
Special societies for joint purchase now began to be
formed, as distinct from what the rural banks had been
doing, and in course of time the new societies joined together
in federations which were in a better position to deal direct
with manufacturers and to obtain lower terms for their
affihated societies by purchasing large quantities, and by
saving intermediate profits, while they could also arrange
for trustworthy analyses, and thus obtain a guarantee of
quality.
All these things helped even the small producer both to
face the changes that science had introduced into production
and to put his business of agriculture on a better business
footing.
Foreign Wheat.
The forcing on the producer of these various measures
became still more pronounced under the conditions leading
to the agricultural crisis which began to affect Europe in
general when the newer countries were able to send, at low
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 9
charges for ocean transport, enormous supplies of wheat to
be sold here at prices with which the European grower could
not compete.
Steam—Telegraphy — Refrigeration.
By the application of steam to the propulsion of ocean-
going vessels a complete transformation was brought about
in our trading relations with distant countries, as compared
with the days when dependence had to be placed on sailing
ships.
By the invention of the telegraph and the laying of ocean
cables there came a no less revolutionary change in the
facilities of communication, with a consequent further
great expansion in our foreign and commercial trade, and
especially so when other lands, developing their own
agricultural resources, began to have increasingly large
surplus stocks for which they sought an outlet here.
Still another change in the situation was effected through
the use of refrigeration processes in the transport of perish-
able products from over-sea countries.
As the outcome of this further application of science to
agricultural conditions, these perishable products, sent from
Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina, can be put on our
markets in perfectly sound condition, notwithstanding the
great length of the journey ; while under existing contracts
frozen meat is brought from AustraHa to London for nine-
sixteenths of a penny per pound, fresh fruit for seven-eighths
of a penny per pound, and butter for one half-penny per
pound.
Thus refrigeration has annihilated distance, while the cost
of ocean transport has, from a marketing point of view,
become a negligible quantity. Producers in those far-off
lands are, for all practical purposes, and with various
advantages of their own, as much competitors of British
agriculturists as if their countries immediately adjoined
our own shores.
10 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The Transition in Agriculture.
All these conditions, and others besides, led to an increased
need here, not only for greater efficiency, but also for a
greater variety, in agricultural production. It became
necessary that European growers who could no longer com-
pete, more especially, with foreign wheat should turn their
attention to other products instead, and such necessity led
to a period of transition in which alternatives to wheat-
growing were widely adopted, among those alternatives
being stock-breeding, the raising of market-garden produce,
fruit culture, and the sale of milk, butter, cheese, eggs and
poultry.
Urban Life.
Such transition was, in turn, greatly fostered by the
altered conditions of urban Hfe.
The transformation in the industrial position owing to
the invention of new processes of manufacture, the setting
up of the factory system, and the migration of population
from the rural districts to the towns had both discouraged
the practice of the older forms of agriculture at home and
opened out still greater possibilities to the wheat-growers
abroad ; but the same transformation had also led to the
grouping together of collections of humanity which could,
indeed, no longer grow their own food supplies on their
own holdings, yet stood in need of commodities besides
wheat or bread, and especially of vegetables, fruit, milk,
butter, cheese, and bacon.
The furnishing of these other commodities offered scope
for the enterprise and energy of cultivators unable to
compete with the foreign wheat-grower, while the tran-
sition in agriculture thus brought about further meant
an increase of opportunity for the working farmer and the
small holder — especially under conditions of intensive culti-
vation — notwithstanding the increasing discouragement for
the gentleman farmer whose broad acres had been devoted
in the past to the production of corn crops.
These newer possibilities of the situation became greater
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT ii
still in proportion as the industrial and middle classes
regarded more and more in the light of necessaries what
their forefathers would have considered luxuries, even if
they had, in their day, been able to obtain them at all ;
and, in the result, although foreign competition caused a
shrinkage in the area devoted to wheat, the needs of urban
populations led to an increased demand for other food
supplies of a type that once more widened out the scope
for agricultural organisation.
Example of Denmark.
While these various conditions had been affecting
Europe in general, Denmark was, more especially, stirred
into action by the urgent need, following on the results of
her conflict with Prussia, to improve her economic con-
dition ; and this she sought to do by organising her
agricultural industries on such a basis that she could supply
other countries, and more particularly Great Britain, with
the butter, bacon and eggs that are now no less needed than
wheat, flour and bread. Opportunity for agricultural
expansion was thus opened out to Danish producers who,
in the circumstances, could afford to disregard the
competition of wheat from the American continent or
elsewhere.
Organisation for Production.
Denmark, too, carried the general movement still
further. Her peasant proprietors followed up organisa-
tion ahke for credit and for collective purchase by
organisation for production. Regarding agriculture as a
business, they applied to it the same principle of a
" factory " that Manchester cotton-spinners had already
applied to their own industry, the main difference in such
application being that the Danes worked together mainly
on co-operative lines.
Once more we may find precedents for the course thus
adopted. So far back as the fourteenth and fifteenth
12 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
centuries it was the practice of peasants in the Alpine
valleys of Italy to bring together their supplies of milk and
treat them in common, for the production of cheese, in the
house of each associate in succession. Here one does,
indeed, get the principle of combination ; but, in actual
practice, the setting up of a factory, for dealing with the
milk or cream produced within a certain radius, was a
much more advanced form of combination.
It was in the United States that the modern type of
dairy factory originated. The first was organised in the
State of New York in i860, and by 1866 there were nearly
500 in operation. At the outset the factories made cheese
only, but creameries, or butter factories, followed soon
after, though these did not come into general vogue until
1880.
Two years later the Danish peasant proprietors set up
their first butter factory on strictly co-operative Hues ;
and since that time the expansion of this principle, both
in Denmark and in other countries, has been great indeed,
thanks to the progress alike of science and of the spirit of
association.
Science assisted, if it did not really estabHsh, the move-
ment through the invention, by Lehfeld, in 1876, of the
centrifugal cream separator, which allowed of a greater
yield of cream and, consequently also, of butter, from the
milk. Every farmer could not afford to have a separator
of his own, and it was obviously better that, instead of
each remaining independent of his neighbour, groups of
them should co-operate to obtain the necessary appliances
and appoint a skilled staff to make their butter for them
in factories estabUshed for the purpose and under such
conditions that the cost of production would be reduced
to a minimum, while the supply of large quantities of butter
of uniform quality would be assured.
In 1887 the Danes further set up their first co-operative
bacon factory.
Combination for production to-day forms one of the
most important phases of the agricultural organisation
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 13
movement. It has undergone varied and widespread
development, and is to be found in one form or another
in almost every country where organisation has taken root.
Everywhere it is regarded as an important means of
cheapening cost of production, and hence, also, of giving
the associated farmers an initial advantage on the world's
markets.
Live Stock.
The application of the factory system here in question,
and the resort thereto on so extensive a scale by dairy
farmers, led to greatly increased importance being paid to
the subject of cattle-breeding since it was, of course, most
desirable in their own and the general interest that the
associated farmers should show a preference for such cows
as were likely to give the largest supplies of the richest
quaUty of milk.
So co-operation went a step further in the formation of
new types of agricultural associations which (i) sought to
promote a scientific system of cattle-breeding, based on
biological laws and the results of heredity ; (2) established
breeding syndicates ; and (3) organised a " control '*
system to keep account of the milk-giving qualities of each
cow and enable the farmer to know, from definite data,
which animals gave the best results.
In other words, science was once more adopted in place
of rule-of-thumb, while in thus taking advantage of science,
both in principle and in practice, the humblest peasant
was, thanks to co-operation, placed on a footing equal to
that of the most influential of land-owners or the largest
of farmers.
So much was this the case in Denmark that, although
peasants initiated the agricultural co-operative societies,
landowners and large farmers found it to their own
advantage, in various ways, to join them.
In addition to the co-operative societies in respect to
cattle, others were established to improve the breed of pigs,
14 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
horses, goats, and poultry. Bee-keepers' societies were
likewise formed.
Co-operation for Sale.
As a natural sequel to combination for production came
co-operation for sale. Men who had joined together in
order to produce to the best advantage might, also, well act
together to sell to the best advantage.
There was, in the first place, the fact that good producers
are not necessarily good business men — that they may be
better employed in doing work on their farm or holding to
which they are thoroughly suited than in looking after
marketing details which, especially when a number of
producers are already acting together, may much more
suitably be left to some specially competent and trustworthy
person selected for that purpose.
In the second place combination for sale meant, in the
case of foreign producers, at least, that they could make up
complete train loads of commodities from a particular dis-
trict, and obtain the lowest rates for transport because the
railway people had less trouble in handling large grouped
consignments sent under what were, for them, the most
favourable conditions in regard to loading, etc., than they
would have had in dealing with a large number of growers
each consigning his own particular lot independently of
everyone else. Suffice it, in this connection, to speak of the
butter and bacon trains in Denmark, the egg trains from
Italy, and the fruit and vegetable trains from the South of
France, all directed more or less to the English markets.
In the third place combination for sale offered to the whole-
sale and retail dealers a greater assurance of regular supplies
of uniform quality ; and in some instances these conditions
gave to foreign produce a distinct advantage on our markets
over English produce, of varied qualities, and consigned in
irregular quantities by wholly independent growers or
producers.
In some countries — and especially in Holland — combina-
tion for sale led to the setting up of co-operative auction
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 15
marts, where produce or live stock was disposed of under con-
ditions which gave a better prospect of fair prices than
when the individual farmer had been left to make the best
terms he could with an individual dealer.
Whether with or without these co-operative auction marts,
it was found that combination for sale gave better returns
to associated farmers who had already, as we have seen, had
the advantages resulting from combination for credit and
production.
Supplementary Combinations.
Once successfully established on the broad lines already
mentioned, the spirit of co-operation in agriculture spread
out in many other directions besides.
Co-operative insurance of livestock, for instance, was
very widely adopted. Agricultural accidents were also
insured against co-operatively. In some countries insurance
against storms or hail was resorted to, and in most of those
where agricultural organisation has been estabUshed at aU,
the societies obtain for their grouped members better terms
for fire insurance than could be got through an agent.
In Roumania there are agricultural credit banks which
finance rural associations constituted for the special purpose
of enabling peasants to lease land direct from the owners
of large estates instead of through the middlemen who had
previously exploited them.
Co-operative societies of viticulturists, also, are common
to most wine-producing countries on the Continent.
Mutual Help.
Nor have the social advantages been less marked than the
economic.
A new spirit is taking possession of the agricultural mind
wherever the organisation movement has been estabUshed.
A new rural democracy, inspired by fresh hopes and
aspirations, and with vistas of new possibilities opened
i6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
out, is coming into existence. Old traditions and ancient
prejudices which had led each farmer or peasant to act for
himself, to keep to himself, and to regard his neighbour with
distrust are disappearing in favour of united action for
common benefits.
Self-dependence may promote a feeling of independence ;
but in the agricultural industry it has its disadvantages.
Self-help is excellent so far as it leads a man to make the most
of his opportunities ; it is less commendable when it leads
him to think of self only. From the latter point of view
mutual-help is preferable ; and it is this broader and still
more praiseworthy principle that is at the root of agricultural
organisation.
Influence on the Individual.
Co-operative credit, which is more especially based on the
mutual-help principle, has conferred on the individual, not
alone material advantages which he could not have secured
for himself, but moral advantages that may be of still greater
value to him as a man and a citizen.
The security on which a Raiffeisen rural credit society
advances loans is the good character of the would-be borrower
— his reputation for industry, honesty, sobriety, and trust-
worthiness in general. Without these quahties he stands no
chance of getting a loan, since his associated neighbours
controlhng the society are not likely, under their obligation
of unhmited liabihty, to run any risk in lending to persons
in whom they have no confidence.
So to those who may be endangering their good character
a direct incentive is offered to stop in time and mend their
ways ; and the moral effect of such incentive on the indivi-
dual, as the outcome of the organisation movement, is known
to be great indeed.
Other Advantages.
Under the influence, again, of the new movement, men of
diverse political and religious views, or of different social
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 17
standing, work together in the furtherance of agricultural
co-operation as though they had but one common object
in view.
The popularisation of agricultural science by means of
pamphlets, bulletins, periodicals, lectures, courses of in-
struction, schools of farming, shows, experimental fields,
and an active propaganda generally are not only bringing
about a more or less complete transformation in agricultural
production, and advancing the prosperity of those concerned,
but are improving the type of the agricultural workers
subjected to these beneficial conditions.
New or revived village industries, supplementing agri-
cultural industries proper, give more openings to rural
populations and offer them greater inducements to remain
in the country, while the business meetings and the social
gatherings of the societies, together with the reading rooms,
libraries and village halls set up, invest country life with
greater attractions which, again, should help to check the
migration to the towns, and must in themselves be regarded
as preferable to the introduction into country life of urban
amusements hkely only to increase the desire for urban
life.
Thanks, in short, to agricultural organisation, progress
to-day is spreading in the backward rural districts in most
countries of the world ; and this progress means, not only
an increase in material prosperity, but social, moral and
intellectual development as well.
Women and Rural Life.
In the work of social advance and the betterment of rural
life women are taking, or are being invited to take, an
important part.
Women's Institutes, supplementing the earlier Farmers'
Institutes, have undergone great development in the United
States and Canada, where they have become an active
force in all matters appertaining to household and domestic
science, to woman's work on the farm, and to the social
conditions of the community in which tliey operate.
A.o. c
i8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Addressing a general meeting of delegates of the Canadian
Women's Institutes, Mr. James, Deputy-Minister of Agri-
culture for Canada, said : —
It is only a few years since we made the sensational discovery
that a farmer had a wife and family. For the first time, I believe,
since the beginning of civilisation, we have begun to occupy our-
selves with a definite plan for farm women, from the point of view
of science and education. I know of no movement that promises
so weU for the future and for the general well-being of the land as
this. It is neither in the stables nor in the fields that we find the
real centre of farm work ; it is within the four walls of the home.
Institutions of a kindred type have, as will be shown later,
since been organised in Belgium, where they have attained
to a considerable degree of success.
In France, itinerant schools have been set up with the
object of affording instruction in various agricultural and
domestic subjects to young women in the rural districts,
with a view (i) to giving to those instructed a greater
inducement to remain in the country ; and (2) to rendering
them better quahfied to take their part efficiently both in
agricultural and in domestic life. The instruction given,
either under the direction of departmental professors of
agriculture or by skilled lady teachers, includes such sub-
jects as dairy work, gardening, and care of animals, together
with a wide range of household duties. Encouraged and
subsidised by the French Ministry of Agriculture, the schools
are also fostered by the agricultural co-operative societies,
some of which have organised ladies* committees to help in
the carrying on of the work.
Influence of Clergy.
Agncuitural organisation has here been spoken of as being
essentially of democratic origin, both the original founders
and the prime movers in subsequent developments being
mainly found among the class directly benefited.
In this respect the movement bears a strong resemblance
to those great thrift, friendly and distributive co-operative
societies which were no less created by the people for the
people.
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 19
All the same, one cannot deny that in some countries the
great advance of agricultural organisation has been materially
due to the influence of the clergy, and in many countries to
the sympathetic support, if not the direct action, of the
States concerned.
The Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium, for instance, went
into the matter of agricultural organisation with a thorough-
ness that in itself deserved success. The knowledge they
acquired of the science of agriculture would have done credit
to agricultural-college professors. They learned all about
the use of fertilisers at a time when the peasantry regarded
artificial manures with the greatest suspicion ; they enforced
their arguments by cultivating experimental plots of their
own ; they gave sacks of fertilisers to doubting farmers in
order that the latter, in turn, should make experiments on
their own account ; they acquired a knowledge of agricul-
tural machinery, and in some instances, at least, were them-
selves able to put such machinery right for farmers when it
broke down ; they spread an active propaganda in support
of credit banks, societies for purchase, production and sale,
federations, insurance societies, etc. ; and, eventually, with
the support aHke of the landed gentry and of the Belgian
Government, they succeeded so well that to-day there is not
a single district of Belgium without its federation of agri-
cultural societies operating under clerical guidance.
In the Catholic districts of Holland the movement has
likewise received much active encouragement from the
clergy ; in Italy the establishment of a large proportion of
the credit banks there has been due to the Catholic clergy ;
in Austria the priests and the elementary school teachers
give instruction or advice to the peasants in agricultural
science and on the advantages of co-operation ; and in
Hungary like action has been taken by the clergy, who find
that one incidental result of their activities has been an
increase of sobriety, since the Hungarian peasant now spends
at the headquarters of his society the time he once spent
in the public-house.
As against these examples of clerical influence might, of
c 2
20 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
course, be put those of countries like France and Denmark,
where the prevaihng forces in the spread of agricultural
organisation have been essentially economic ; but one sees^
nevertheless, how wide is the range of interests the move-
ment embraces.
State Action.
While the attitude of Governments all the world over
towards agricultural organisation has been essentially
sympathetic — and naturally so, in view of the benefits it
was certain to confer on the countries concerned — there has
been much diversity in the particular courses of action
taken.
In countries under Governments of a pronounced bureau-
cratic type, such as Austria and Hungary, the tendency has
been in the direction of the State assuming control of practi-
cally the whole movement, not only ensuring the provision
of ways and means but undertaking general direction and
even small working details.
This policy may be a natural one in countries where the
people have been taught to look for almost everything to
their Government ; but State-aid carried to these extremes
constitutes a " spoon-feeding " which one must regard as
an undesirable substitute for either self-help or mutual-
help.
Without going to the same lengths, and while still allow-
ing full scope for independent effort and democratic action,
the State in many other countries has rendered invaluable
aid to the movement by means of laws giving the societies a
legal status ; by affording them increased facilities in the
scope of their operation ; by establishing State, provincial
or other central banks to aid in the financing of village credit
banks ; by affording practical encouragement to scientific
research ; by organising systematic instruction in agricul-
tural science ; by making loans or grants to supplement
associated effort ; or by helping both to popularise the
movement generally and to establish it on a still sounder
RISE AND DEVELOPMENT 21
footing as one of the most important forces of the day from
the point of view of national progress.
In the matter more especially of co-operative credit, the
ideal conditions are that the State should avoid having
direct dealings either with individual cultivators or with
local societies, and should establish relations exclusively
with central banks undertaking the work of financing lesser
federations of bank which, in turn, pass on the State assist-
ance to the local credit banks providing for the wants of
their individual members. This system has been adopted in
Germany as the outcome of over half a century's experience.
It represents a happy combination of State-aid and co-
(^perative effort which, while ensuring an application of the
former under the best conditions, still leaves full scope for
the activity of the latter, with less risk of the demoralisation
that must needs result when the State itself undertakes
duties or details which had much better be left to others.
CHAPTER II.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS.
To give a full account of the progress made by the move-
ment throughout the world would far exceed the limits of
available space ; and this fact will be the more evident if
it is mentioned that no fewer than fifty States have now given
in their adhesion to the International Institute of Agriculture
estabHshed at Rome in 1905, and that the historical and
statistical data published by the Institute's Bureau of
Economic and Social Intelligence — data, that is, relating
mostly to developments of agricultural organisation in one
form or another in these different countries — already fill
no fewer than eighteen Bulletins, each consisting of about
250 pages.
All that can here be attempted is to offer, mainly from
these Bulletins, a few details concerning certain typical
countries with a view less of satisfying the statistician than
of convincing the reader that, where so much activity is
being shown in lands which are often competitors of our
own, it is not for England to lag behind in the march of
economic development.
Germany.
The great expansion of the agricultural organisation
movement in Germany is well shown by the following table,
which gives the total number of agricultural co-operative
societies existing in the German Empire in the years
stated : —
Year
Loan
AND
Savings
Banks.
Co-operative Societies.
For collective
purchase.
Dairy.
Others.
Total.
1890
1900
1910
1,729
9,793
15,526
537
1,115
2,265
639
1,917
3,364
lOI
811
2,836
3,806
13,636
24,081
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 23
The 15,000 banks are associated with and partly financed
by 36 central banks, the total turnover of which in
1909 was ;f 245, 689,000. The figure further includes 4,399
co-operative credit societies, affiliated to the Raiffeisen
Organisation. In the case of 4,154 of these societies
supplying data, we get the following details for the year
1909 : — Total membership, 432,000 ; total amount of
business done, £60,059,000 ; savings deposits, £8,855,000 ;
withdrawals, £6,290,000 ; loans granted during year,
£4,544,000 ; percentage of loans up to £50, 77 "25.
Organisations for collective purchase of agricultural
requisites, following on the need of the German farmer to
meet the combinations of manufacturers and dealers by
counter-combinations, has gone even further than the
figures in the above table would suggest, since two-thirds of
the mutual co-operative credit societies and many of the
co-operative dairy societies also purchase for their members.
Then the necessity further to counteract the influence of
powerful trusts and syndicates in Germany seeking to
control the market in fertilisers, feeding stuffs, machinery,
oil, coal and almost every other agricultural requisite led
the local societies to join together into federations. At first
the larger bodies thus formed purchased for the associated
societies on commission ; but, following on some changes in
the law brought about in 1889, central purchase federations,
having power to buy on their own account, and operating
under commercial experts, began to be formed.
In 1895 there were in Germany 10 of these central co-opera-
tive purchase federations ; by 1900 the number had increased
to 20 ; by 1905 to 25 ; and by the end of 1909 to 27. The
real increase, however, has been in the number, not of
federations, but of " members," the latter consisting mainly
of affiliated societies. Thus the membership of the federa-
tions, which stood at 1,181 in 1892, rose to 2,785 in 1895, to
7,659 in 1902 and to 10,348 in 1909. The total for 1909
included 4,014 rural banks which bought agricultural
requisites for their members through the central purchase
federations in the same way as the co-operative societies
24 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
for collective purchase, the co-operative dairies and the
other local bodies were doing. There are also 4,399 rural
banks of the independent Raiffeisen Organisation which
arrange purchases through the Central Agricultural Loan
Bank. We thus get a total of 8,413 rural banks — in addition
to the other organisations — affiliated to central societies for
the purchase of goods, this total representing more than half
of the 15,000 rural banks in Germany. At the end of 1909
only 12 per cent, of the co-operative societies for purchase
remained unconnected with the central purchase federations.
Included in the 10,348 members of the twenty-seven
central federations are 3,787 "individual" members. These,
it is explained, are mostly large farmers resident in districts
where there are, as yet, no societies, or where, for some
reason or other, societies cannot be formed.
The central federations act in concert with one another in
making their purchases from producers or importers, and in
this way they can not only give orders for exceptionally
large quantities, but they have a better opportunity for
overcoming the influence of traders' syndicates and com-
binations, and for obtaining concessions from which the
smaller societies and their members directly gain. The
federation of federations has, in turn, gone so far that there
is an Imperial Federation of German Agricultural Co-opera-
tive Societies which at the end of 1910 included : —
Central co-operative societies
Co-operative agricultural credit banks
,, sale and purchase societies
,, dairies
Other co-operative societies . .
80
12,978
2,194
2,050
1. 811
Total .. .. 19,113
This was an increase of 480 societies over the number for
the previous year.
In 1909 the purchases made by the central societies
connected with the Imperial Federation, which includes
80 per cent, of the agricultural co-operative societies in the
German Empire, amounted to :£7,397,ooo. Adding to this
figure the sum of £2,415,000 expended for the Raiffeisen
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS
25
Organisation banks by the Central Agricultural Loan Bank,
we get a total of £9,812,000 as the value of the goods bought
in a single year by the associated farmers of Germany on
the principle of combination for purchase.
Detailed figures in regard to other societies affiliated to
the Imperial Federation in 1909 include the following : —
Nature of Society. Number of
Number of
Societies.
Members.
Sale of corn
49
12,613
Milling
12
1,048
Distilling . .
147
3,218
Starch factories . .
18
1,056
Fruit or fruit and vegetables
52
5,345
Sale of potatoes . .
21
1,308
„ eggs
79
9,484
poultry . .
18
1,159
vineyard produce
119
5,962
animals . .
84
22,612
Animal breeding
49
3,565
Insurance of live stock . .
5
Supply of electricity
92
—
Co-operative ownership of
agricultural machinery
249
—
In the case of most of the agricultural associations in
Germany the liability of the members is unlimited, but the
principle of limited liability is, nevertheless, being more and
more adopted in societies created otherwise than for credit.
In 1907 the number having limited liability was only 11 per
cent., whereas by 1910 the percentage had increased to
21J. Figures in respect to 23,737 societies on June ist,
19 10, published in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture
for July, 1912, are as follows : —
Unlimited Liability.
Limited Liability.
Credit Societies
Trading „
Dairy „
Other
No.
14,325
1,258
2,202
867
per cent.
92-32
55-18
66-07
31-93
No.
1,172
1,019
1,062
1,832
per cent.
7-55
44-69
31-86
67-48
Total . .
18,652
78-22
5,085
2133
26 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
France.
Agricultural unions in France are mainly divided into
two groups — associations and syndicates.
The agricultural associations comprise Societies of Agri-
culture, Agricultural Assemblies (cornices), and Chambers
of Agriculture. They devote their energies principally to
science and research, improvement of livestock, agricul-
tural legislation, etc. Of Societies of Agriculture there
are 685, and of agricultural cornices 917.
" Syndicate " is a term which signifies, in France, not a
group of financiers, as in England, but, in effect, the
equivalent of our expression " trade union " ; and it was
under a law of March 21st, 1884, giving the representatives
of every industry in France almost complete liberty of
association, that the agriculturists — who, at the last
moment, were expressly included — got a charter which
enabled them to organise the groups of societies, or " syndi-
cates,*' comprised in agricultural organisation as developed
in their country to-day.
While the industrial syndicates regarded the law of 1884
as the concession to them of the right to strike, the agri-
cultural syndicates at first established themselves almost
solely as distributive co-operative societies to which the
associated farmers looked as a means of obtaining at
reduced cost the requisites for their farm work. This
they did more especially in the case of fertilisers, with the
further advantage, in respect thereto, that the syndicate
was better able to arrange for analyses and to guarantee
quality ; but combination for purchase of fertilisers led to
similar arrangements being made also in respect to imple-
ments, machinery, seeds and breeding-stock. How the
number of these syndicates has increased is shown by the
following figures : —
Year. Syndicates. Members.
1890 . . . . . . 648 234,234
1900 . , . . . . 2,069 512,794
1910 .. .. .. 5,146 777,066
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 27
Of federations of agricultural syndicates there were 55
in 1910, grouping 2,392 of the local organisations.
Co-operative societies for production and sale, and
composed exclusively of farmers, number about 2,660,
classified as follows : Cheese-making, 1,800 ; dairies
(butter-making), 685 ; wine-making, 39 ; starch-making,
34 ; collective purchase and employment of agricultural
machinery and implements, 23 ; oil-mills, 20 ; distilling,
17 ; mining and baking, 16 ; sugar manufacture, 8 ; fruit
and vegetable preserving, 5 ; collective transport, i ;
sauerkraut preparation, i ; sale of eggs and farmyard
produce, i ; distilling flowers for perfumery, i ; flax
preparation, i ; other co-operative societies, 8. Adding
to these figures societies not composed exclusively of
farmers, the total number engaged in production or sale is
estimated at 3,260.
Agricultural credit has undergone great expansion in
France of late years, mainly through the influence of
State aid.
The law of 1884 prepared the way for co-operative
credit banks, and the pioneer bank of this type in France
was constituted in 1885.
Increased facilities for the creation of rural banks on the
Raiffeisen principle, though differing therefrom in some
essential details, were conferred by the Meline law of
November 5th, 1894. These further banks were to be
based on the agricultural syndicates, and were to derive
their members from them, but down to 1899 (when the
number created was still only 136) they existed on their
own resources without any credit from the State. Such
resources were, however, found insufiicient to allow of an
expansion of the system adequate to the growing needs of
rural Hfe, and further action was considered necessary, in
the special direction of State aid.
An opportunity for rendering this aid came in 1897,
when the renewal by the State of the privileges conceded
to the Bank of France was arranged on conditions which
led to the State (i) receiving from the bank a sum amount-
28 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
ing to 2,000,000 francs (£80,000) a year, and (2) having
placed at its disposal, without interest and up to the year
1920, a sum of 40,000,000 francs (£1,600,000), the whole
to be applied to the extension of agricultural credit.
Following on these new arrangements, though not until
after prolonged discussion, there was passed the law of
March 31st, 1899, which created the regional banks of
mutual co-operative credit. These regional banks were to
group the local banks into federations, discount their bills,
and be the means of transmitting to them loans from the
State funds in question to constitute their working capital.
In 1 901 — that is, within two years of the passing of the
Act — there were 16 regional banks at work, and by 1910
there were 96.
Meanwhile, various causes had led to the desire for a
further extension of the credit system, among them, as
set forth in the " Bulletin of the Bureau of Economic and
Social Intelligence " for January, 1912, being : (i) The
newer and constantly-increasing needs of agriculture as
an industry ; (2) the progress made by the principle of
co-operation for agricultural production ; and (3) the
growing necessity for small families to develop and consoli-
date small properties threatened by too minute a
parcelling out or by the rural exodus.
So the existing system of agricultural credit at short
date was supplemented by a system of long-date credit
granted, under a law passed in 1907, to co-operative
societies, and, under another law passed in 1910, to
individual farmers.
In the former case the regional banks advance loans at
the almost uniform rate of 2 per cent., and for periods not
exceeding twenty-five years, to agricultural co-operative
societies engaged in production, the purposes to which the
loans may be applied being, however, restricted to the
following : Production, manufacture, preservation or sale
of agricultural commodities ; acquisition, construction,
installation, or adaptation of buildings, workshops, store-
houses, or transport conveyances ; and collective purchase
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS
29
or use of agricultural machinery and implements. Long-
date loans to farmers are granted by the regional banks —
through the intermediary of the local societies — up to the
amount of 8,000 francs (£320), for the purpose of buying
or improving small landed properties. The money lent is
to be repaid, by annual instalments, in fifteen years.
How, under these circumstances, agricultural credit
expanded in France during the period 1900-10 is shown
by the following figures : —
Number of
Regional
Banks.
Affiliated Local Banks.
Year.
Number.
Members.
Loans granted.
1900
1910
9
96
87
3,338
2,175
151.621
i
76,000
4,528,000
The total sum which the regional banks had at their
disposal in 1910, including loans from the State, was
£2,287,000, and of this amount £2,017,000 was assigned to
the financing of local agricultural co-operative banks under
the law of 1899.
Down to the end of 1910 long-date loans had been
granted by the regional banks to productive agricultural
co-operative societies, under the law of 1907, as follows : —
Number of societies receiving loans
Number of members . .
Paid-up capital
Loans received
131
16,497
;^io8,850
/i76,233
The total of 131 societies is made up thus :-
Dairies and butter factories
Wine societies
Cheese-making societies
Purchase and collective use
machinery and implements
Distilleries
Wine and oil societies
Oil societies . .
Starch factories
Various
Total
of agricultural
29
29
26
17
II
5
5
2
7
131
30
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The period for which, in practice, the loans are granted
to the societies ranges from ten to twenty-two years ; but
mention is made of one small co-operative vine-growing
society in the department of Var which obtained in 1909
an advance of 16,400 francs (£656) for a period of fifteen
years, and made so good a profit out of the high price of
wine in 1910 that it was then able to repay the entire loan
at once.
Agricultural insurance societies have greatly increased in
number in France. In 1897 there were not more than
1,483 in the country, and of these about one-half, of a
rudimentary type, were in the single department of the
Landes. In 1910 there was a total of 10,731 societies,
divided as follows : Cattle insurance, 8,428 ; agricultural
fire insurance, 2,187 ; insurance against hail, 25 ; insu-
rance against agricultural accidents, 7 ; cattle re-insurance,
58 ; fire re-insurance, 26.
Syndicates for live-stock improvement, to which the
Government have made a grant of £8,000, are also being
considerably extended.
The grand total of agricultural associations of all types,
co-operative and non-co-operative, in France, according to
the latest available returns, is 38,369.
Denmark.
The general position in Denmark is indicated by the
following details in regard to the leading organisations in
1909 :—
Co-operative Societies.
Number.
Members
Dairies
. ^,^57
157,000
Bacon factories . .
34
95,000
Purchase of requirements.
15
65,000
Export of cattle . . .
8,400
Export of eggs
—
52,000
Horse-breeding
270
21,500
Cattle-breeding
1,260
31.300
Pig-breeding
253
6,430
Sheep- breeding
102
850
Control societies . .
5^9
i 2,000
Total
/ 3,610
449,480
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 31
In respect to dairies it might be mentioned that, in
addition to the 1,157 co-operative, there were 238 com-
mercial, and 90 estate, dairies. Out of 183,313 holdings,
with 1,282,254 cows, in Denmark, 154,568 holdings, with
1,059,956 cows, were associated with the co-operative
dairies.
About 880 dairies, mostly of the co-operative type, have
combined to form twenty-one unions for the development
of the industry through lectures, exhibitions, and other
means ; and twenty of the twenty-one unions have formed
two federations which, in agreement with the union not
connected with either, have appointed a committee to
watch over common interests. The dairy unions also
appoint " juries " of experts to test the milk supplied and
endeavour to keep up its quality.
Some 840 of the dairy societies were, in 1909, affiliated
to a Collective Purchase Federation formed in 1901 to
enable the Danish dairies to obtain their machinery and
other requisites under the most favourable conditions.
The business done by this federation in 1909 amounted to
£105,000.
For the export of butter there are federations of dairies
whose officers devote themselves to the sale of butter
independently of middlemen. There were, in 1909, six of
these federations, operating on account of 225 co-operative
dairies, and the business done by them amounted to about
£1,758,000.
Almost all the butter exported comes to the United
Kingdom. The total quantity we received from Denmark
in 1911 was over 85,000 tons, valued at £10,500,000.
How the co-operative bacon factories have increased in
number and in the amount of business done by them may
be shown thus :—
Year.
Number of
Factories.
Number of Pigs
slaughtered.
1888
1890
1900
1909
I
. . 10
. . 26
. . 32
23,400
147,500
675,200
1,362,500
32 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
In addition to these co-operative bacon factories there are
about twenty private ones working for exportation, and
slaughtering 500,000 pigs in the year.
Co-operative societies for purchase are of the greater
importance in Denmark on account of the necessity for
importing large quantities of grain and feeding stuffs for
livestock, the home supplies being wholly inadequate.
In 1909 the total purchases of the fifteen societies specially
established for this purpose (apart from what is done in the
same direction by other societies) amounted to ^f 1,736,000,
of which sum about £1,500,000 was for grain and feeding
stuffs, the remainder being for seeds and chemical manures.
Egg-export from Denmark is in the hands mainly of two
large federations — the Danish Co-operative Society for the
Export of Eggs, established in 1895, and the Esbjerg Butter
Packing Company, which began to export eggs in 1899 —
and seven co-operative bacon-curing factories. The system
adopted for obtaining the eggs is based on the organisation
of collecting centres, of which the Egg-Export Society has
550, with a membership of 43,000, the business done by
this one society alone in 1909 amounting to £253,000. The
Esbjerg Company has 300 collecting centres. The total
value of the eggs exported from Denmark in 1909 was
£505,000.
The Control Societies keep an account, in the case of each
cow registered, of (i) milk yield, (2) proportion of butter-fat
in the milk, and (3) the relation between yield and fodder,
thus giving the farmer valuable information as to the stock
specially suitable for breeding. They were first established
in Denmark in 1895. The number of cows registered in
1909 was 206,800. Various forms of agricultural insurance
— including fire, storm, hail and Uve-stock insurance — have
also been developed.
Holland.
" Marvellous " is the phrase appHed to the advance of
agricultural organisation in Holland.
For the actual beginnings of the movement there we have
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 33
to look, as in the case of other European countries, to the
agricultural crisis that began to be felt about the year 1880.
The changes in production, the competition of foreign
supplies, the cheapening of sea transport and the altered
conditions of international trade first brought home to the
minds of the Dutch peasantry the need for association,
while later on this need was emphasised, in their case, by
the fact that certain producers in Holland were causing a
bad name to be given to Dutch produce by reason of the
inferior qualities thereof they were then sending to foreign
markets.
It was, however, not until about 1890 that the movement
began to be taken up in Holland in real earnest. Among the
peasantry the idea of co-operative action in agricultural
production and sale was, down to that time, almost unknown.
All the same, it is mainly to the Dutch peasantry that the
subsequent rise and expansion of the said idea in their
country are due. The main lines of policy adopted by the
Dutch Government were those of, first helping to propagate
the principle of co-operation, and then leaving to the societies
the fullest possible choice in deciding for themselves the
form of their constitution according to one or other of four
different methods of association sanctioned by the laws of
Holland. The Government have also in recent years given
small subventions in support mainly of credit and cattle-
breeding societies.
So well has the movement spread in this short period,
and under these particular conditions, that to-day the
number of co-operative agricultural societies in Holland
is 1,341, with a membership of about 135,000.
Co-operative credit societies of the Raiffeisen type, and
forming dependencies of three central banks, whose head-
quarters are at Utrecht, Eindhoven and Alkmaar, have
more especially undergone a remarkable growth, the 46
banks, with 2,501 members, in 1899 having increased to
582 banks, with 40,840 members, by 1909.
Co-operative purchase, mostly in regard to fertilisers and
concentrated foods for cattle, is Carried on by the agricultural
A.O. D
34 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
societies ; but, though the societies are grouped in federa-
tions, the rule in Holland is for each branch to make its
own purchases, independently of the federation.
Co-operation for sale is chiefly organised in connection
with vegetables and fruit, of which very considerable
quantities find their way to the English market. The
organisation is carried out by local horticultural societies,
some 250 in number, and of these no fewer than 80 have
established public sales of the produce of their members.
Co-operation for butter production has been developed
so far that there are now 686 co-operative dairies, of which
358 are worked by steam-power and 328 by hand. The
majority are grouped in seven federations centralising
purchase of necessaries, and in some measure also regulating
the butter production, while the quality of the butter is
guaranteed by a " Control " system which, while due to
private initiative, receives a subvention from the State.
Other co-operative societies in Holland deal with stock-
breeding and agricultural insurance.
Belgium.
In Belgium, as shown by the latest available figures, for
1909, agricultural organisation would seem to have spread
throughout the country with such thoroughness as to cover
every possible interest.
Of the agricultural cornices, which hold shows and exhibi-
tions, carry on experimental farms, and answer mainly to
our own type of agricultural societies, there were in 1909 a
total of 160, with nearly 38,000 members, and they held
in that year 6 district and 96 cantonal shows.
Agricultural " leagues " in Belgium are mostly village or
communal organisations corresponding to our agricultural
co-operative societies. They generally start with collective
purchase of farm requisites, and afterwards occupy them-
selves with credit, insurance, Hve-stock improvement, eta
furthering these aims by affiliation with a cantonal, regional
or national federation. The total number of leagues in
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 35
1909 was 1,093, and their membership was 71,395. The
185 horticultural societies, with a membership of 29,000,
complete their organisation with a series of regional federa-
tions, which, in turn, select delegates to a National
Committee for the progress of horticulture.
Societies for the purchase of seeds, manures, foodstuffs
and machinery (including the purchase sections of the
cornices and leagues) number 1,123, with a membership of
70,208. Their purchases in 1909 amounted to nearly
£718,000.
Of co-operative dairies in actual working in Belgium in
1909 there were 521. These had 56,805 members, possessing
162,000 cows, and the total sales for the year amounted to
£1,523,316. It was, however, reported in connection with
a National Dairy Congress held at Brussels in 191 1 that the
general condition of the co-operative dairies in Belgium
was not satisfactory. For four or five years the position
had remained stationary, and in many provinces there was
even a considerable decline. One authority at the congress,
M. Collard Bovy, attributed such dechne to bad organisation
and bad management, while economically, he said, " no
attention had been paid in Belgium to the fact that butter-
making was the least remunerative part of dairying, and that
cheese-making and various other subsidiary industries
which, under the guidance of technical advisers, might be
developed in connection with the dairies, would be more
lucrative.'*
Apart from dairy produce, several systems of co-operation
for sale have been established, though societies which do not
also engage in the purchase of requisites are said to be far
from flourishing. Among the sale societies are 73 of beet-
root-planters, described as " rather leagues of defence against
the sugar manufacturers."
Of cattle-breedmg societies there were 447 in 1909. They
had 18,705 members, and the number of cattle registered on
the books of the societies was 56,727. Goat-improvement
societies numbered 425, with. 40,260 members, possessing
4^,505 goats ; pig breeders had formed 19 societies, with
D 2
36 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
48,505 members ; and there were also 56 rabbit-improve-
ment societies, with 1,116 members. Poultry societies
totalled 148, with 6,820 members ; and of bee-keepers*
societies there were 197, with 5,032 members.
The 1,142 voluntary cattle-insurance societies had 101,700
members on December 31st, 1909, and the number of cattle
insured was 294,583. There are also horse, goat, and pig
insurance societies.
Raiffeisen banks in Belgium numbered 614 in 1908. They
are grouped into regional federations, forming seven central
banks. These central banks are the intermediaries through
which the General Savings Bank can, in accordance with the
powers granted to it, distribute credit to the rural banks,
the central banks in turn guaranteeing the engagements
of the local banks with the General Savings Bank. They
also control the local banks and receive the surplus funds of
some in order to grant loans from this source also to
others. The loans to members of the rural banks amounted
in 1909 to £373,900.
An especially important feature of the situation in Belgium
is afforded by the great federations with which the smaller
societies are almost invariably connected.
To the federation known as the *' Boerenbond," founded
in 1890 by the Abbe Mallaerts, " Father of the Peasants,"
there are now affiliated 531 local associations, with 44,500
members. It claims to have undertaken the threefold
mission of (i) the defence of the religious, moral and material
interests of the peasants ; (2) the promotion of agricultural
legislation ; and (3) the advance of agricultural organisa-
tion ; and in the carrying out of this programme it seeks to
interest itself in everything that concerns agriculture and
the agricultural community. Among other things it pub-
lishes reviews, arranges lectures, holds conferences, conducts
departments for collective purchase and sale, has a labora-
tory for the analysis of agricultural commodities, equips
and inspects dairies, supplies agricultural machines, creates
credit societies, organises agricultural insurance, holds
holiday courses for managers and others connected with
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 37
agricultural concerns, gives legal assistance, watches over
the management of affiliated societies, affords expert guid-
ance in cattle-breeding, interests itself in farm-women's
clubs, seeks to check the exodus from the country districts,
and does good work in many other ways besides.
Purchases made by the federation in i9io,on account of
its branches, included the following : Fertilisers, £69,334 ;
feeding stuffs, £352,328 ; seeds, £5,670 ; and agricultural
machinery, £3,016.
Of Raiffeisen banks affiliated to the Boerenbond in 1909
there were 297, with 21,495 members.
The Agricultural Federation of East Flanders, founded in
1891, comprises 275 societies, with over 30,000 members.
Constituting the head-quarters of all agricultural co-operative
work in the province, it occupies itself with every agricul-
tural interest, and carries on an active propaganda by means
of pamphlets and a publication of its own, but more
especially by frequent lectures.
West Flanders has also an Agricultural Federation of
72 societies, with over 7,000 members. In addition to
collective purchase, the Federation organises about 100
lectures annually, publishes a weekly organ, issues to members
a weekly bulletin giving current prices of fe/tilisers and
feeding stuffs, conducts a students' club for dairy managers,
and organises credit, insurance, live-stock, dairy and other
co-operative societies.
Farm-women's Clubs were started in Belgium in 1905 by
M. de Vuyst, Inspector-General of Agriculture, who, inspired
by what he had seen of Women's Institutes in Canada,
established at Leuze, on kindred lines, an organisation
which was the first of its kind on the Continent of Europe.
In 1910 there were 75 of these clubs in Belgium, with a
membership of 7,000.
M. de Vuyst says, in a book he has published on " Le Role
de la Fermiere " (Brussels : Albert de Wit), that the main
object of the clubs is to keep fresh the knowledge acquired in
the agricultural schools, and to enable their members to
become acquainted with the new processes introduced by
38 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
agricultural science. In effect, however, the clubs concern
themselves with the whole range of women's interests and
duties both on the farm and in the home. The clubs have
their libraries of books relating to agriculture, dairy work,
poultry farming, domestic economy, health, etc. ; they
hold meetings at which addresses on a wide variety of sub-
jects are given, the aggregate attendance at these gatherings
in 1909 being over 12,000 ; they train women lecturers ;
they arrange visits to model farms, and they also organise
shows, with a view to extending knowledge of the best
methods of cultivation of stock, poultry breeding, or dairy
management ; while their various aims and objects are
further fostered by the publication of periodicals deahng
with women and country life in general.
In 1909 a regional congress, attended by representatives of
60 clubs, was held at Namur, and in 191 1 the whole of the
clubs established by women relatives of members of local
societies affiliated to the Boerenbond grouped themselves
into a federation which now constitutes one of the depart-
ments of that great organisation.
British India.
Co-operative credit is the form of agricultural co-operation
which has hitherto mainly been developed in British India,
and even in this respect the progress made has been
primarily due to State action.
India, with its bureaucratic Government, and with its
many races of people of varying types of civiHsation, differs
materially from countries possessing representative Govern-
ments and having populations more Hkely to resort on their
own account to organised effort for the obtaining of common
economic advantages. Yet though the said bureaucratic
Government has taken the initiative, it does not propose to
adopt more " spoon-feeding " than may be absolutely
necessary. According to Bulletin No. 3 of the Bureau of
Economic and Social Intelligence, the Government has set
itself the task of teaching the population of India the prin-
ciples of co-operative credit, and also — while exercising no
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS
39
compulsion — of promoting the formation of credit societies,
and guiding them in their work. But the Government, we
are further told, *' has recognised that its task is something
more than this. It is its policy to create a popular move-
ment, and gradually to convert the initiative of the State
into active propaganda conducted by the people of India
themselves, and even, as far as possible, to place the work
of financing and supervising the societies in the hands of
popular organisations."
As for the results, Mr. Henry W. Wolff, in the third edition
of his book on " People's Banks," declares that " the oppor-
tunities furnished by the banks have whetted the popular
appetite for more productive methods of husbandry " ; that
" the seed of co-operation has in India fallen upon good
ground " ; and that " the progress made is quite phe-
nomenal."
This last-mentioned expression is fully warranted. The
Co-operative Credit Societies Act, laying down the broad
outlines of the system of co-operative credit to be promoted
in the various Provinces of India, was not passed until 1904,
and in March 1905, there were in India only 35 rural and six
urban credit societies ; yet the position in 1910-11, as shown
by figures published in the " Statement Exhibiting the
Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India during
the year 1910-11," issued from the India Office, was as
follows : —
Societies.
Number.
Membership.
Working
Capital.
Central
Urban . .
Rural . .
59
368
4.894
5,682
62,598
236,778
331,600
291,900
730,200
Total . .
5.321
305.058
1,353.700
The central societies here referred to comprise (i) central
banks, which exist primarily for the purpose of financing
40 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
affiliated societies ; and (2) central unions, which are
federations for the purpose of inspection, control and mutual
guarantee. In some instances, the functions of a central
bank and a central union are combined in a single body,
known as a central banking union. The central and urban
societies are based on limited liability. Rural societies
work with unlimited liability, " a principle," we are told,
" which has no terror for the ryot, who has long been accus-
tomed to it in his family relations." The chief purposes for
w^hich loans are obtained from the rural banks are purchase
of cattle, payment of land revenue, and repayment of loans
from money-lenders. Smaller sums are also advanced for
non-productive purposes, such as expenditure on marriage
and other ceremonies.
Of the ;f730,ooo working capital of the rural societies,
£466,000 represents loans from non-members and other
societies, £96,000 share capital, £105,000 members' deposits,
£23,000 reserve, and £40,000 loans from Government. The
financial support of the State is, however, being gradually
withdrawn. In several provinces State loans have been
altogether discontinued. " The movement has almost
everywhere passed out of the experimental stage ; many of
the societies are self-supporting and are winning more and
more the appreciation and confidence of the people."
While agricultural organisation has thus far developed in
India mainly on the lines of co-operative credit, the " state-
ment " further says : —
Co-operative societies for pro ductive and distributive purposes
exist, but not as yet in any numbers. Some of the rural credit
societies, however, have extended their activities in these direc-
tions ; they market the produce of their members, purchase
agricultural machinery for their use, etc. The Provincial
Agricultural Department finds these societies admirable inter-
mediaries for the propagation of improved methods of cultiva-
tion.
Japan.
The example of Japan is especially interesting as that of a
nation which, having resolved to adopt " all modern
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS
41
improvements/' in the way of social and economic progress,
has naturally resorted to the main principles of agricultural
organisation, and has also developed them at a rate and
with a comprehensiveness hardly to be surpassed elsewhere.
This latter fact is well brought out by the following Table,
which gives the total number of agricultural co-operative
associations in Japan in the years mentioned : —
Year.
Number.
Year.
Number
1900
21
1905
1,671
1901
263
1906
2,470
1902
512
1907
3,363
1903
870
1908
4.361
1904
1,232
1909
5.149
The figures for 1909 give the position on June 31st,
whereas the others are for December 31st in the years
mentioned. The former thus show an increase for six
months only. The total of 5,149 is made up thus : —
Societies.
Number
Credit
.
. 1,864
Sale
. 187
Purchase . .
744
Production . .
64
Sale and purchase
440
Sale and production
113
Purchase and production
48
Sale, purchase and production .
200
Credit and sale
29
Credit and purchase
699
Credit and production
8
Credit, purchase and sale
. 538
Credit, purchase and production
18
Credit, sale and production
3
Credit, sale, purchase and produc
:tion
194
Total
5.149
The estimated number of members of these societies on
June 30th, 1909, was 445,092.
As indicating the eagerness of the Japanese to profit by
the experience of other nations, it might be mentioned that,
at the request of the Central Association of Japanese
Agriculturists — a like request subsequently being received
from the Home Department of the Bureau of Local Affairs,
Tokyo — the author of "The Organisation of Agriculture *'
42 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
assented to the translation of his work into Japanese, and
he has since been officially informed that copies of the book,
in that language, have been circulated among the local
authorities in Japan.
The United States.
Agricultural organisation and agricultural co-operation
have alike been developed in the United States under
conditions peculiar, to a certain extent, to that country,
yet with such success that, although definite figures are
lacking, competent authorities estimate that the total
number of societies there is about 75,000, while the total
membership is put, approximately, at 3,000,000. The dis-
tinction between '' organisation " and " co-operation " is
not always clear, while a good deal of agricultural organisa-
tion is to-day being developed, or projected, in the United
States on capitalist rather than co-operative lines ; but in
either case the fundamental principle of, at least, combination
in agriculture is involved.
At first there was a reproduction of the ordinary type of
agricultural societies familiar to European states, and these,
with their spread of scientific or technical knowledge, their
stock improvement and their shows, etc., did much good in
the days when agriculture in the United States was still
comparatively undeveloped, and provided mainly for local
markets.
Then the farmers began to combine on a much broader
basis for the attainment of legislative and other advantages.
They created a ** Farmers' Alliance " which seemed likely
to become a powerful body, and might have done so but that
it collapsed because it was unduly political. Permanent
success was, however, gained by what is known as the
** Grange " movement.
Originally founded in 1867, this further movement aimed
at advancing the general interests of farmers in almost
every phase of their activities, included therein being the
popularisation of agricultural science, the formation of
co-operative agricultural societies, the improvement of
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 43
agricultural production, combination for sale, tariff, sanita-
tion and other legislative questions, and problems of national
life in general. The basis of the organisation is formed by
local Granges. These " secret societies " (for such they are
in effect, being somewhat akin in their working to the
Freemasons' societies) elect representatives to County
Granges which, in turn, send delegates to State Granges,
and these, again, choose the members of a National Grange,
whose annual congress is the equivalent of a Farmers'
Parhament for the United States, and is the most influential
body of agriculturists in that country.
In regard to the various phases of agricultural co-operation
in the United States, it is a noteworthy fact that while there
has hitherto been comparatively little development of the
principles either of agricultural credit or of collective pur-
chase, which have been primary causes for the spread of
agricultural co-operation in many other countries, there has
been a remarkable expansion of that principle of combina-
tion for sale which elsewhere has been regarded as the
particular form of the general movement that presents
greater difficulty than any other.
It is in the western States, in connection with the fruit
industry, that co-operation for marketing has undergone the
greatest degree of expansion. A variety of causes have
contributed to this result, among them being (i) the fact
that the great production of fruit — more especially in
California — made it necessary that markets should be sought,
not alone in other States, but in other countries ; (2). the
need for having as full and complete a knowledge of these
markets as possible ; (3) the necessity for consigning to
them under such conditions as not only to secure the best
terms for transport, but also to guarantee the sending of
produce in large quantities of uniform qualities, and likely,
therefore, to secure uniform prices ; and (4) the obvious
advantage in having all these things done through powerful
co-operative societies, each acting for a large group of
growers, instead of leaving every individual among them to
make the best terms he could with the middlemen who had
44 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
previously controlled the situation, and this, too, with such
monopolistic tendencies that a desire to escape from their
" exaggerated claims " is said to have been one of the
primary reasons for the eventual resort to the system of
organisation for sale.
Upon how big a scale some of these societies operate may
be shown by a few facts concerning the CaHfornia Fruit
Growers' Exchange.
This central body, the headquarters of which are at Los
Angeles, is elected by fourteen district associations, them-
selves representing about loo local societies of fruit-growers.
The local societies collect the fruit from their associated
members and see to the packing and the forwarding of it,
in complete truck loads, to one or other of seventy-five paid
agents established near the chief markets of the United
States and Canada, or in London. In the event of the
producer not having specified (as he is at hberty to do) to
whom his consignments are to be delivered, the agents
arrange the sale and get the best possible terms. At
Chicago and Omaha there are general agents who direct the
operations of the local agents and keep in close touch with
the markets, advising daily by telegraph or telephone.
Information as to markets is also regularly supplied by the
staff of agents.
In 1909 the number of fruit-growers connected with this
one organisation was between 10,000 and 12,000 ; the
consignments of fruit made by the society amounted to
14,500,000 boxes ; the accounts showed an aggregate profit of
£4,575,000, while in addition to the increased net returns in
the price of their products the growers saved about 50 per
cent, in their expenses as compared with what their expen-
diture would have been under former conditions.
Another society, the Peninsular Products Exchange of
Maryland, which does an annual business of about £400,000,
is said to spend £2,000 a year on gaining information as to
the different markets.
In co-operative production the chief success attained in
the United States has been in regard to co-operative dairies.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 45
The total number is about 1,900, and the value of the output
of those in the central northern region, particularly in the
State of Minnesota, is alone put at about £6,000,000 a
year.
Then the American farmers, finding, as is said, that the
struggle against the " tyranny " of the commercial interests
controlling the grain elevators near the railway stations in
the central and western regions was " a matter of life and
death to them," formed co-operative societies and erected
elevators of their own ; they have their co-operative
societies for life insurance and sickness insurance ; they
overcame the difficulties which arose in the insuring of farm
property or farm produce through the ordinary companies
by forming societies for co-operative fire insurance ; they
have adopted a system of co-operative telephones, one
society alone having 760 miles of telephone line ; they have
organised co-operative live-stock associations with a view
to making a particular township or county noted for the
production of some special breed or breeds of cattle, and they
have also estabhshed societies for the " control " of dairy
cattle.
In addition to the furthering of these various economic
interests, rural betterment and the revival of country life
are aspirations which have been especially cherished in the
United States. The agricultural societies associated with
the Grange movement sometimes unite in district or even in
State federations, to which the name of Leagues for Rural
Progress is given. The object of a representative body of
this type. The New England Conference for Rural Progress,
is said in the rules to be " to promote the interests of agri-
culture and of rural life in the New England States by
securing the co-operation and federation of the various
State and inter-state organisations and agencies which are
working for rural betterment and agricultural advancement
in New England."
A more important development in this direction came,
however, with the appointment, in 1908, by President
Roosevelt, of a commission to study the urgent problems of
46 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
American rural life. In his letter of instructions to the
members of this commission Mr. Roosevelt said : —
In the United States . . . the farmers in general are better off
to-day than they ever were before. . . . But practically the
whole of this eftort has hitherto been directed towards the
increasing of crops. Our attention has been concentrated almost
exclusively on getting better farming. . . . Agriculture is not the
whole of country life. The great rural interests are human
interests, and good crops are of little value to farmers unless they
open the door to a good kind of life on the farm.
This problem of country life is in the truest sense a national
problem. . . . The farmers have hitherto had less than their full
share of attention along the lines of business and social life.
There is too much beUef among all our people that the prizes of
life lie away from the farm. I am, therefore, anxious to bring
before the people of the United States the question of securing
better business and better living on the farm, whether by co-
operation between farmers for buying, selling and borrowing, by
promoting social advantages and opportunities in the country,
or by other legitimate means that will help to make country life
more gainful, more attractive, and fuller of opportunities,
pleasures and rewards for the men, women and children on the
farms.
Among the recommendations made in their report by the
members of the commission was one that — " Before all
things an efficient movement in favour of co-operation among
the farmers is to be desired, to put them in a position to
sustain the struggle against the other economic classes they
have business relations with."
On the question of co-operative agricultural credit mention
has already been made of the fact that hitherto little advance
has been made in the United States ; but there is gratifying
evidence that the financial interests there are preparing to
recognise more fully the claims of agriculture to their own
encouragement and support, the subject of " Agricultural
Development and Education," introduced by Mr. George
E. Allen, educational director of the American Institute of
Banking, having been one of the matters discussed at a con-
vention of the New York State Bankers' Association held at
Buffalo on June 13th and 14th, 1912.
In anticipation of this discussion, and in view of the
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 47
possibility of some action being taken by the Association to
encourage agricultural development in New York State,
several articles on the subject were published in the issue of
Moody's Magazine for June, 1912, among them being one on
'* The Importance of Improved Agriculture : The Banker's
Opportunity," by Mr. W. C. Brown, President of the New
York Central Railroad. Commenting especially on the
failure in the United States to increase the production of the
nation's farms by increasing the number of bushels per acre —
such failure being attributed to " careless, uninformed
methods of seed selection, fertilisation and cultivation " —
Mr. Brown said that the railroads, both in the east and the
west, were co-operating with the State agricultural colleges
and other institutions having departments of agriculture in
running trains and arranging meetings of farmers for the
purpose of preaching the great gospel of better methods,
which also meant more profitable farming ; but no organi-
sation, he declared, could wield a more potent influence in
stimulating and directing this movement than the New York
Bankers' Association. He especially advised them to —
Lend money liberally, if assured that it will be used intelligently
and economically in increasing the productivity of the farm by
drainage and by fertilisation ; because these things will double
the value of the farm, double the prosperity of the community,
and in turn double the deposits and increase the dividends of
your bank.
While public authorities, experiment stations and agricultural
colleges can contribute much in the way of stimulating interest
in this agricultural awakening by disseminating accurate know-
ledge and the results of scientific research, the most important
feature of the work is personal counsel and advice from those who
thoroughly understand its economic significance and in whose
judgment the farmers are accustomed to place most confidence.
No body of men is so favourably situated, or is better equipped
by experience and influence to further this movement than the
bankers of this State.
To take advantage of this opportunity is to exercise construc-
tive statesmanship of the highest order ; and the imagination
can conceive of no higher duty, no broader patriotism, and no
more far-reaching philanthropy, than to take part in this vitally
important work.
In the further issue of Moody's Magazine for September,
48 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
1912, there was published an article on " Banks for the
Farmer," by Mr. Myron T. Herrick, the American Ambas-
sador to France, preceded by an editorial Note stating that
Mr. Herrick " has been making a special study on behalf of
the United States Government of the farm financing systems
of Europe with the object, we understand, of assisting iii the
preparation of legislation for the introduction of similar
systems " in the United States. It is further mentioned in
the Note that Mr. Edwin Chamberlain, of the American
Bankers' Association, was returning from Paris in order to
address the Savings Bank Section of that Association at
Detroit, on September 12th, on " European Land and Rural
Credit Facilities."
Mr. Herrick says in his article : —
The course of the industrial development of the United States
thus far has been such as to stimulate the growth of urban
population, partially at the expense of the rural districts, until
the overcrowding in our cities has become a matter of serious
concern. The pressure of population in the cities has materially
lowered the standard of living of large numbers of people whose
ability to participate intelligently in the industrial and political
affairs of the community is thus lessened. On the other hand
rural life provides the proper environment for the development
of a high order of manhood and womanhood. The tendency of
farm life is to produce a virile citizenship — a class of men and
women who are actively responsive to their civic duties. It is,
therefore, of the greatest possible importance to the social,
political and economic welfare of the country that everything
possible be done to promote its agricultural interests.
Heretofore, he proceeds, the conditions of the United
States have been so favourable to farming that agriculture
has been regarded as an industry needing httle consideration,
the necessity for the wise development and conservation of
agricultural resource being overlooked in the eagerness to
attain commercial and industrial supremacy. The avail-
ability of virgin fertile land made the farmers careless in
their methods ; but the time has come when there must be
adopted methods of cultivation that will yield the greatest
amount consistent with economical production. Mr.
Herrick gives figures from the United States census of 1910
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 49
to show the present unsatisfactory, if not actually " alarm-
ing," status of agriculture there, and he proceeds : —
Much is now being done by the National Government, the
States, various associations and individuals to diffuse and magnify
the interest in farming, to disseminate technical knowledge of
agriculture, to encourage higher standards of cultivation, to
eliminate waste, and to make rural Ufe more attractive. All this
is excellent and necessary, but it also is essential to provide some
means by which farmers can secure at low rates the funds they
need to increase the productivity of their land ; otherwise, much
that is being done to educate farmers in scientific methods will
be without practical result.
Some of the older countries, France and Germany, for
instance, not only taught their farmers how to make their
land yield maximum crops but set up the financial machinery
by which they could borrow easily and cheaply the money
they need to put into operation the things that are taught ;
and —
The history of agriculture in France, Germany and other
countries proves conclusively that one of the essential factors in
the development and maintenance of scientific farming is the
existence of facilities whereby landowners can obtain funds on
favourable terms . . , Whatever else may have been done in
France, Germany and other countries to raise the standard of
farming, it is clear that little would have been accomplished had
the financial needs of farmers been ignored.
Mr. Herrick comments on the disadvantages under which
the American farmer suffers when in need of funds by the
use of which the output of the farm can be increased ; he
gives details as to what is being done on the Continent of
Europe to develop agricultural credit, and concludes : —
The details of the organisation of these societies and companies
have been fixed by the social and economic conditions of the
country in which they are located, but American ingenuity surely
is equal to the task of elaborating and of adapting to conditions
here the principles that underhe the foreign agricultural credit
institutions. An intelligent regard for the future status of
agriculture in this country, and, by consequence, of social and
economic progress demands that well advised and active measures
be taken to perfect arrangements whereby farmers, to finance
legitimate operations, may have access to the broad, steady
security market now open only to municipalities and to large
industrial and railroad corporations. Fortunately, the necessity
of having cheap money to finance scientific farming is widely
A.O. E
50 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
recognised. Both the Repubhcan and Democratic national
platforms of this year very properly recommend and urge the
investigation of foreign agricultural credit organisations as a
basis of legislation in this country.
An International Federation.
Down to 1904 the agricultural co-operative societies of
Europe in general were content to discuss questions of
international policy through the International Co-operative
Alliance, which deals with co-operation in all its various
phases in the different countries of the world. At the Buda
Pest Congress of the AUiance, however, held in the year
mentioned, the representatives of the German and Austrian
rural co-operative societies dissented from the passing of a
resolution hostile to the granting by the State of financial
aid to co-operative undertakings, and they carried their
dissent so far as to withdraw from the Congress altogether.
Three years later, on the initiative of the Imperial Federation
of German Agricultural Societies, there was formed at
Lucerne an International Confederation of Agricultural Co-
operative Societies which was to consist exclusively of
national federations of co-operative agricultural societies
and deal only with the special interests of that type of
organisation.
The new body held congresses at Vienna, in 1907, and
Piacenza, in 1908, to discuss matters of policy, and by the
end of 1910 it had received the adhesion of national or central
federations in the following ten countries : — Germany, France,
Austria, Hungary, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Bulgaria,
Servia and Finland. These national federations represent
a total of no fewer than 33,000 agricultural co-operative
societies.
At the conferences already held by the Confederation the
subjects discussed have mainly related to co-operation for
production, sale and credit, and the lines of both national
and international policy that should be taken thereon. In
regard to production attention was called to the fact that
the manufacture of fertilisers by agricultural co-operative
societies had assumed large proportions in Italy, and the
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER LANDS 51
suggestion was made that co-operative factories of the same
kind in various countries should make such mutual arrange-
ments as would facihtate the sale of their output, and give
to the co-operative societies in general a still greater degree
of independence in providing for the needs of their members,
The view adopted, however, was that, while it certainly was
desirable that the different countries should exchange ex-
periences, with the object of concerting measures in common
to counteract the action of trusts or combinations likely to
be hostile to agriculturists, it was not at present expedient
that the societies should enter on the risks and uncertainties
of international co-operative trading.
It was further suggested that steps should be taken by the
Confederation to facilitate the interchange of capital between
rural credit societies and other agricultural co-operative
bodies, both nationally and internationally; and though
difficulties in the way of international action were once more
foreseen, the fact that the proposal was brought forward at
all is further suggestive of the direction that is being taken
by the minds of leaders of agricultural organisation on the
Continent of Europe.
International Institute of Agriculture.
How universal are the efforts now being made to place
the interests of agriculture on a sounder scientific and
economic basis can best be shown, perhaps, by some further
details respecting the International Institute of Agriculture,
to which reference has already been made.
The Institute was established, with headquarters at Rome,
under an International Treaty, dated June 7th, 1905, in
order, among other things, '* to study questions concerning
agricultural co-operation, insurance, and credit in all their
forms, and to collect and pubhsh information which might
be useful in the various countries for the organisation of
agricultural co-operative insurance and credit institutions."
The Treaty was ratified by forty Governments, and ten
others have since given in their adhesion. Bulletins are
pubhshed by the Institute on "Agricultural Statistics,"
E 2
52 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
" Agricultural Intelligence and Plant Diseases/' and
" Economic and Social Intelligence," while the various other
works issued by the Institute include the first of two series
of '* Monographs on Agricultural Co-operation in Various
Countries." A former member of the staff of the Agricul-
tural Organisation Society, Mr. J. K. Montgomery, B.A.,
B.Sc, is a member of the literary staff of the Institute's
Bureau of Economic and Social Intelligence. The full list
of States adhering to the Institute is given in the official list
in the following order : — Germany, Argentine Republic,
Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China,
Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ottoman Empire, Egypt,
Ecuador, Spain, United States, Ethiopia, France, Algeria,
Tunis, Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Canada, British
India, New Zealand, Mauritius, Union of South Africa,
Greece, Italy, Eritrea and Itahan Somaliland, Japan,
Luxemburg, Mexico, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Norway,
Paraguay, Holland, Peru, Persia, Portugal, Roumania,
Russia, Salvador, San Marino, Servia, Sweden, Switzerland,
Uruguay.
The Moral for Ourselves.
Co-operation in agriculture has hitherto been so widely
associated mainly with Denmark that many English people
have failed to realise the extent to which the fundamental
principles involved have already spread throughout the world,
however much the application thereof may vary according to
the national circumstances or conditions of the lands
concerned.
It has here been sought to show (i) what these funda-
mental principles are, and, (2) by a few typical examples,
how they are being applied abroad in actual practice ; and
the moral we are left to draw is that when so many other
countries are seeking to re-estabHsh their agricultural,
their economic and their rural conditions on a firmer and
better-organised basis, it is incumbent upon ourselves not
to fall behind in the march of the nations along these all-
important hues of material and social progress.
CHAPTER III.
THE POSITION AT HOME.
/
In order to appreciate more fully the significance for our-
selves of the agricultural organisation movement which is
thus spreading throughout the world, it is desirable to obtain
a clear idea of the position that agriculture still occupies
among our national enterprises, notwithstanding all that has
been said concerning agricultural depression, the decline
of agricultural population, and the comparatively greater
advance of textile and other industries.
Agriculture as an Industry.
As regards persons employed in the United Kingdom,
figures given in the Board of Trade (Labour Department)
Abstract of Labour Statistics [Cd. 6228] show that in 1901
the premier position was still occupied by agriculture, the
total number of persons employed therein, as compared with
the figures for various other leading industries, being as
follows : —
Agriculture .. ^, .. .. .. 2,262,000
Conveyance of men, goods and messages . . 1,498,000
Metals, machines, implements and con-
veyances . . . . . . . . . . 1,475,000
Textile fabrics . . . . . . . . . . 1,462,000
Workers and dealers in dress . . . . . . 1,396,000
Building and works of construction . . . . 1,336,000
Food, tobacco, drink and lodging .. .. 1,301,000
Mines and quarries . . . . , . . . 944,000
Professional occupations . , . . . . . . 734,000
Commercial occupations . . .. .. .. 712,000
In the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Report on the
Agricultural Output of Great Britain (1912) — deahng with
54 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
the result of enquiries made in connection with the Census
of Production Act, 1906 — the number of persons permanently
employed, throughout the year, on the farms of Great
Britain only, and excluding all holdings of one acre or less,
is given for 1908 as 1,673,000, divided into 500,000 occupiers
and 1,173,000 permanent labourers. In addition to this
total, however, one must take into account the considerable
number of persons temporarily employed at various seasons
of the year, as pickers or otherwise. The number of
*' hoppers," for instance, is estimated at 161,000.
Large, again, as are the figures in regard to the number of
those " employed on agriculture," as such, one must further
bear in mind that there is a wide range of subsidiary
industries whose workers would not be classed under the
head of " agriculture," though in supplying agricultural
implements and machinery, fertilisers, feeding stuffs and
other requisites, they are, from the industrial standpoint,
no less concerned in agriculture, and are no less living on
agriculture, than the farm occupiers and the permanent
labourers themselves. If, also, we add to those who are
thus engaged, directly or indirectly, in the production of
agricultural necessaries the further classes concerned in the
distribution of such necessaries when they have been pro-
duced, we shall see that the interests involved in the agri-
cultural industry as a whole, and in the widest sense of the
term, are practically illimitable in their extent.
Agricultural Production.
In the Board of Trade Report already mentioned the total
" output " of the agricultural land of Great Britain in 1908
is stated to be £150,800,000. This figure, however, repre-
sents the value at market prices of products sold off the farms
for consumption, the actual " sales " thus dealt with not
including crops grown for the feeding of stock or for main-
taining the fertihty of the land. The total value, for
example, of " farm crops " actually grown in 1908 is
THE POSITION AT HOME 55
estimated at £125,000,000, whereas the total value of those
sold, and representing the " output," is given as £46,600,000.
Nor do the figures in the Report include either the produce
of land occupied in smaller lots than one acre or the consider-
able but unknown amount of produce grown under glass.
Not only is this figure of £150,800,000 admittedly incom-
plete in itself, but there is difficulty in comparing it with the
*' output " of other industries reported on under the Census
of Production Act, (i) because '' estimated value of the
materials used " is not deducted in the case of the agri-
cultural output, though it is in that of the other industries,
and (2) because the figures given for the agricultural output
are for Great Britain only, whereas those for the other indus-
tries are for the United Kingdom.
Subject to these reservations, I give the following table,
showing the gross output (in 1908) of agriculture in Great
Britain as compared with the net output (in 1907) in Great
Britain and Ireland of a few other typical industries : —
Agriculture . . . . . . . . 150,800,000
Mining and quarrying .. .. .. 118,759,000
Textile trades . . . . . . . . 96,063,000
Engineering, etc. .. .. .. .. 84,214,000
Building and contracting trades . . 42,954,000
Clothing trades . . . . . . , . 39,710,000
Iron and steel trades . . . . . . 39,578,000
Chemical and allied trades . . . . 20,879,000
Metal trades other than engineering . . 20,287,000
Shipbuilding .. .. .. .. 20,167,000
From the point of view, therefore, both of persons
employed and value of output, and even without including
subsidiary or dependent enterprises and occupations, agri-
culture must still be regarded as our leading industry.
Foreign Imports.
This fact is the more remarkable when we take into
account the enormous extent of our importations of food
supplies. These included in the year 1911 the following
items : —
56
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Articles.
Quantities.
Value.
Wheat ..
.. Tons
4.905,454
;^38,927,68o
Mutton (fresh and
refri-
gerated)
266,873
9,588,646
Beef
tt It
368,122
11,136,223
Pork .,
»» »»
27.647
1,120,764
Bacon . .
..
243.437
14,463,414
Hams . .
»»
47.741
2,927,610
Poultry ahve or dead . .
918,197
Butter ..
.. Tons
215,148
24,602,111
Cheese . .
• • »>
117,416
7.139.942
Eggs . .
Grt. Hndrds
19.057.895
7,965,609
Tard ..
.. Tons
91.138
4.251.758
Margarine
11
47.220
2.461,325
Apples (raw) . .
• • tt
166,631
2,232,992
Grapes . .
• • »»
35.069
785.326
Pears . .
• • »»
29,289
54-1.706
Onions . .
Bushels
8,598,722
1,222,278
Potatoes
.. Tons
163,120
1,307,446
Tomatoes
M
68,118
1,125,252
The sum total of the figures in the last column is
£132,721,279.
It will be seen that the largest item in the table is in respect
to imports of wheat, the value of which amounted to, in
round figures, £39,000,000, and that the next largest item is
for butter, which was imported to the extent of £24,600,000.
One must, however, remember that when the British farmer
can get a good market in some urban centre for his new milk,
it pays him better to dispose of it in that form than to
attempt to compete with the foreigner in turning his cream
into butter. It should further be remembered (i) that
many of the commodities imported could not be produced
at all in this country ; (2) that others come to us at a time
when, owing to the diEerence in seasons, our own supplies
are not yet ready ; (3) that we could not meet the whole
of our requirements in regard even to necessaries within the
range of our climatic or other conditions ; and (4) that in
the increase of our output in commodities which we could,
and should, produce on a large scale for ourselves a great
work can be done by agricultural organisation.
Still more important is the fact that, although wheat
production has greatly declined in the United Kingdom,
increased attention is being paid in this country — under the
THE POSITION AT HOME 57
" transition in agriculture " — to other commodities ; and it
is materially owing to this cause that the agricultural
industry has maintained the aforesaid standard, notwith-
standing the substantial nature of the foreign imports.
This last-mentioned fact is deserving of detailed
consideration.
Farm Crops.
In the Board of Agriculture Report on the agricultural
output, the gross value, at market prices, of the wheat
produced in Great Britain in 1908 is given as £10,370,000.
The value of wheat imported into the United Kingdom in
the same year was £38,296,000. Here, therefore, the
foreigner had the advantage. But in regard to the two
other chief corn crops we get the following values : —
Barley. Oats.
i i
Output in Great Britain .. 9,177,000 13,264,000
Imported into U.K. .. .. 6,114,000 4,163,000
Excess of output over imports . . 3,063,000 9,101,000
The British farmer, again, held his own in respect to the
following crops, the chief among those that are used for
fodder : —
Crops.
Quantity
Value.
Tons.
i
Turnips and swedes
. . 23,768,000
23,768,000
Mangolds
8,995,000
7,196,000
Clover and " seeds " hay
3,507,000
12,712,000
Meadow hay
6,213,000
19,106,000
Straw
7,000,000
12,660,000
Market Garden Produce.
Then we have the fact that in recent years there has been
a great increase in the growing of market garden produce on
both a large and a small scale.
The growing of vegetables, partly for fodder but mainly
for human consumption, is a development of modem
farming of which due account must needs be taken, though
there is a lack of exact figures as to quantities and values
58
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
owing to the absence of information concerning small plots
of land of less than one acre, not included in the recognised
" farming area " of the country. The number of such plots
was given in the Allotments Return, published in 1895, as
579>i33- Whatever the present number, it is certain that
the vegetables grown on them, for sale as well as for con-
sumption by the occupiers and their families, would, in the
aggregate, greatly increase the official " output " figures.
Taking, however, the figures as recorded for the year 1908
we get the following items : —
Crops.
Quantity.
Value.
Tons.
i
Potatoes . .
. 3,918,000
9,892,000
Cabbages
954,000
760,000
Kale
28,000
26,000
Brussels sprouts
10,000
56,000
Broccoli and cauliflowers
28,000
80,000
Carrots . .
129,000
159,000
Onions . .
18,000
106,000
Rhubarb . .
18,000
181,000
Celery
22,000
72,000
The values of a large number of other crops include —
Mustard, £107,000 ; asparagus, £42,000 ; parsnips, £36,000 ;
lettuce, £34,500 ; sea kale, £32,000, and beetroot, £26,000.
Considerable areas are devoted to the growth of crops for
seeds. The gross value, for instance, of 5,400 tons of clover,
mangold, turnip, swede, vetches and trefoil seed produced
on 13,700 acres in 1908 was £132,000. There is, again, a
large number of crops not of sufficient individual importance
for separate tabulation. Still another series consists of
crops indefinitely described as flowers, grass, green crops,
salad crops, root crops, herbs, bulbs, etc. The amount of
land devoted to these two groups of crops in 1908 was
30,000 acres, and the gross value of the produce from them
was estimated at £352,000.
Flowers.
The cultivation of flowers for sale on the market has like-
wise undergone considerable expansion of late years. " In
many parts of England," says the Board of Agriculture
THE POSITION AT HOME 59
Report, " its importance as a means of exploiting land which
would be less profitably devoted to ordinary farm crops is
well recognised." The total area in Great Britain thus used
for the cultivation of flowers and shrubs is estimated at
4,000 acres, and the gross value of the production is put at
£121,000.
Fruit.
From the same source we learn that the extent of land
returned in 1908 as occupied by orchards was 250,297 acres,
of which 27,433 acres bore small fruit as well as tree fruit. The
area devoted to small fruit alone was 57,447 acres, so that
altogether the acreage of small fruit, on holdings exceeding
one acre, was 84,880 ; but the total would be substantially
increased if plots of less than one acre on which small fruit
is grown for sale were added.
Returns for 1908, when the fruit crops were considerably
below the average, give the following values : —
Small Fruit : —
i
i
Strawberries
1,036,000
Raspberries
309,000
Black currants . .
. ,
84,000
Red and white currants
, ,
69,000
Gooseberries
208,000
Other kinds (including mixe
d)!:
252,000
Total small fruit
1,958,000
Orchard Fruit : —
Apples . .
1,490,000
Pears
, .
90,000
Cherries . .
, ,
194,000
Plums
, ,
357.000
Other kinds (including nuts
and
mixed)
••
406,000
Total orchard fruit
••
••
2,537>ooo
Total all fruit . ,
4.495,000
Cider and Perry.
In the values of apples and pears, given in the foregoing
list, are included those of fruit used for making cider, perry
and cider-perry. The quantities of these beverages produced
on over-one-acre farms in the chief cider-making counties in
6o AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
1908, the total values, and the values of what was sold
(that is to say the commercial " output,'* the remainder
being used for domestic consumption), may be shown
thus : —
EVERAGE.
Produced.
Value.
Value of
Quantity sold.
Gallons
i
i
Cider . .
.. 17,843,000
381,000
108,000
Perry . .
382,000
8,000
2,000
Cider-perry
1,200,000
21,000
5,000
Total .. 19,425,000 410,000 115,000
In addition to the production on farms, there is a consider-
able output from cider and perry factories, estimated for
1907 at 2,708,000 gallons, of a value of £153,000, and in-
creasing the total sales to £268,000.
Crops under Glass.
While the Report states that " the great extension which
has in recent years taken place in the cultivation of crops
under glass has, of course, considerably increased the total
output of the land,'' it confesses that complete statistics in
respect thereto are not at present available. In regard,
however, to the one item of tomatoes, the value of the crops
included in 45 returns from 22 counties is put at £43,000.
From the returns giving the extent of glass under which the
crops are grown, it appears that on 20 acres an average of
over 600 tons of tomatoes was cut, being an average yield of
over 30 tons, valued at £830, per acre.
Next to tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes and chrysanthemums
are most largely grown under glass. Other crops include
strawberries, peaches, lettuces, radishes, beans, rhubarb and
narcissi.
The returns in which the area of the glass and the value of
the produce of all crops grown thereunder were shown give
a total of 155 acres, with an output of £150,000, or £968
per acre.
Animals.
In the department of live stock, the nimiber and the value
THE POSITION AT HOME
6i
of animals sold off the farms of Great Britain during 1908-9,
were as follows : —
Number.
Horses . . . . . . 53,000
Cattle and calves . . . . 2,130,000
Sheep and lambs . . . . 9,577,000
Pigs.. .. .. .. 4,419,000
Value.
i
1.590,000
27,264,000
18,196,000
14,362,000
Total 16,179,000 61,412,000
Wool.
The total value of the wool produced in Great Britain in
1908 is estimated at, in round figures, £3,100,000.
Dairy Produce.
The quantities and values of dairy products sold by the
farmers of Great Britain in 1908 are calculated as under : —
Milk, whole
Milk, skim
Cream
Butter ..
Cheese . .
Quantity.
850,000,000 gallons
17,000,000
5,900,000 quarts
490,000 cwts.
500,000
Value.
24,820,000
143,000
590,000
2,940,000
1,400,000
Total value..
29,893,000
Here one sees by actual figures how the British farmer
looks to gain, in regard to dairy produce, from the sale of
whole milk, in regard to which foreign competition is a
neghgible quantity, rather than from butter and cheese,
where the foreigner has a much better chance. It will be
observed that although we imported in 1911 butter to the
value of £24,600,000, British farmers sold, in 1908, whole
milk of a still greater value, while as against their own
850,000,000 gallons in 1908, the total quantity of fresh milk
imported into the United Kingdom in that year was only
10,460 gallons, though in 191 1 the imports of fresh milk from
France and Holland amounted to 120,000 gallons.
62 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Poultry and Eggs.
Inasmuch as a very large quantity indeed, in the aggre-
gate, of poultry must be kept by cottagers and town or
suburban residents not coming within the scope of the
official returns, statistics relating only to the number on
farms of over an acre in size can give no adequate idea of
the sum total of poultry in Great Britain. It may be, as
the Report suggests, that the greater part of the less-than-
one-acre production thus excluded is consumed by the
poultry-keepers themselves ; but one of the essential objects
of the co-operative poultry societies of to-day is to enable
" small " as well as " large " poultry-keepers to market their
surplus stocks to advantage.
Still, taking these inadequate official returns as they
stand, one learns from them that the total value of the
output of eggs and poultry from the over-one-acre holdings
in Great Britain is estimated at about £5,000,000. To this
figure must be added the value of the considerable supplies
raised in Ireland. The home production, however, is still so
far short of the demand that, as reference to the table already
given will show, the value of the eggs imported into the
United Kingdom in 191 1 was nearly ;£8,ooo,ooo.
The Situation in Brief.
The final outcome of a comparison between food imports
and home production is to show that, great as are the former
in magnitude, they are still materially less than the food
supphes we raise for ourselves.
This fact was well shown by Mr. R. H. Rew, C.B., one of
the assistant secretaries of the Board of Agriculture, in a
paper on ** The Nation's Food Supply," which he read at
the 1912 meeting of the British Association. Dividing home
production from imports, deducting exports, and omitting
sugar, tea, coffee and cocoa, for which there is no corre-
sponding home production, Mr. Rew gave the following
THE POSITION AT HOME
63
figures in regard to items which may fairly be regarded as
comparable : —
Produce.
Home Production. Imported.
Wheat, grain
and flour . .
10,000,000
48,000,000
Meat
. .
78,000,000
51,000,000
Poultry, eggs,
rabbits and
game . .
15,000,000
10,000,000
Fish
9,000,000
3,000,000
Dairy produce
42,000,000
35,000,000
Fruit
6,000,000
16,000,000
Vegetables
20,000,000
4,000,000
Totals
;^i 80,000,000
;^i67,ooo,ooo
If the total value of the imports is deducted from that of
the home production, there will be found a balance of
£13,000,000 in favour of the latter ; but this balance would
be substantially increased if there could be added to it the
value of the home production on small holdings and gardens
not included in the official returns.
While, therefore, the agricultural position in Great Britain
to-day may still be discouraging for the gentleman farmer
of the olden type, who finds it so difficult to compete with
the wheat imports from other countries, the facts and figures
here presented show that the situation still affords plenty of
encouragement to working farmers, market gardeners, dairy
farmers, live-stock breeders, and small holders producing
other crops or other alternatives to wheat-growing.
As against restriction of opportunities in some directions
there has, in fact, been a widening out of opportunities in
others ; though the later developments have applied mainly
to " smaller " types of producers, and that, too, under
conditions which render especially desirable and necessary
an ever-increasing resort in Great Britain, as in other
countries, to agricultural organisation.
Need for Organisation.
Most of the fundamental reasons for agricultural organisa-
tion which apply to the countries of the world in general.
64 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
apply equally well to this country ; but there is here this
further consideration, — that in improving their own agri-
cultural position, and in extending the volume of their own
output, many of these other countries — including most of
those on the continent of Europe, together with Canada,
Australia, South Africa and Argentina — are looking to
British markets as a means of disposing of their own surplus
production.
Thus the more that agricultural organisation spreads
abroad, the more will foreign competition increase on our
own markets, and the greater will be the need for the British
farmer to defend his own interests by himself also resorting
to the same principle.
This is not the place in which to discuss disputed questions
in regard to protective duties. It might, nevertheless, be
pointed out that, even assuming such duties should be
imposed in the interests of British farmers, they might fail
in their purpose unless, with the help of agricultural organisa-
tion, the British farmer secured, as far as possible, the same
economic advantages as the foreigner had gained by that
means, since the savings effected by the foreigner, together
with his better system of marketing, might still enable him
to compete successfully with our own growers when these
were producing at greater cost and marketing under less
satisfactory conditions.
The phases of agricultural organisation more especially
called for in Great Britain are : (i) economic production ;
(2) combination for transport ; and (3) scientific marketing.
Production.
Apart from that question of credit which, as I have shown,
formed the initial stage of the movement in Germany in the
middle of the nineteenth century, the beginnings of agricul-
tural organisation in general are to be found in combination
for the purchase of agricultural necessaries with a view both
to economy in production and to a guarantee of good
qualities.
THE POSITION AT HOME
65
Such need has more especially been found in regard to the
purchase of artificial fertilisers.
The magnitude of the manufacturing industry to which
the use of these now indispensable requisites in farming has
led in Great Britain is suggested by the following figures
for 1907, taken from the Board of Agriculture Report on the
Agricultural Output :-
Tons.
i
Basic slag
Superphosphates
Sulphate of ammonia . .
203,000
603,000
260,000
278,000
1,320,000
2,823,000
Other manures
492,000
2,250,000
Total . . . . . . 1,558,000 6,671,000
Imports of fertilisers into the United Kingdom in the same
year amounted to a total of 296,000 tons, valued at £1,703,000.
Deducting net exports from the home production, and
omitting the figures for Ireland, the Board of Agriculture
Report calculates that the value of the artificial fertihsers
available for use on farms in Great Britain in 1907 was
between ;^2, 900,000 and £3,900,000.
The world's consumption of nitrate of soda in 191 1 is
shown by Messrs. W. Montgomery & Co., in a report on the
fertiliser industry in that year, to have been 2,394,000 tons,
as compared with 2,241,000 in 1910, an increase of 4*82 per
cent. An analysis of the European consumption in 191 1
as compared with 1910 gives the following figures : —
Country.
1911.
1910.
Increase.
Decrease.
Tons.
Tons.
Per cent.
Per cent.
United Kingdom . .
132,000
120,000
10
—
Germany . .
724,000
751,000
—
3i
France
332,000
320,000
3f
Belgium . .
294,000
274,000
7i
Holland . .
141,000
131,000
1\
Itahan and Aus-
trian ports
56,000
50,000
12
Manufactured feeding stuffs available for consumption in
Great Britain in 1907, as given in the Board of Agriculture
Report, are valued as follows : —
A,0, F
66 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
i
Corn offals and feeding meals . . 15,500,000
Oilcakes and other feeding stuffs . . 7,500,000
Total . . . . . . . . 23,000,000
These figures sufficiently confirm what has already been
said as to the results of advanced scientific methods of
agriculture in leading to the creation of great industrial
and commercial interests whose main concern in the agricul-
ture on which they have flourished has naturally been the
particular extent to which the supply of its needs would
tend to their own benefit.
Taking further into account what British farmers must
pay in the course of a year for seeds, implements, machinery
and other necessaries, it will be found obviously to their
advantage, as an ordinary business proposition, to resort to
joint action in order (i) to buy wholesale instead of retail ;
(2) to obtain effective guarantees of good quality ; and
(3) to protect their own interests generally against powerful
combinations on the part of manufacturers or middlemen
traders.
All these things have a direct bearing on cost of production,
and the same consideration is involved in the setting up of
co-operative dairies, cheese factories, etc.
Transport.
In Great Britain, where agricultural production in general
is on a smaller scale, and much of the home produce goes
direct from the place of origin to the place of consumption,
there is not the same opportunity for making up train-load
lots as in countries which not only produce on a very large
scale but regularly make up such lots for shipment to this
country ; though it must be remembered that, while the
foreign produce received here in these large quantities thus
secures the lowest rates for transport, the material considera-
tion is, not the amount they have paid for the journey from
the port of arrival to (say) London (which amount forms part
only of a through rate, and is influenced by bulk of consign-
ment, packing, etc.), but the sum total of the charges for
THE POSITION AT HOME 67
their transport from point of despatch, the said total requir-
ing to be covered by the market receipts before there can be
any question of profit on the sale.
No one suggests that the rates for the transport of foreign
produce should be raised in order, as it were, to " protect "
the British farmer against the foreigner ; but there have been
suggestions that the rates charged to the British farmer
should be lowered.
To this it has been replied (i) that the railway companies
cannot afford to charge the same rates for small consignments
of produce, collected from wayside stations, inadequately
packed, and involving a proportionately higher cost for
transport, as they charge for large consignments carried
under the most economical conditions from the point of view
of working expenses ; (2) that these differences in charges do
not constitute an undue preference ; and (3) that the railway
companies already have on their books lower rates by which
British producers can send if only they will, where necessary,
combine their consignments so as to make up the specified
lots in respect to which these lower rates are available.
Combination brought about through agricultural organi-
sation should allow of greater advantage being taken of
these existing opportunities, and also — when the facilities
thus already available have been exhausted — place the
associated producers in a better position to offer representa-
tions to the railway companies in regard to other matters
on which they may desire to make their views known.
There is the more need for such combination for transport
since in dealing with markets where competition — whether
foreign or home — often reduces the chances of profit to a
minimum, it may be of no less importance to secure the
lowest possible railway rates than it is to effect all practicable
economies in production.
Scientific Marketing.
Regarding agriculture in the light of a business enter-
prise, much — though not everything — must needs depend
F 2
68 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
on the prices obtained for the commodities sold on the
market.
In the making up of the final accounts, undue cost either
of production or of transport may nulHfy the profits that
would otherwise have been obtained from market returns in
themselves fair and reasonable ; but assuming that, by
means of combination, the growers have kept (i) cost of
production and (2) cost of transport to a minimum, they may
still have unsatisfactory returns if the market prices should
be inadequate, or if there should be too many middlemen,
each wanting his profit or commission. Left to their own
resources, and acting as individuals, the producers may fail
to grow the qualities suited to particular markets ; they may
err on the side of growing too many varieties of a certain
commodity, and they may show such a deficiency of know-
ledge in picking, grading and packing that, notwithstanding
their greater nearness to home markets, they will fail to over-
come the competition thereon of foreigners who, thanks to
effective organisation, send their commodities to us in a way
more hkely to secure the favour of purchasers.
These considerations especially apply to the fruit and
market gardening industry, which, owing to the perishable
nature of the commodities concerned, are in greater need of
effective organisation than any other branch of agriculture
or horticulture.
Under established conditions growers throughout the
greater part of England generally attempt to solve the
problem of marketing by consigning to one of three markets
— London, Manchester or Liverpool ; and, as the result of
this practice, a glut may be brought about on any one of
these markets, with the inevitable result of unsatisfactory
prices, when but few suppHes are going direct from the
growers to numerous smaller markets the wants of which
are catered for by middlemen dealers, who thus obtain profits
which ought, rightly, to come into the pockets of the pro-
ducers.
Scientific marketing thus means, in the first instance,
improved methods of distribution.
THE POSITION AT HOME 69
More Markets Wanted.
Writing on the subject of markets in its issue of March 30th,
1912, the Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Trades Journal said : —
With the increased acreage under cultivation, the fruit industry
demands more and better markets in London and the provinces.
It is absurd that in London alone there should be so few wholesale
markets. Those existing are inadequate, shut in, and over-
crowded, the worst case being that of Co vent Garden Market.
The time has come when there should be founded open markets
in the inner circle of the London suburbs. Markets in such places
would prove a great boon to suburban dealers and greengrocers,
and also to those growers who at present have to send their
vehicles right into the crowded heart of London. . . . Many more
markets might well be estabhshed in the great industrial centres
in the north.
Marketing Methods.
Whether, too, there be any glut on the leading markets
or no, and whatever the market to which produce is con-
signed, there is the consideration that the individual grower
is, in any case, generally at the mercy of the commission
agent with whom he deals.
Our marketing methods were subjected to very severe
criticism at a conference of fruit-growers in the Common-
wealth of Australia held at Hobart, Tasmania, in October,
1911. One speaker, Mr. W. D. Peacock, whose firm, he said,
had exported in a year 196,000 cases of their own, apart
from consignments on commission, gave an account of his
experiences in England, saying, among other things : —
The trouble in London was that there were so many people
receiving fruit, and so many putting it on the market at the same
time. There was no co-operation in any shape or form. With
regard to Co vent Garden itself, it was a commercial disgrace.
There was really no system there, and it was an absolute impos-
sibihty for any man to follow his fruit through there and know
exactly what he made. There was no system and many of the
brokers kept no books. ... All through he had not the slightest
doubt he was being got at, on Co vent Garden, and he had no
doubt he was being got at now.
In discussing marketing methods in general, and in point-
ing more especially to the want of an outlet of such a nature
70 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
as to ensure that honest and best returns will be received for
the produce sent to market, an organiser of the Agricultural
Organisation Society reports : —
I know instances of men posing as commission agents who are
not on a level from the point of view of honesty with the ordinary
hawker, though to judge by their beautifully-got-up letter-paper
one would really think they were men of great importance and
thoroughly to be relied upon. In one case that I know of a
grower sent £40 worth of goods to a man of this type, and has not
yet received a single penny. Another salesman had a ton of
fruit sent to him, and after a good deal of writing the grower
obtained £4, though the current market price was £18. These
are not the worst cases I know of ; I could give scores of others.
If, instead of consigning to distant markets, the grower
disposes of his produce to a higgler who comes to his door, to
an agent who buys the crop as it stands, or to a dealer in the
market of the neighbouring town, he may still receive less
than he might obtain through an agricultural co-operative
society specially organised for the purposes of sale, while the
said society would save him the time he would otherwise
have to devote either to going to market or in hawking
round his produce in his own neighbourhood, thus enabling
him to devote more attention to his proper work of pro-
duction.
Utilisation of Surplus Stocks.
In addition to more markets and improved marketing
methods, there is a great need in England for some organised
system under which, in times of over-production, sur, lus
stocks can be kept back from markets already over-supplied
and on which they would only lead to a lowering of prices
all round, and be converted, instead, into bottled fruits,
dried vegetables or other saleable commodities on which,
apart from the consideration just suggested, additional
profits might be made. The same course should be adopted
in regard to lower grades of produce which would equally
prejudice the market prices but might well be used for these
other useful and remunerative purposes.
THE POSITION AT HOME 71
The " Back to the Land " Movement.
Various schemes in regard to the conditions under which
land should be held by cultivators in this country are now
under discussion, and the problem of tenancy (whether under
private or public authorities) versus peasant proprietary is
engaging considerable attention.
Here, however, we are concerned only in the fact that,
whether the producers settled, or about to settle, on the land
are owners or only tenants of their holdings, it will be
equally necessary that they should be enabled to raise,
consign and market their produce under the most favourable
conditions ; and, speaking generally, it will be impossible
for them to do this without the help of co-operation.
Much has been heard about settling more people on the
land through the action of the State. If the people so settled
propose to do no more than raise supplies for their own
consumption they may do so with complete success. If they
propose to raise supplies for sale, and if, in doing this, they
remain individual units, each paying an unduly high price
for his necessaries, consigning otherwise than at the lowest
railway rates, and selling under such conditions that the
chances will be all against him, then the result of the State
experiment may be little less than a complete failure.
Shortcomings of State Aid.
In addition to encouraging more people to settle on the
land the State has at different times given much active
support to agricultural research with a view to increasing
and improving production ; but increased production for
sale is not of much use without adequate opportunities for
successful distribution of the commodities produced, and
here the action of the State has stopped short.
It may well be said that marketing is not the work of the
State, and that there would be difficulties in the way of the
State undertaking it. But the shortcomings of State action
in this respect can well be made good by the efforts of an
ndependent organising body, able to act without the dis-
72 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
advantages that would needs arise when the State sought to
deal with questions as to the business relations between
producers, dealers and consumers.
Agricultural organisation is thus not superseding, but
supplementing, State action. It is simply the logical, though
indispensable, sequel thereto.
Rural Housing.
Another subject which has attracted considerable attention
of late is that of rural housing.
There are not sufficient cottages in the country districts,
and one of the principal reasons why more are not built is
that labourers cannot afford to pay the rents which would
have to be paid to ensure a reasonable return on construction
— and especially on the construction of the superior type of
cottages that may alone be built under what are declared to
be unduly exacting rural bye-laws.
The alternative would seem to rest between (i) an altera-
tion in the bye-laws, so as to allow of cheaper cottages;
and (2) the payment of higher wages which would permit,
in turn, of higher rents. The adoption of the former remedy
may be hoped for in course of time ; that of the latter is
objected to by the farmers on the ground that they cannot
afford to pay higher wages.
If, however, by means of agricultural co-operation, the
farmers are enabled to effect material savings in production
and on transport, and, at the same time, secure a better
return from sales, they should then be well able to give the
higher wages which would enable their labourers to pay
reasonable rents for decent cottages.
Credit.
Many, if not most, of the arguments advanced in favour
of the fundamental principles of agricultural credit, as
adopted in Germany, Denmark and other foreign countries,
apply with equal force to Great Britain, and they do so with
this additional consideration as regards ourselves — that here
the agriculturist's opportunity of securing credit through the
THE POSITION AT HOME 73
local joint-stock bank is decreasing owing to the tendency
for such local banks to be acquired by and amalgamated with
great banking concerns in London which operate them more
from the point of view of London City, or international,
finance, and have a less intimate knowledge of, and a less
sympathetic feeling towards, the farmer and his needs than
the private bankers whose place they are taking.
In Great Britain, therefore, further facilities are wanted,
not alone for small holders, but for large sections of farmers
as well ; and once more we find good reason why Great
Britain, no less than the other countries of the world, should
have an efficient scheme of agricultural organisation.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND.
It was in Ireland that, thanks mainly to the practical
patriotism and untiring zeal and devotion of Sir Horace
Plunkett, the principle of agricultural co-operation was first
established in the United Kingdom.
Ireland had suffered no less than other countries from the
various conditions affecting agriculture in Europe generally
of which I have already spoken, besides having difficulties
and disadvantages essentially her own ; and, struck by the
state of things he saw around him in Ireland on his return
from a prolonged residence in the United States, Sir Horace
(then Mr.) Plunkett conceived the idea, in 1889, of taking
action with a view to bringing about an economic improve-
ment in Irish conditions on the lines of combined action.
At that time agricultural co-operation was, of course, far
less developed in European countries than is the case to-day,
and the only precedent which Sir Horace was then able to
find for the New Movement he proposed to start was the one
furnished by the Co-operative Movement in England, which,
however, originally founded by the Rochdale Pioneers, was
mainly concerned in the creation of consumers' societies for
the supply of household or other requisites. So, in company
with Lord Monteagle and Mr. R. A. Anderson, his first two
associates in the campaign on which he started. Sir Horace
became a regular attendant at the congresses of the Co-
operative Union in England and a no less persistent seeker
for information at the headquarters of the Union in Man-
chester. From such champions of co-operation as Vansittart
Neale, Tom Hughes and George Holyoake much sympathy
and encouragement were received. An Irish section was
et up by the Co-operative Union which, also, contributed to
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 75
the initial expenses of the propaganda, and from 1889 to
1894 the " New Movement " in Ireland was little more than
a reproduction of what was then an old movement in
England.
Experience soon convinced Sir Horace that the regenera-
tion of Ireland's economic condition was not to be brought
about by the estabhshment of co-operative stores alone,
and that advancement of the agricultural interests on which
that country depended in so material a degree should be
sought chiefly by an adoption of the principle of co-opera-
tion in production, more especially in regard to those butter
supplies to the provision of which the agricultural and
climatic conditions of Ireland were especially adapted. In
this way there was evolved by Sir Horace Plunkett a scheme
for the creation of co-operative dairies in Ireland some time
before he learned that such dairies were then already an
established institution in Denmark.
In 1893 the English Co-operative Wholesale Society began
to start creameries of its own in Ireland. " In the profits
and management of these concerns," as Sir Horace said,
when addressing the Economic Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne
on October 27th, 1898, " farmers had no share. This was
so diametrically opposed to the principles of co-operation,
as we understood them, that the two movements became
independent of each other."
In April, 1894, the movement for agricultural co-operation
had so far expanded — although the number of local dairy
societies was still comparatively small — that a new organisa-
tion, under the title of the Irish Agricultural Organisation
Society, and looked upon as " the analogue of the Co-opera-
tive Union in England," was formed to carry on a work of
promotion and supervision which had become, as Sir Horace
told, " too onerous and costly for a few individuals to bear."
Men of all creeds and parties joined it, and undertook to
supply funds for what was regarded as a five years' experi-
ment, though one which, as the result proved, was to be so
successful that the Society became established on a
permanent basis.
76 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Apart from the initial idea in regard to co-operative
stores, agricultural co-operation in Ireland had thus resolved
itself at the outset into an application of the co-operative
principle to the dairying industry. On this point Sir Horace
further said, in his address to the Newcastle-on-Tyne
Economic Society : —
We selected for our first essay the dairying districts of the
South for several reasons. If we had begun in the more advanced
parts of Ireland, while failure would have been fatal, success
would not have carried conviction as to the applicability of our
scheme elsewhere. Moreover, the dairying industry was just
then undergoing a complete revolution. The market was
demanding, in butter as in other commodities, large regular
consignments of uniform quality. The separator and other
newly-invented machinery were required to fulfil these conditions.
The factory system was superseding home production, and the
only way in which farmers could avail themselves of the advan-
tages of the new appHances which science had invented, but
which were too costly for individual ownership, was by com-
bining together to erect central creameries, to own and work
their machinery themselves at their own risk and for their own
profit. No better advice could just then be given to the Irish
farmers than that they should follow where the Danish farmers
had led.
The difficulties of the task, however, were formidable in
the extreme. It was far from sufficient to convince the
farmers of the economic advantages of co-operative action.
The real difiSculty began with an attempt to clear their
minds, not only of suspicions of sinister motives on the part
of their advisers, but also of their innate distrust both of
one another and even of themselves, and the chances of
success appeared to be entirely against the pioneers of the
movement. On this point Sir Horace Plunkett observed in
his Newcastle address : —
The superior persons who criticised our first endeavours at
organising dairy farmers told us that the Irish can conspire
but cannot combine ; the voluntary association for humdmm
business purposes, devoid of some religious or political incentive,
was aUen to the Celtic temperament, and that we should wear
ourselves out crying in the wilderness. Economists assured us
that, even if we ever succeeded in getting farmers to embark
in the enterprise, financial disaster would be the inevitable
result of the insane attempt to substitute, in a highly technical
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 77
manufacture, democratic management for one-man control.
We admitted the force of these objections, but having an un-
bounded faith in the latent capacities of our countrymen, and
knowing that success in this first appHcation to a great national
industry of organised self-help would open up prospects of
amehoration in every department of Irish agricultural hfe, we
determined to persevere until practical demonstration had proved
us right or wrong.
Fifty meetings were attended by Sir Horace Plunkett
before a single co-operative creamery had resulted there-
from, and nearly two years elapsed before a second was
formed. For a long time he found the work of organising a
wearisome business. On one occasion his audience consisted
of the dispensary doctor, the village schoolmaster and the
local sergeant of police. In some reminiscences of those
days, published in the Irish Homestead, Mr. Anderson (who
sometimes accompanied Sir Horace and sometimes held
meetings of his own) wrote : —
It was hard and thankless work. There was the apathy of
the people and the active opposition of the Press and the poli-
ticians. It would be hard to say now whether the abuse of the
Conservative Cork Constitution or that of the Nationalist Eagle
of Skibbereen was the louder. We were " killing the calves,"
we were " forcing the young women to emigrate," we were
" destroying the industry." Mr. (Sir Horace) Plunkett was
described as a " monster in human shape," and was adjured to
" cease his hellish work." I was described as his " Man Friday "
and as " Rough rider Anderson." Once when I thought I had
planted a creamery within the precincts of the town of Rath-
keale, my co-operative apple-cart was upset by a local solicitor,
who, having elicited the fact that our movement recognised
neither poHtical nor religious differences, that the Unionist-
Protestant cow was as dear to us as her Nationalist-Catholic
sister, gravely informed me that our programme would not suit
Rathkeale. " Rathkeale," said he, pompously, " is a Nationahst
town — Nationalist to the backbone — and every pound of butter
made in this creamery must be made on Nationalist principles,
or it shan't be made at all." This sentiment was applauded
loudly, and the proceedings terminated.
On another occasion, mentioned by Sir Horace in his book,
" Ireland in the New Century," a project for the conversion
of a disused mill into a creamery had to be abandoned
because the stream of water connected with the mill passed
7^ AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
through a conduit hned with cement originally purchased
from a person who occupied a farm from which another man
had been evicted.
These early difficulties were overcome in course of time,
and the new Society not only gained greater support, but was
enabled to broaden out its sphere of operations and take up
other important branches of agricultural co-operative action
besides the co-operative dairies, and notably so in regard to
the formation of agricultural credit societies, which were to
render an invaluable service in providing Irish cultivators
with a ready means of obtaining small sums for reproductive
purposes without having to submit to the merciless exactions
of the " gombeen man " or other local moneylender or trader.
Expansion of the Society's activities followed more
especially on the proceedings of a committee of represen-
tative men of all parties which Sir Horace Plunkett was the
means of constituting in the Parliamentary recess of 1895
(hence known as " The Recess Committee "), to consider
what measures could best be adopted to promote the
development of agriculture and industries in Ireland. The
Committee caused inquiries to be made in Continental
countries as to the methods by which Ireland's chief foreign
rivals had been enabled to compete successfully with Irish
producers even in their own markets, and a report on this
subject was issued in August, 1896, accompanied by a
recommendation that there should be created a Department
which, adequately endowed by the Treasury, and having
a president directly responsible to Parhament, would
administer State aid both to agriculture and to industries in
Ireland upon certain specified principles. This recommen-
dation was based on what had been found to be a policy
adopted in certain Continental countries, while the proposal
to amalgamate agriculture and industries under one Depart-
ment was, as Sir Horace Plunkett explains in " Ireland in
the New Century," " adopted largely on account of the
opinion expressed by M. Tisserand, late Director-General
of Agriculture in France, one of the highest authorities in
Europe upon the administration of State aid to agriculture."
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND
79
A Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction
was duly created under the authority of an Act of Parliament
passed in 1899, and the organisation of this Department
included, in turn, a Council of Agriculture and two Boards
of which one was concerned with agriculture and inland
fisheries and the other with technical instruction. The
Department relieved the Society of the cost of a consider-
able amount of the technical instruction it had previously
given as a necessary adjunct to the work of organisation,
to which it was now enabled completely to devote itself,
and further agreed to defray the expenses of the I. A. O. S.
in organising and supervising agricultural credit societies and
subsequently also certain other kinds of societies. The
grant in respect to these expenses for the year ending
February 28th, 1906, amounted to £2,000. There then
came into force a new arrangement under which a grant was
made to the general expenses of the Society on the basis of
its income from voluntary sources, though the amount to be
given was in no case to exceed ;£3,700. This arrangement
lasted only until the end of 1908, when the Department
ceased to give a grant to the Society, which, however, still
continues to receive a small grant from the Congested
Districts Board, fixed in that year at £^^0 per annum. To
the question of grants from the Development Fund to the
Irish Agricultural Organisation Society reference will be
made in the chapter that follows.
The present position of agricultural organisation in Ireland
is shown approximately by the following table, taken from
the report of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society for
the year ending June 30th, 1911 : —
Dairy societies
Auxiliary societies not
separately registered
Agricultural societies
Credit societies
Number
of
Societies,
312
79
165
237
Member-
ship.
44.792
16.743
19,190
Paid-up
Share
Capital.
£
144.251
6.681
Loan
Capital.
120,358
55.884
Turnover.
£
1.999,313
124,720
55.855
So
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
-
Number
of
Societies.
Member-
ship.
Paid-up
Share
Capital.
Loan
Capital.
Turnover.
£
£
£
Poultry societies
i8
6,188
2,176
3.007
61,213
Home industries socie-
ties . .
20
1.376
1,260
708
4,815
Miscellaneous (includ-
ing bacon-curing
societies) and bee-
keepers
38
5,382
15.337
5.706
59,888
Flax societies
9
594
513
4.323
2,849
Federations
2
247
7,606
13.479
280,906
880
94.512
177,824
240,010
2,589.559
These figures, however, are not complete, inasmuch as
particulars of membership were not obtainable from 21
creameries, 15 agricultural societies, 26 credit societies,
I poultry society and 8 miscellaneous societies ; and parti-
culars of turnover were not obtainable from 18 creameries,
31 agricultural societies, 57 credit societies, 5 poultry
societies, 13 home industries societies, 4 flax societies, and
30 miscellaneous societies. The societies failing to furnish
statistics include new societies, societies not carrying out
any operations during the year, etc.
Since the Society started, the total turnover has been
close on ^f 22,000,000, included in this figure being ;f 16,316,000
on account of butter sales, and £412,000, the total amount
of loans granted by credit societies. On its work the Society
has spent, altogether, over £100,000 ; but it is estimated
that on the co-operative creameries alone the additional
gain through the organisation is now £400,000 a year.
It will be seen that the leading position in regard to
agricultural organisation in Ireland is still occupied by the
co-operative creameries, the success of which, indeed, had
led capitalists to set up proprietary creameries on their own
account, so that already in 1907 the Irish Agricultural
Organisation Society was able to report that the available
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 8i
ground for dairies had been almost completely covered by
those of the one type or the other. ^
Apart from the difficulties presented by what may be
called the " human factor/' the founders of the co-operative
dairies had much trouble, more especially at first, in obtaining
efficient managers. Then it was necessary to ensure the
provision of adequate machinery, notably so in the case
of pasteurising plant ; much guidance was needed by some
of the societies in regard to the keeping of the creamery
accounts ; strict cleanliness in handling the milk had to be
vigorously insisted upon, and then when the creameries
had been established, were working satisfactorily, and were
producing large quantities of butter of the right quality,
there came the further question of marketing on such lines
as would ensure the best returns. With a view to over-
coming this final difficulty, there was formed in 1892 an
Irish Co-operative Agency Society, Ltd., to assist the
co-operative creameries in marketing their butter.
The main feature in connection with the Irish co-operative
agricultural societies for the supply of requirements is the
extent to which they carry on their trade through the
federated body known as the Irish Agricultural Wholesale
Society, Ltd. One of the first achievements of this organisa-
tion was the breaking up of a " ring " of artificial manure
manufacturers, with the result that prices were reduced by
about 20 per cent. The " ring " was afterwards re-formed,
and the Wholesale Society had a renewal of the same diffi-
culties for a time ; but these were eventually overcome.
Trouble was, however, still experienced in regard to the
implement manufacturers. In the sale of seeds of guaranteed
purity at the lowest prices the Agricultural Wholesale
Society has rendered good service to the Irish farmers. The
greater part of co-operative trade in agricultural require-
ments in Ireland is, in fact, done through the Society, which
has depots in Dublin, Belfast, Sligo, Foynes, Thurles,
1 The position in Ireland in this respect compares strongly with that in
England, where the principle of co-operative dairies has undergone but
comparatively little development because of the greater advantage
derived by the farmer from sending his milk to the towns.
A.O. G
82 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Cahirciveen, Cork and Waterford, and agents in the principal
cities in Great Britain for the marketing of eggs, honey, etc.
It also has a Banking Department which grants loans to
trading societies experiencing difficulty in arranging for
financial accommodation. The progress which has been
made by the afhHated societies since 1906 is shown by the
following table : —
Year
••
. . Societies
Sales.
1906
79
54,092
1907
79
65,637
1908
91
73,153
1909
105
104,326
1910
118
. 123,508
1911
138
. 132,929
Credit societies play a still more important role, perhaps,
in Irish agricultural organisation to-day than the creameries
which preceded them in order of establishment. Ireland is
better adapted than Great Britain for a widespread system
of credit societies on the Raiffeisen model by reason of the
fact that the peasantry there are on a more equal, and,
financially, somewhat lower, footing than is the case with
our own more diversified classes of agriculturists. Aided
alike by advances from the Department of Agriculture and
the Congested Districts Board and by generous treatment
at the hands of the joint-stock banks, the credit societies
have conferred very great advantages on the Irish peasantry,
and not on them alone but, also, on the farmers in a higher
social position who have, in turn, resorted to the same
principle.
Action has also been taken in various directions to promote
the co-operative sale of produce ; though here there is a
good deal of scope left in Ireland for further activity ; the
poultry and e^g industry has been more successful when
carried on by societies established for general trading
purposes than by societies devoting themselves exclusively
to this business, while the home industries societies have
been an especially interesting development of organised
effort in Ireland.
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 83
While the table given on pp. 79 — 80 is, notwithstanding its
incompleteness, sufficiently suggestive of important economic
benefits gained by the Irish people as the result of agricul-
tural organisation, the moral results have been no less
remarkable than the material results.
The Irish peasant has been not only saved by his credit
societies from the merciless grip of the " gombeen man,"
but he has had instilled into his mind the principle of self-
help through mutual help ; he has been taught by the same
credit societies the commercial value of a good name ; he
has learned to sink distrust and suspicion of his neighbour
and adopt, instead, a spirit of comradeship towards him ; he
can lay aside religious and political differences in order to
discuss with those around him matters concerning their
common welfare, and he is being subjected to important
educational influences, either through the village libraries
that are being set up, or through the instruction in improved
methods he gets from organisers or other experts.
Then the social gatherings — dances, concerts, lectures and
entertainments — organised by his co-operative agricultural
societies, whether in the village halls specially provided by
them or otherwise, are bringing fresh life into many an out-of-
the-way place where great need for it had hitherto existed.
So the New Movement has not only enabled the Irish
peasantry to conduct their farming operations on improved
lines but it has, from the point of view of what may be called
its " human aspect," created in them a New Spirit which is,
at the same time, making them better men and women, and
giving them a New Outlook on life in general.
The experiences of societies affiliated to the Irish Agri-
cultural Organisation Society and, also, the point of view
from which their members regard the work that is being
carried on, may be illustrated from the following typical
examples, taken from a pamphlet issued in 191 1 under the
title " Agricultural Co-operation in Ireland : A Plea for
Justice by the I.A.O.S." :—
" It is impossible to estimate the amount of good done and the
benefits conferred on the farmers of this district since the society
G 2
84 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
was established by the I.A.O.S. The fields or the farms of mem-
bers of the society are, as it were, miraculously changed in
appearance in root, grain, and hay crops, and particularly in the
pasture that follows. This arises solely from the use of pure
seeds and highly classed artificial manures, these things having
been obtained hitherto from pubhcans and grocers, who have
no knowledge of seeds or manures ; neither knowing how or
where to purchase, they themselves the victims of low-classed
artificial manure manufacturers and indiscriminate seed- vendors."
— Jonesboro' Co-operative Agricultural Society, Co. Armagh.
" The co-operative movement has saved at least 30 per cent,
to the farmers of this district in the purchase of artificial manures
and other agricultural requirements." — Cam Co-operative Agri-
cultural Society, Co. Roscommon.
" We made a profit on our trading during the first two years
of £220, and during that time saved £400 to our neighbours in
the price paid for cakes, coal, twine, manures and seeds, etc.,
besides giving them better quality than they were getting when
paying higher prices." — Castledermot Co-operative Agricultural
Society, Co. Kildare.
" The I.A.O.S., by teaching the farmers to combine for busi-
ness purposes, has benefited the district to the extent of,
approximately, £700 a year, not to speak of the social advantages,
which are incalculable." — Tisara Co-operative Agricultural
Society, Co. Roscommon.
" We can now purchase through our own society as much in
the way of farm implements, seeds, manures, spraying material
and general requirements, of a far superior quality, for i6s.,
as we could hitherto buy of inferior goods for 20s. In the sale
of eggs we now receive 16s. for the same quantity which we used
to sell for I2S." — Inniskeel Co-operative Agricultural Society,
Co. Donegal.
" On the trade of £20,000 which we expect to do this year the
members will be benefited to the extent of at least £2,500, and
probably much more, as compared with the results that would
be obtained by each member selling his farm produce and buying
his requirements without the assistance which the society affords."
— Achonry Co-operative Agricultural and Dairy Society, Co.
SUgo.
" The members have benefited to the extent of 20 per cent.
on their turnover, which is £4,000 per annum. This has come
about by the raising of the price of milk by id. per gallon in a
few years, not to speak of the good done by showing the farmers
of the district what they can achieve by co-operation in other
industries." — Galteemore Co-operative Agricultural and Dairy
Society, Co. Tipperary.
" During our thirteen years working . . . our suppKers
have benefited to the extent of £19,000 by adopting the co-
operative creamery system of butter-making in preference to
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 85
the old disorganised system of every man for himself." — Boyle
Co-operative Agricultural and Dairy Society, Co. Roscommon.
" Education of various kinds has been spread, the value of
union and fraternity has been demonstrated, the suitability of
a good strain of milching cows and the proper method of feeding
housing, etc., to provide a big milk supply, have been proved.
The farmers' income has been increased by increasing his receipts
per cow, whilst his expenses in marketing his produce have been
diminished." — Glenmore Co-operative Dairy Society, Co. Kil-
kenny.
" The work of the I.A.O.S. in this district has been beneficial
in so far that it has released its members from the grip of the
auctioneer and professional moneylender who, as a rule, exact
from their unfortunate customers from 15 to 20 per cent,
interest, while the I.A.O.S. obliges these with ready cash at the
modest charge of 5 per cent." — Cullamore Credit Society, Co.
Tyrone.
" Since the introduction, in 1907, of this form of credit by
the I.A.O.S. into this district, it has effected a saving of at least
£1,000 to the 200 farmers who comprise the society." — Culumb-
kille Credit Bank, Co. Longford.
" A farmer in the district got a loan, part of which {£1 los.)
he used in purchasing an old cow. To-day he owns seven or
eight good cattle. To value at its true worth this little Bank
one should interview the borrowers, who will explain, with
natural pride, the help the I.A.O.S. has conferred upon them." —
Derrylohane Agricultural Bank, Co. Mayo.
"Immense benefit has resulted to the whole neighbourhood
from the introduction of this lace industry in bringing in thou-
sands of pounds, and enabling the people, who formerly were
without means to do so, to improve their dwellings and the
general conditions of Hfe." — Ballysakeery Co-operative Home
Industries Society, Co. Mayo.
" The I.A.O.S. has imbued the farmers with a spirit of self-
confidence, of pushfulness and enterprise, of order and method,
as well individually as collectively." — Holly ford Co-operative
Agricultural and Dairy Society, Co. Tipperary.
" Since the establishment oi our society the farmers of the
district are taking a keener and more business view of agricultural
matters than formerly." — Devon Road Co-operative Creamery,
Co. Limerick.
" The work of the County Committee has been made smooth
and effective in our district, as the County Instructor found an
organised body of farmers prepared and anxious to receive
instruction." — Glenlough Agricultural Society, Co. Longford.
" In our committee we have Orangemen and the other extrem-
ists, who have learned to trust one another and work together
for their common good. An improved feehng between all
creeds and classes exists in this locality, attributable in a large
86 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
degree to lessons they have learned by co-operation." — Whealt
Co-operative and Dairy Society, Co. Fermanagh.
" Our beautiful co-operative hall stands proudly as an example
of what can be attained by organised co-operative effort." —
Cushinstown Agricultural Bank, Co. Wexford.
" Besides teaching how to combine for their mutual financial
betterment, the I.A.O.S. has had much to do with the visible
social betterment of our rural community." — Enniscorthy
Co-operative Agricultural Society, Co. Wexford.
*' The work of the I.A.O.S. has created a new era of prosperity
for the many farmers in this district." — Athlone Co-operative
Poultry and Farm Produce Society, Co. Westmeath.
" Our society, which was organised by the I.A.O.S., has been
of far greater benefit to the poor congest of this district than
any Government Board has been for the last fifty years, although
some of these Boards have spent thousands of pounds of public
money here." — ^Templecrone Co-operative Society, Co. Donegal.
Still wider possibilities in the development of all this good
work are being opened out by the establishment in Dublin
of " The Plunkett House," in which the work is now carried
on. It is the outcome of a movement set on foot in 1908
for presenting to Sir Horace Plunkett a testimonial in
recognition of his services to agricultural organisation in
Ireland, the substantial amount raised being, at the request
of Sir Horace, devoted to the purchase of a large house
which would serve as a headquarters for the study of rural
sociology in addition to providing accommodation for the
staff of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society. A
scheme for "A Country Life Institute : A suggested Irish-
American Contribution to Rural Progress," was put forward
in 1909 by Sir Horace, in a Plunkett House pamphlet
issued under this title. The aim of the Institute is therein
stated to be : —
*' To advance the well-being of the large and scattered
agricultural population by bringing together information as
to the progress of rural communities, by encouraging the
scientific study and investigation of the conditions which
contribute to their social and economic advancement, and by
spreading knowledge and stimulating public opinion on the
vital importance of a strong farming and rural community
to the maintenance of the National life as a whole."
THE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND 87
Sir Horace Plunkett's sch«nes include, in fact, not only
the spread of agricultural organisation in Ireland, but a
comprehensive reconstruction of rural life in its various
phases with a view to retaining people on the soil, and to
rendering existence in the country districts at once more
pleasurable and more profitable. It was his ideas on this
subject that inspired those views thereon of Mr. Roosevelt
of which mention is made on pp. 45 — 46
There has now, also, been established in Ireland an
organisation known as " The United Irishwomen," which,
operating in affiliation with the Irish Agricultural Organisa-
tion Society, is to supplement the activities of the sterner
sex, and operate on lines akin to those of the hundreds of
Women's Institutes at work in Canada, devoting its own
energies more especially to (i) agriculture and industries ;
(2) domestic economy ; and (3) social and intellectual
development. It is felt that in all three departments there
is much that women could do for the betterment of rural
conditions in general, and the scheme in question, first
started by Mrs. Harold Lett, at Bree, co. Wexford, on
June 15th, 1910, has since developed into a central union
and branches under the control of an executive committee
meeting in Dublin. Details concerning this most interesting
movement will be found in a sixpenny pamphlet on " The
United Irishwomen : Their Place, Work and Ideals/'
published by Maunsel & Co., Dublin*
CHAPTER V.
EVOLUTION OF THE AGRICULTURAL
ORGANISATION SOCIETY.
A.— EARLIER EFFORTS.
So far as can be ascertained, the initial effort in the
direction of bringing about a general resort in Great Britain
to agricultural organisation, on co-operative as distinct from
commercial lines, was made by the Council of the Central
and Associated Chambers of Agriculture, which, on Decem-
ber 9th, 1 89 1, appointed a Committee " to consider and report
by what means the organisation of the Chambers could be
utilised so as to promote the co-operative principle for the
benefit of all its members in the purchase of farming
requisites." This Committee, of which Mr. W. Lipscomb
was the chairman and Mr. R. H. Rew was secretary,
presented, on January 31st, 1893, a report which was adopted
by the Council and circulated among the associated Chambers.
The " conclusions " given in the report are of some interest
as showing the point of view from which the subject of
agricultural co-operation was regarded at that date. They
were as follows : —
Your Committee, having regard to the opinions expressed by
Mr. Greening and Mr. Marty n, and to other facts which have been
laid before them, do not consider that any scheme taking the
whole country for its area, and directed from one centre, could be
usefully adopted, but that the several districts of the associated
Chambers and Clubs throughout the kingdom would in most
cases provide suitable areas for co-operation.
Your Committee desire to call attention to the fact that there
are already existing in some localities agricultural co-operative
associations which might be utilised, and where such do not exist
your Committee have been given to understand that the Agricul-
tural and Horticultural Association would be prepared to accept
the single subscription of the secretary of an associated Chamber
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 89
or Club to enable all the members to secure the benefits of
membership of that Association.
Your Committee are of opinion that the basis of " Cash with
Order " is essential to the success of any scheme for co-operative
purchase, and that an annual subscription per member of 5s. is
all that is needed. The articles in regard to which co-operative
purchase can be most advantageously adopted are manures,
feeding stuffs, seeds and implements.
Your Committee have been strongly impressed by the infor-
mation laid before them, with the advantages which may accrue
to farmers by the adoption of the principle of co-operation. It is
evident that with careful management the risk of failure is small,
as is proved by the fact that, so far as they have been informed,
no agricultural co-operative association formed for the purpose
of purchasing farming requisites has failed. Your Committee,
therefore, very strongly urge the consideration of this subject on
the members of the Central and Associated Chambers of Agricul-
ture, in the belief that not only might articles of guaranteed
quahty be procured at prices less than individual purchasers can
as a rule be charged, but that by incorporating this object among
the primary functions of farmers' associations an incentive to
combination will be provided, and a greater union of the agricul-
tural community will be secured.
Your Committee recommend that they be re-appointed, so as
to enable them to give further consideration to the subject when
the views of associated bodies have been more fully expressed.
They are further of opinion that, if successful in the estabHshment
of co-operative associations for the purposes of purchase, such
organisations would almost certainly conduce to their utilisation
for purposes of sale, especially of those products for which the
price now paid by the consumer is so strikingly in advance of that
received by the farmer.
These recommendations attracted some degree of attention
among the Associated Chambers and Farmers' Clubs, but
the Committee was not re-appointed, and the matter re-
mained practically in abeyance, as far as the Central Chamber
was concerned, until March 3rd, 1896, when, as will be shown
later on, further action was taken. Meanwhile there had
been important developments in other directions.
National Agricultural Union.
On December 7th, 1892, there was held in St. James' Hall,
Piccadilly, a " National Agricultural Conference " which
was described in The Times as the outcome of *' perhaps the
go AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
most striking movement in the world of agriculture which
has taken place in our time."
About two months earHer the Lancashire Federation of
Farmers' Associations had suggested to the Central Chamber
of Agriculture that a national conference should be held in
London to consider the subject of the then seriously depressed
condition of agriculture. The Central Chamber sent out a
circular on the subject to its affihated organisations, and
" never did an idea catch on," The Times further declared,
** with greater spontaneity ; never did a movement of the
kind take such wide and general root in so short a time."
An organising committee was formed, of which Mr. R. H.
Rew, who was then associated with the Central Chamber,
was appointed secretary, and the conference was held, on
the dates mentioned, " (i) to direct public attention to the
present grave conditions of agricultural affairs, and (2) to
ventilate the grievances under which agriculture labours,
and to consider suggestions for their removal." No fewer
than 240 societies, clubs or organisations interested in
agriculture, directly or indirectly, sent representatives ;
peers, M.P.'s and great landowners, either as delegates or
because of their occupying distinguished positions in the
agricultural world, attended to take part with farmers and
agricultural labourers in considering how a national problem
could best be solved ; and a gathering of about 2,000 persons
would have been larger still if more could have been
accommodated.
Various remedies for the '* sore straits " into which, in
the view of the conference, agriculture had fallen were
urged, these remedies including currency reform, relief in
regard to taxation, changes in land tenure, etc. ; but a
resort to Protection, in order to counteract foreign compe-
tition, was the proposal that evoked the greatest degree of
enthusiasm. A resolution in favour of imposing on foreign
imports " a duty not less than the rates and taxes levied
on home production " was met by an amendment, proposed
by Mr. Bear, and seconded by Mr. Yerburgh, M.P., declaring
that, as it was of paramount importance that the agricultural
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 91
classes represented at the conference should present an
undivided front to the country, it was desirable that discus-
sions on questions which, like Protection, were certain to
cause strong division among those classes, should be deferred,
and that those questions in respect of which agriculturists
were practically unanimous should be pressed forward
instead. The amendment was, however, defeated by a
large majority, and the carrying of the Protection resolution
was greeted with loud cheers. Another of the resolutions
passed by the conference endorsed the principle of Bi-
metalism. Still another, proposed by Lord Winchilsea, was
as follows : —
" That, in view of the present crisis, it is imperative forthwith
to establish an Agricultural Union, composed of all persons of
different classes who are interested in the land of the United
Kingdom, in order (i) to give effect to such resolutions as may be
passed by this conference ; (2) to frame such measures as may
from time to time be needful in the agricultural interest ; (3) to
organise its members into a compact body of voters in every
constituency pledged to return without distinction of party
those candidates agreeing to support such measures ; (4) to
promote the co-operation of all connected with the land, whether
owners, occupiers or labourers, for the common good."
If, said Lord Winchilsea, in proposing his resolution, the
agricultural interest were organised in the way he advocated,
he believed they would be able to return a member for every
county constituency in the United Kingdom.
The formation of a National Agricultural Union on the
lines advocated by Lord Winchilsea was the one practical
outcome of this altogether unique National Agricultural
Conference, the story of which deserves to be now recalled
because it shows so clearly what were the ideas then prevalent
as to the way in which agricultural conditions could best be
met ; though a leading article in The Times of December 8th
warned the conference that it was " not by such means " as
Protection and Bimetalism that the British agricultural
classes could hope to recover any portion of their prosperity,
saying, further : —
They are confronted with a great economic crisis largely
92 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
brought about by causes quite beyond their own control. They
are in a situation not unlike that which visits the commercial
community when some great change in the traditional course
of business has brought loss, and, it may be, ruin to hundreds
through no fault or error of theirs. In such cases men of intelli-
gence and resource recognise that there is only one way by which
they can hope to recover any part of their former welfare. They
acknowledge that the change is due to the operation of economic
principles ; they study those principles and set to work to
readjust their business as speedily and as completely as possible
to the novel conditions which regulate its course. The Agri-
cultural Conference unhappily seems to have made up its mind
to defy the recognised laws of economic science instead of
endeavouring to adapt their farming methods to them.
Some years were to elapse before this alternative policy of
action based on sound economic principles was adopted, and
in the meantime active efforts were made by Lord Winchilsea
and his supporters to gain wide-spread adhesion to the
National Agricultural Union, the specific objects of which
comprised the following items : —
1. Reduction in local taxation of agricultural property.
2. Abolition of preferential railway rates on foreign to the
prejudice of British produce.
3. Old age pensions.
4. Amendment of the law relating to the adulteration of food
and the Merchandise Marks Act.
5. Amendment of the Agricultural Holdings Act.
6. Increased facihties for the obtaining of small holdings.
This programme was accepted by 230 members of the then
new Parliament, in which Lord Rosebery was Premier, and
Lord Winchilsea realised his aspirations to the extent of
seeing formed an Agricultural Party which represented all
shades of political opinion.
Among the agriculturists of the country, however, there
was developed a feeling that something more than Pariia-
mentary action or agitation was needed to improve their
position. Complaints were then being more especially made
against the railway companies, whose alleged undue prefer-
ence of foreign over British produce was a much-discussed
grievance which, as will be seen, had found expression in the
second item on the National Agricultural Union programme.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 93
Action by Great Eastern Railway.
It was this particular phase of the controversy that lead
to an invitation being addressed by Lord Claud Hamilton,
chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company, to
Lord Winchilsea and a few leading agriculturists repre-
senting the district served by the Great Eastern Railway to
meet the directors and the principal officers of the company
at Liverpool Street Station on October 20th, 1895, with a
view to ascertaining in friendly conference whether the
railway company could do anything to help the agricultural
interest. Lord Claud Hamilton was accompanied at the
conference by the deputy chairman, Colonel Makins, and
various of the company's officers, while the agriculturists
were represented by, among others, the Earl of Winchilsea,
Sir Walter Gilbey, president of the Royal Agricultural
Society, Mr. M'Calmont, M.P., Captain Pretyman, M.P.,
and Mr. T. Hare, M.P.
On the part of the railway company it was pointed out
that while there should, in the interests of all parties con-
cerned, be a certain co-operation between the railways and
the producers, it was also essential that each side should
have its distinct organisation. The railways had organised
a carrying service, and it was for the producers, in turn, to
organise their consignments for delivery to the railways and
for subsequent sale. The greater economy to a railway
company in dealing with large or bulked instead of an
equivalent weight of small and separate consignments was
pointed to, and the fundamental principle was laid down
that, if the railways were to help agriculture, agriculture
should, in turn, facilitate the operations of the railways.
To this end Lord Claud Hamilton recommended that there
should be opened at leading stations in the agricultural
districts served by the Great Eastern Railway Company
depots to which the farmers of the locality could send their
produce in order that, through combination, they could
secure the lower rates for large collective consignments.
On the part of the agriculturists these proposals were
94 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
cordially approved, and a few days later it was announced
that a co-operative association was being formed for the
purpose, among other things, of establishing depots, as
suggested.
At a further conference, a fortnight later, Lord Claud
Hamilton announced that, as a means both of enabling farmers
to send supplies direct to consumers and of solving the pro-
blem of returned empties, his company had decided upon
the adoption of a new system for the carriage of farm or
market-garden produce. Provided that the senders packed
the produce in wooden boxes to be purchased from the
company — such boxes having so small a value that there
would be no question of returning them — and fulfilled certain
specified conditions, the company would carry the produce
from close on loo of their country stations at substantially
lower rates, to include delivery to the consignees.
This '* box system," as it came to be known, met at first
with much favour. In March, 1896, it was announced that
the Great Eastern Railway Company would apply the
system to the whole of their stations in agricultural districts,
that is to say, to 300 stations instead of 100 ; and that, with
the help of their station masters, they had, with a view to
putting producer and consumer into more direct communi-
cation, compiled a " List of Producers in Cambridgeshire,
Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk " who were
willing to supply farm and dairy produce to householders in
the towns. The list contained 600 names and addresses
and stated the different kinds of produce which could be
supplied.
Other leading railway companies (as will be shown later
on in the Chapter dealing with " Transport Questions ")
followed the example set by the Great Eastern ahke in
endeavouring to secure combination among the farmers for
the purposes of joint consignment, in the establishing of the
" box " system, and in endeavouring in other ways to
forward the interests of agriculturists.
In regard, however, to combination, it was subsequently
stated that although some of the companies went to a great
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 95
amount of trouble, and also to considerable expense, the
result of their efforts in this particular direction was little
better than a complete failure.
British Produce Supply Association.
In the meantime, Lord Winchilsea had matured his plans
for a British Produce Supply Association which, formed
under the auspices of the National Agricultural Union, and
registered in March, 1896, was looked upon by the more
sanguine of its supporters as hkely to lead to a " new era "
for the British farmer.
The objects of the Association were thus explained by
Lord Winchilsea in an article entitled " Co-operation for
Farmers," published in the " British Producers' Handbook ": —
The object of the Association is to assist the producer in the
disposal of his produce at every stage from the farm to the
market. This it proposes to do in the following ways : —
1. By establishing depots for the direct sale of agricultural
produce, and by selling also, on commission, through salesmen of
its own stationed in London and in the principal provincial
markets. By this means the farmer, instead of being obliged to
consign his produce to salesmen of whom he often knows little,
and whose returns he has no means of checking, can send it to an
Association established in his own interest, and thus have a
satisfactory guarantee that it makes all that it is worth.
2. By establishing from time to time depots at convenient
centres in country districts, where produce can be collected and
consigned to whatever market furnishes the best demand at the
moment. This arrangement will, it is hoped, in due course
enable the Association to obtain from railway companies the
same rates for the carriage of home produce which are now
granted almost exclusively to foreigners.
3. By establishing, in connection with one or more of the depots
according to the nature of the district, an abattoir or a butter
factory, which will answer the double purpose of effecting a
further and important economy in the treatment of meat or
butter produced in the locality, and of serving as models for the
imitation of associations of farmers in other parts of the country
which might desire to follow in the footsteps of the parent Society,
and, while erecting their own abattoir or butter factory, as the
case may be, to avail themselves of its services for the ultimate
disposal of their produce in the market.
4. It aims at gradually organising a better system for the
collection of produce in rural districts surrounding the depots, a
96 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
system which may, of course, be made available as an outlet for
many rural industries not immediately connected with agricul-
ture, but scarcely less valuable as a means of providing occupation
for labourers and their families during the winter.
Registered as a limited liability company, the Association
started with a capital of £50,000. At first the raising of
;f 250,000, to allow of operations being carried out on a much
larger scale, was contemplated ; but the original plans were
modified for reasons thus explained in an article on *' A
British Produce Supply Association," which I was privileged
to contribute to The Times of March i6th, 1896 : —
The reason for this limitation is the idea that, inasmuch as the
initial efforts will be largely experimental, it would be better not
to attempt too much at once, and to keep in the background for
a time a much more ambitious scheme which might be develoj>ed
all the better later on, if the promoters had from the first gained
experience from actual working on a smaller scale. But the
Association wiU, none the less, start under favourable auspices.
The directors are the Earl of Winchilsea (President of the National
Agricultural Union), Lord Kesteven, Mr. R. R. B. Orlebar, Mr.
R. H. Rew (secretary of the Central Chambers of Agriculture),
and Mr. Cornelius Thompson (late chairman of the committee
of the Civil Service Supply Association), while the following,
among others, have expressed approval of the objects in view : —
The Duke of Portland, the Marquis of Huntly, Earl Brownlow,
the Earl of Denbigh, the Earl of Jersey, Earl Stanhope, Lord
Herries, Lord Wantage, the Marquis of Hertford, Mr. James
Lowther, M.P., Mr. J. K. W. Digby, M.P., Mr. M. D'Arcy Wyvill,
M.P., Mr. Alexander Henderson, Mr. W. More Molyneux, Mr.
R. H. Wood, Mr. James Rankin, M.P., Mr. W. H. Hall, and Mr.
R. A. Yerburgh, M.P. The secretary is Mr. William Broomhall,
and the offices (pro tern.) are at 30, Fleet Street. As we under-
stand, the public is not to be asked to subscribe until experience
has proved the practicability of the scheme.
For the collection of produce in the country, an agent of
the Association was to be stationed at some convenient
market town where, with funds provided weekly by the
Association, he would purchase supplies direct from the
farmers, who were to be guaranteed better prices than they
would be likely otherwise to obtain locally, and be saved the
trouble of themselves sending their produce away. The
agent would have a depot at the local railway station, and
he would there bulk the consignments and get the advantage
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 97
of lower railway rates. It was expected also (to quote
further from the article in The Times) that " the Association's
agent would be a sort of technical educator, inasmuch as he
would point out the faults of the produce he could not
purchase, and would distribute leaflets and printed instruc-
tions as to what the Association wanted, and how things
should be done. Hitherto," it was added, " with purely
local prices, one farmer has had no inducement to offer
better commodities than another, but this will be altered
when the Association's agent practically takes the London
market into the country." Butter obtained from co-
operative dairy factories (the Association doing all it could
to encourage the starting of more of such factories), and sent
to London, would be graded and sold under a brand which
would be a guarantee of purity and of British production.
In addition to the abattoirs at which the Association
would kill its own meat, bacon factories were to be estab-
lished.
In regard to sale, the Association was to start with a depot
of its own in London, to be followed by others in Birming-
ham, Leeds, Manchester, and other large towns.
In the country operations were begun at Sleaford (Lin-
colnshire), where a local Association was formed. In London
some commodious premises were taken in Long Acre, in
convenient proximity to Covent Garden and other markets,
and these were fitted up on the " stores " system, with the
addition of a club room for the use of shareholders and of
members of the British Produce League, which had been
established to encourage the use of British products and the
employment of British labour. It was hoped that the
wholesale dealers would support the movement when they
realised " the practical benefits that the Association aimed
at securing in the interests of the British agriculturist " ;
but it was intimated that, if the " trade " held aloof, the
Association was " fully prepared to deal on a widespread
basis direct with the consumers."
The Long Acre depot was opened in October, 1896, and
at the outset a good business was done ; but difficulties
A.O, H
98 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
began to be experienced from the start, and they increased
almost daily in magnitude.
Producers in the country sold their best qualities to the
ordinary traders, and expected that an Association started
in the interests of agriculturists would give them a good
price for their second-rate quaUties. They felt hurt when
their supplies were rejected, and still more so when the local
agent started on his educational work of teaching them what
they ought to do. One or two other local Associations
were formed, and model rules were drawn up, in the hope
that still more would follow ; but the progress made in this
direction was very slight.
In London itself. Society had shown much sympathy
towards the scheme while it was being projected ; but
dwellers in the West End found it inconvenient to deal with
a depot so far away as Long Acre, and when it was sought to
overcome their objections in this respect by the opening of a
West End branch, they would still make no allowance
for those who could not supply exactly what they wanted,
while the plea that it was " British grown " did not incHne
them sufficiently to accept produce that was not to their
liking.
The wholesale traders equally failed to show their
patriotism in studying the interests of the British agricul-
turist when those interests seemed to conflict with their own
business. Failing to make satisfactory arrangements with
the salesmen in various wholesale markets, so that produce
which could not be disposed of at the depot might be sold on
commission, the Association obtained stalls of its own in
Covent Garden Market and the Central Meat Market ; but
once more it was faced with troubles and difficulties.
In the result heavy losses were sustained. They amounted
at times to as much as £250 a week ; and it became evident
that failure could not be averted. The original Association
— which, it will have been seen, in no degree represented
co-operative effort — was dissolved, and a new one took over
what was left of the business ; but the idea of having direct
dealings with farmers in the country districts was almost
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 99
completely abandoned. Lord Winchilsea died on Sep-
tember 7th, 1899, his health having broken down as the direct
result of his excessive zeal in the interests of British
agriculture.
Reasons for Failure.
With the wisdom that comes after the event, the reasons
for the failure of the well-intentioned efforts on the part
alike of Lord Winchilsea and of the railway companies can
easily be given.
Inquiry into the conditions under which the organisation
of agriculture had been successfully carried out in other
countries showed that a beginning had invariably been
made with the simplest forms of combination, and more
especially with combination for the joint purchase of agri-
cultural necessaries. In this way the advantages of co-
operation could be brought home to cultivators, who were
gradually educated in the theory and practice of combination
without having their suspicions aroused and their mutual
distrust stimulated by proposals that they should at once
alter their old conditions of trading in accordance with that
system of combination for transport or sale which really
constitutes, not the beginning of agricultural organisation,
but one of the most difficult and most complicated of all its
many phases.
In the circumstances it was not surprising that the earlier
efforts here in question should have failed to secure the
desired results. While, also, they so far influenced public
opinion as to modify the popular view that " the railways
were the chief stumbling-block in the way of the development
of British agriculture," and to show that the most practical
means of effecting this development would be found in
agricultural organisation, these initial failures left the
impression that it was hopeless to attempt to secure that
remedy here because, as was said, " British farmers won't
combine." Thus the task to be attempted later on by others
who were convinced that British farmers would combine if
only they were approached in the right way was rendered
H 2
100 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
even more difficult than it would otherwise have been.
None the less had it been made evident that the task was
one to be accompHshed, if at all, by an independent organisa-
tion, working on purely propagandist lines, and not only
undertaking duties far beyond the scope of a railway com-
pany's activities, but also avoiding the risks and complica-
tions of actual trading.
Before this was done, however, there was to be a renewal
of efforts by the Central and Associated Chambers of
Agriculture.
Chambers of Agriculture Inquiry.
On March 3rd, 1896 — that is to say, in the same month as
that in which Lord Winchilsea's British Produce Supply
Association was registered, and at a time when agricultural
organisation was very much " in the air " — the Council of
the Central and Associated Chambers resolved, by a majority
of 21 to 8, " That this Council recognises the desirability of
promoting combination for the sale and distribution of farm
produce, and for the purchase of farm requisites " ; while in
the following November the Council further resolved, " That
a Committee be appointed to enquire into the extent to
which the principle of co-operation has been applied in this
and other countries to the sale of agricultural produce ;
whether it is feasible and desirable to promote its further
extension ; and, if so, what means are best adapted to that
end." The Committee was constituted thus: — ^The Rt. Hon.
J. L. Wharton, M.P., the Rt. Hon. (now vSir) Horace Plun-
kett, M.P., Mr. D'Arcy Wyvill, M.P., Mr. R. A. Yerburgh,
M.P., Mr. W. H. Barfoot-Saunt, Mr. J. Bowen-Jones, Mr. T.
Latham, Mr. W. Lipscomb, Professor Long, Mr. Clare
Sewell Read, and Mr. S. Rowlandson, with the subsequent
addition of Lord Wenlock, Mr. F. E. Muntz and Captain
Stuart-Wortley, R.N., while Mr. R. H. Rew, who took an
active part throughout in this further phase of the move-
ment, was once more appointed to the position of secretary.
At the outset of their enquiry the Committee invited the
EVOLUTION OF ftR?:- A^C^:-.:]; ^./, \ im
assistance of various authorities on the questions within the
terms of their reference, and the following attended the
meetings held, and gave the Committee the benefit of their
experience : — Mr. M. R. Margesson, British Produce Supply
Association ; Mr. R. A. Anderson, Irish Agricultural
Organisation Society ; Mr. Algernon Fawkes, late agent to
Lord Vernon ; Mr. F. E. Walker, Escrick Dairy Factory ;
Mr. R. T. Haynes, South Shropshire Farmers* Trading
Association ; Mr. Alec Steel, Eastern Counties Dairy
Farmers' Society ; and Mr. H. Cecil Wright. The Committee
further convened a conference on agricultural co-operation,
held in the rooms of the Society of Arts on December 8th,
1897. Representatives attended from many different
associations, and among those who were also present were
Mr. (now Sir) T. H. Elliott, C.B., Secretary, and Major Craigie,
Assistant-Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. The
main purpose of the conference was to consider " the ques-
tion of the desirability and feasibility of extending the
principle of co-operation for the purchase of farming re-
quisites and the sale of agricultural produce, and the means
best adapted to that end." It was thought that the chief
object in view had been attained by the practical nature of
the speeches made, while the direct outcome of the proceed-
ings was the passing of a resolution as follows : —
That this conference considers it is desirable to establish some
form of communication between the various British and Irish
co-operative agricultural organisations, and respectfully requests
the Central Chamber of Agriculture to initiate this movement by
calling representatives together on a future occasion.
The report eventually issued by the Committee included
a detailed account of agricultural co-operation (i) in
Great Britain, (2) in Ireland, (3) on the Continent, and
(4) in the United States, Canada and Australasia ; and it
further gave certain conclusions at which the Committee
had arrived. Corroboration was found for the view pre-
viously expressed by the Central Chamber, " that co-
operation for purchase and co-operation for sale form two
separate problems, and that the solution of the one is easy
102 'AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
while that of the other is extraordinarily difficult." The
Committee endorsed the recommendation that local associa-
tions for the co-operative purchase of farming requisites
should be increased, and thought that " in many cases the
functions of such an association would form a fitting branch
of an existing Farmers' Club or Chamber of Agriculture."
In regard to co-operation for sale they considered that,
notwithstanding the admitted difficulties, associations of
producers in particular districts for the joint disposal of
certain classes of produce would be advantageous ; and they
proceeded : —
It is not to be expected, however, that such associations will
arise spontaneously. They are only likely to be started, even
where they may be most desirable, as the result of an organised
and systematic mission to explain the principle of co-operation,
the probable advantages of its adoption in each particular case,
and tiie constitution, rules, and procedure which must be accepted
and followed if the harmonious and successful working of co-
operative associations is to be assured. In short, work similar to
that done in Ireland by the Irish Agricultural Organisation
Society would need to be done in this country by a purely
propagandist body.
The Committee hesitate, however, to recommend an addition
to the numerous agricultural associations already existing, the
more so as they are of opinion that the end would be better
attained by utilising to some extent the machinery of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture, which already stands in some respects
in an analogous position to the Irish Agricultural Organisation
Society.
Finally, the Committee recommended the Council of the
Central and Associated Chambers of Agriculture to consti-
tute a " Co-operation Section," which should comprise all
deputies and subscribing members of the Chamber desirous
of joining it, and should have power to take action, within
defined limits, and without committing the Chambers as a
whole, for the promotion of the principle of co-operation in
agriculture.
In the light of subsequent developments, one may well
wonder what the history of agricultural co-operation would
have been if the movement had been directed and controlled
by the Central Chamber of Agriculture as here suggested.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 103
In effect, however, the great services which the Chamber had
already rendered in helping to direct public attention still
further to the general subject were not to fructify into a
definite carrying out of the scheme projected, and the actual
establishment of agricultural co-operation as a national
movement was to be brought about under widely different
conditions.
British Agricultural Organisation Society.
In 1900, there was formed at Newark, Nottingham, by
Mr. W. L. Charleton, a British Agricultural Organisation
Society based on lines akin to those of the Irish Agricultural
Organisation Society.
The Agricultural Organisation Society Formed.
Within a year of this British Agricultural Organisation
Society being established, the decision was arrived at to
unite it with the National Agricultural Union, and form a
new body, to be called the Agricultural Organisation Society.
Mr. R. A. Yerburgh, M.P., one of the earliest of Lord
Winchilsea's supporters, a member of the Central Chamber
of Agriculture's Committee on Co-operation for Purchase,
and then President of the National Agricultural Union,
accepted the position of President of this new body on the
understanding that it adopted co-operation as its funda-
mental principle ; ^ and it is in accordance with this under-
standing that the operations of the Agricultural Organisation
Society, brought into existence as the final outcome of the
series of events here narrated, have been conducted ever
since.
B.—PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT.
Registered in April, 1901, under the Industrial and
Provident Societies Act, the Agricultural Organisation
1 Mr. Yerburgh had previously made it a condition of his acceptance of
the presidency of the National Agricultural Union that that body should
abandon "Protection and Politics."
104 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Society — otherwise the "A. O. S." — ^was constituted as a
non-party and non-trading body, whose main purpose was
to " secure the co-operation of all connected with the land,
whether as owners, occupiers or labourers, and to promote
the formation of agricultural co-operative societies for the
purchase of requisites, for the sale of produce, for agricul-
tural credit banking and insurance, and for all other forms
of co-operation for the benefit of agriculture." The Society
adopted, in fact, on its own account, the principle which
had been enunciated by Sir Horace Plunkett at the in-
auguration of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society,
in 1894, when he said : — " The keynote of our proposals is
in the proposition that the farmers must work out their
own salvation, and, further, that this can only be done by
combination among themselves."
While, however, public opinion was, by this time, fully
prepared to endorse the soundness of the argument, it greatly
doubted the possibility of carrying the proposals into effect.
It sympathised with the idea of combination among British
farmers, but assumed, from the recent experiences, that
those who made further attempts to attain the realisation
of that idea would simply be following up a forlorn hope.
There did, also, appear to be a certain amount of pre-
sumption on the part of the new Society.
The National Agricultural Conference of December, 1892,
had brought together the greatest authorities in the British
agricultural world, and these had proposed their remedies
and blessed the formation of a National Agricultural Union ;
but the remedies were found to be of no avail and the
National Union came to nought.
Lord Winchilsea had organised his British Produce Supply
Association with a capital of £50,000, had secured the support
of leading members of London Society, had started opera-
tions on an ambitious scale, and had then — failed.
The railway companies, with all their powerful resources,
had in turn sought to promote combination among the
farmers, and they, too, had — failed.
Notwithstanding these failures, an unpretending little
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 105
Society which, at the outset, occupied two small rooms in a
block of offices situate in a side street in Westminster, and
had at first hardly enough funds with which — apart from the
voluntary efforts of an active committee — to pay rent, a
secretary, a typist, and the charwoman, and distribute
leaflets in addition, had started on no less formidable a task
than, not merely inducing British farmers to combine, but
practically reorganising their industry, with possibilities of
exciting the prejudices, or of arousing the opposition, of
powerful commercial interests concerned to the extent of
many millions in the allied industries on which agriculture
was more or less dependent. Yet the said Society, based on
sound principles, and increasing in strength as the years
went on, was to attain to such success that it represents
to-day a national movement which has not only already
achieved important results, but, with the process of recon-
stitution it has just undergone, should enter upon a fresh
and greatly expanded career of practical usefulness alike to
agriculture and to the country in general.
The first secretary of the Society was Mr. A. T. Matthews,
who had acted as secretary to the National Agricultural
Union. Mr. J. Nugent Harris, the present secretary, began
his connection with the Society in July, 1901, when he was
appointed as dairy expert. Three months later, on Mr.
Matthews resigning his post as secretary, Mr. Harris suc-
ceeded him in that position.
Early Days.
At the outset there was naturally a great amount of spade
work to be done in preparing the foundations of a system of
agricultural organisation designed, at first, to cover not only
the whole of England and Wales, but Scotland as well;
though, as will be told in detail in the section on " Devolu-
tion," the work of carrying on organisation in Scotland from
the London headquarters through a small staff, controlling
inadequate finances, was so arduous that the A. O. S. readily
joined in the setting up, in 1905, of a separate organisation
for Scotland.
io6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
In these early days even that very word " co-operation,**
which constituted the fundamental principle of the move-
ment, was misunderstood, and is, in fact, still widely mis-
understood even to-day. There were, in 1901, already in
existence many Farmers' Trading Companies, Farmers'
Auction Marts, Farmers' Insurance Companies and other
combinations with the prefix " Farmers' " ; but although
some of these were genuine co-operative bodies, they were
mostly limited liability companies whose gains benefited
shareholders not themselves necessarily agriculturists or
interested in agriculture apart from the dividends they
received. When such combinations failed, or did wrong
things, they brought discredit on co-operation because they
had quite wrongly annexed that designation ; but they were
not really co-operative societies in the sense implied in the
following explanatory statement contained in a letter sent
to the Press by the A. O. S. : —
The best way to form an agricultural co-operative society is to
register under the Industrial and Provident Societies' Act, and so
to frame the rules that the amount of the nominal capital is not
fixed ; that shares can be allotted at any time to any farmer apply-
ing for them ; that the interest payable upon the capital is limited
to a small percentage, usually 5 per cent., thus preventing the
concern from becoming a mere investment for capitalists ; and
that the bulk of the profits is divided amongst the members as a
bonus upon the amount of their sales through, and purchases
from, the society.
Then, however hopeless the prospect of the Society's success
may have appeared to many persons, considerable interest
was attracted to it even in the first year of its existence.
This interest was especially stimulated by the issuing of the
following statement (subsequently modified in certain of its
details) as to the actual lines on which it was prepared to
carry out the fundamental principles already mentioned : —
1. By sending down organisers to address meetings and to give
advice as to the proper course to be pursued in the formation of
local societies.
2. By providing model rules which have been found by experi-
ence to be the best working rules for all similar societies.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 107
3. By sending down lecturers, when desired, to affiliated and
other societies.
4. By acting as an information bureau to affiliated societies —
(a) For expert advice.
(b) For legal matters (especially as regards Industrial
and Provident Societies).
(c) For co-operative account keeping.
5. By arbitration in disputes arising from the rules and adminis-
tration of affiliated societies.
6. By assisting in all ways possible the furtherance of combined
action between the various affiliated societies in trading matters.
7. By pubhshing leaflets and circulars from time to time
dealing with the various forms of agricultural co-operation, and
furnishing trade information.
This was, in the circumstances, an ambitious programme
for a young Society, and the work of the early days was
naturally imperfect in many directions by reason of in-
sufficient stoE and means and the difficulties presented by
having both to face the prejudices of generations and to
win over the agricultural mind to entirely new ideas. All
the same, a certain degree of success was secured from the
start, and the progress made, however slow, was sure.
At the end of the first year of its operations, there were
already in affiliation 33 societies, some of which had been
formed by the British Agricultural Organisation Society,
previously to the registration of the A. O. S., though most of
them had been established subsequently thereto.
Financial Position.
In addition to affiliated societies, the membership included
individual subscribers to the funds ; yet even with this
support the question of finance presented serious difficulties,
so much so that in the report for 1903 it was said : —
Out of the small income, a little more than £700 per annum,
which is at the disposal of the Committee, we have to provide a
secretary, suitable offices, clerical assistance, trained organisers
to give expert advice to local societies, and to furnish, without
stint, information by means of printed matter, etc. This can
only be done by the employment of men with special knowledge
and experience, and to secure their services due remuneration
and travelling expenses are obviously necessary.
io8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The insufficiency of funds was, in fact, at this time, and
for some years afterwards, a constant nightmare to those
concerned in the task which had been undertaken, and
a great debt of gratitude is due to those who so loyally
supported the Society in this anxious period by money and
by personal service. The work had to go on, whatever the
difficulties, and it was impossible to retrench in face of the
ever-increasing need for further expenditure to meet new
developments or even the natural expansion of what had
already been taken in hand.
Methods of Operation.
How the A. O. S. started on its task of organising the
agricultural industries of the country may be illustrated by
some references to its second annual report, for 1902 ; and
it will further be seen therefrom how materially the methods
of the Society differed from those that had previously been
adopted in this country.
A very good beginning indeed had been made in the
Midlands. Five societies had been registered there ; a
conference on organised co-operation in agriculture had been
held at Worcester under the auspices of the Agricultural
Sub-Committee of the Worcestershire County Council and
the A. O. S., and the movement was being eagerly discussed
on all sides. In the way of accomplished results it was
reported that certain of the societies had come into consider-
able prominence owing to the vigorous action they had taken
in breaking up some rings formed by dealers who had sought
to control the green pea and cherry markets. One of these
societies had acquired the apples and pears in a number of
orchards, had had the fruit gathered by trained fruit-
pickers, and, utiUsing a large warehouse, had made up, not
only such consignments as the railway people preferred to
handle, but consignments properly graded and packed, and
likely, therefore, no less to satisfy the dealers. Plums,
damsons, and blackberries, together with potatoes, carrots,
and other vegetables had been graded and dealt with in the
same way, the declared experience of the society being that
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 109
*' highly-graded produce, of which the dealer can be assured
a continuous supply of a uniform quality, will command a
considerably higher price in the market than mixed produce,
however good ; and as no one man can possibly pack and
grade the crop of his own place, unless he is a very large
grower, co-operation offers the true means of competing with
foreign products."
Progress in Wales.
The report for the same year (1902) shows that " remark-
able progress " had been made in Wales. There were then
in the Principality eleven co-operative agricultural societies,
most of which had been formed mainly for the co-operative
purchase of agricultural requirements. Four had directed
their attention to live stock improvement, procuring pedigree
bulls and boars, and others, which had sought to organise
collective sale, had been successful in combating a " ring "
among the poultry salesmen. One society, not registered
until February, 1902, had nearly 400 members by the end
of the year, had had a turnover of £1,600 and had made a
profit of £200 in dealing with fertilisers, seeds, etc., though
it had done so in face of the keenest competition ; and
it had just taken over from a local dealer some premises
which contained a gas engine and a mill for grinding maize,
barley, etc. A store-keeper had been appointed, a trade
agent was to be engaged to act as an organising secretary,
a weekly pig market was to be started ; a comprehensive
live stock improvement scheme was being planned ; the
store already mentioned was to be further used as an egg-
collecting depot ; and steps were being taken to improve the
breed of members' poultry, a stock of the best winter-laying
birds having already been obtained. The other societies
were operating more or less on similar lines, and it was
reported in regard to the general movement in Wales that,
by the formation of these societies, a saving of from 20 to
25 per cent, had resulted to the farmers who were members
of them, while a further effect had been experienced in the
bringing down of prices all round wherever the starting of
no AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
a society was projected. On the other hand the societies
had had to meet " a most powerful trade opposition," and
it was thought better to establish firmly and consolidate the
societies already existing in Wales rather than respond too
eagerly to the requests daily coming to hand for the forma-
tion of new societies.
One further result of the work in Wales that might be
mentioned was the remarkable change in the quality of the
seeds, fertilisers, etc., supplied to the districts where the
agricultural co-operative societies had been in operation for
any length of time. In the days prior to organisation as an
active force in agriculture, Wales and Ireland were alike the
common dumping grounds for the refuse and the " cleanings"
of seeds and for the poorest qualities of fertilisers from
England and Scotland ; but the tests, analyses or guarantees
instituted or insisted on by the societies, together with the
rejection of inferior supplies, led to changes in methods from
which farmers outside the organisation movement benefited
— as they are doing to a still greater degree to-day — no less
than those who had given it their support.^
Advantages of the New Organisation.
These examples may serve to illustrate the general lines
on which the Society started its operations. There was
already in existence a considerable range of societies which
had been formed (as distinct from commercial undertakings)
to promote in various ways the interests of agriculture,
horticulture and allied industries, but none of them fulfilled
the same purpose in enabling the British farmer to (i) pro-
duce to the best advantage ; (2) transport to the best
advantage ; and (3) sell to the best advantage. The Society
took up the practical side of agriculture just where the
1 In the gardens of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, there
is an experimental plot which gives a practical illustration of the result of
using so-called " grass " seeds consisting mainly of cleanings. In one sec-
tion, planted with cock's-foot grass, the crop produced included wild
geraniums, thistles and several turnips. In another section the sheep's
fercue grass, which should alone have been seen, was almost entirely
obscured by an abundant growth of thistles, plantain, mustard, ox-eyed
daisy, hawk weed and medick.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. m
teachings of science left off-, and the economies effected in
the joint purchase of agricultural necessaries by a group of
producers in Worcestershire or elsewhere ; the better control
they got of the market ; the obvious superiority of properly-
gathered and properly-graded consignments on a larger
scale ; the realising of better prices from sales — these and
other advantages, steadily increasing in range and extent
as the work underwent still further development, were
object-lessons in agricultural combination which could not
fail to produce a good effect even where the aforesaid earlier
efforts had failed ; while the policy followed by the founders
of the movement was to establish small local societies, and
allow these to form the real basis of an organisation eventu-
ally to assume national proportions, rather than to work
in the opposite direction by starting a national movement
first and the local societies last.
In 1904 the Society enlarged the scope of its operations by
absorbing the Co-operative Banks Association, and in 1909
came the taking over of the organisation work of the National
Poultry Organisation Society, concerning which more will be
said in the section dealing with " Eggs and Poultry."
Joint Boards.
Down to 1908 the agricultural co-operative movement
was operated on independent lines by the central societies
of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland respectively;
but a conference held in Dublin on June 12 in that year by
representatives of the three bodies decided, in the words of
a pamphlet subsequently issued by Sir Horace Plunkett,
"that some permanent machinery should be established
whereby mutual consultation in matters relating to organisa-
tion, and united action in matters relating to trade, could
be resorted to whenever the work of organising the farmers
of these islands seemed Hkely to be furthered thereby." To
this end there were appointed two boards, the one a Joint
Board for Agricultural Organisation, and the other a Joint
Board for Agricultural Co-operative Trade. The former
112 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
consisted of representatives of the three central soceities,
and the latter of representatives of the Agricultural Co-
operative Federation, the Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-
operative Association, the Scottish Agricultural Organisation
Society, the Farmers' Supply Association of Scotland, the
North-Eastern Agricultural Co-operative Society and the
Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society. Sir Horace Plunkett
was appointed chairman and Mr. R. A. Anderson hon.
secretary of each Board, with Mr. R. M. Drysdale, Mr. F. C.
Smith and Mr. John Portnell joint secretaries on trade.
Meetings of the Joint Board for Organisation, held in
1908, dealt with various important subjects, including co-
operative credit and the relation of the State to agricultural
organisation.
It was considered that the matters on which action by
the Joint Board for Trade might most successfully be taken
were (i) the acquisition of agricultural necessaries of the
best qualities at the lowest prices ; (2) the marketing of
produce in the most economical manner ; and (3) the
interchange of commodities between the different societies
themselves. The Board held three meetings in 1908,
appointed a sub-committee to report on the conditions in
respect to co-operative trade in (a) fertilisers, (b) implements
and machinery, (c) feeding stuffs, (d) seeds, and also held an
important conference with the Fertiliser Manufacturers'
Association. In April, 1909, the question of the manufac-
ture and supply of feeding cakes was discussed and referred
to the sub-committee.
At recent meetings of the Joint Boards a number of
important questions have been discussed.
The Plan of Campaign.
The system on which the business of the A. 0. S. was
conducted may be briefly indicated as follows : —
I. Advertisement :
(a) Holding of meetings at which addresses on agricul-
tural co-operation were given by the President
and members of the Committee, or by members
of the staff.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 113
(b) The issue of leaflets, circulars, reports, etc. ; the
pubHcation of the " A. O. S. Journal," and
communications to the Press.
(c) A system of expert correspondence on matters
relating to agricultural co-operation.
II. Organisation of Agricultural Co-operative Societies :
(a) When invited so to do, the A. O. S. sent an organiser
to a district to explain the methods of forming and
working an Agricultural Co-operative Society.
(b) The A. O. S. suppUed its " Model Rules," and
attended to the legal formaHties of registration by
acting as a medium between the Society and the
Registrar of Friendly Societies.
III. The assisting of co-operative societies in the following
directions : —
(a) Visits by organisers from time to time, or attendance
at annual or other general meetings, opportunities
being thus afforded for the giving of advice
or direction by members of the central staff.
(b) The pubUcation in leaflets, circulars, and in the
" A. O. S. Journal " of articles on co-operative
subjects and on matters of importance to the
administration of societies.
(c) The giving of expert advice by means of correspon-
dence.
IV. Acting as a medium between co-operative societies and
Government Departments, County Councils, Railway Companies
and other bodies, and watching, in their progress through Parlia-
ment, any Bills which might affect the interests of agricultural
co-operative societies or their members.
V. General organisation.
In the carrying on of the work on these lines, the societies
were also brought into contact with each other by means of
district and other conferences, the Joint Board for Trade, etc.,
these having the effect of encouraging the exchange of
experience and information among the societies themselves.
In later years was to come, as will be told in due course,
recognition by the State, the carrying out of a " devolution "
policy, the building up of many different departments (each
of which wiU here call for separate treatment), removal of
offices, and increase of staff, all contrasting strongly with the
conditions that prevailed in the Society's early days.
A.O. I
114 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
C— STATE AID AND PUBLIC APPROVAL.
While the Agricultural Organisation Society had started
as a propagandist institution entirely dependent on volun-
tary contributions, the importance of the work it was doing
received early official recognition of a character which, in the
circumstances, was especially gratifying and encouraging.
The Board of Agriculture.
At a conference on agricultural co-operation arranged by
the agricultural students of the Aberystwith University, and
held there on December ist, 1902, the late Mr. R. W.
Hanbury, then President of the Board of Agriculture, said : —
I am not only personally in favour of agricultural co-operation,
but I think it is an object that ought to be assisted as far as the
Government can reasonably assist it. I do not say it is a panacea
for all the evils and troubles of agriculturists. . . . The troubles
of agriculturists have got to be removed by applying a great
number of remedies, and especially those remedies which are
suitable to all places. Although co-operation is not the cure-all,
although it is not a panacea, upon my honour I believe it comes
nearer to being such than a good many of the remedies we some-
times hear of. . . . It is the best form of self-help. . . . Let
farmers consider that theirs is a business. ... I should like to
see the farmers of this country a great deal better organised than
they are. . . . You should put pressure upon any Government,
by whatever name it may be called, to do justice to this great
industry. I therefore ask you, as farmers, to organise and bring
pressure upon any Government to see that justice is done.
Mr. Hanbury also attended the first public meeting of
members and subscribers held at the Westminster Palace
Hotel on April 29th, 1902, on which occasion he said, in the
course of another most sympathetic speech —
He did not know that pecuniary assistance could be given to
the A. O. S. from the State, but he wished by his presence to show
that his department was ready to take an interest in their im-
portant work, and hoped that the work of both would be brought
into closer touch. They would be pleased to render help and
information in every way, and he himself would like to become a
member.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 115
By the death of Mr. Hanbury, in 1903, the Society lost a
good friend ; but the late Earl of Onslow, who succeeded
him as President of the Board of Agriculture, attended the
public meeting of the A. O. S. held at Grosvenor House on
May 26th, 1903, and declared that he most heartily endorsed
the sentiments expressed by his predecessor, adding, " I have
the deepest interest in this Association and I intend to do all
I can to assist the good work it has in hand."
Lord Onslow's successor at the Board of Agriculture, the
Right Hon. Ailwyn Fellowes, was among the speakers at
the annual meeting in 1905, and said he considered that
the work which had been done by the Society deserved
the sympathy and support of everyone. To his mind there
was no better form of co-operative organisation than that
which the Society advocated, and the Board over which he
presided wished them ** all luck and all success." They
would find in that Board a body which was absolutely with
them in almost all their wishes as regarded agriculture in
this country, and they would certainly do all they could to
assist them.
When Earl Carrington, now the Marquis of Lincolnshire,
succeeded to the office of President of the Board of Agri-
culture, he was no less sympathetic towards the A. O. S. than
his predecessors had been. In a speech he delivered at
the annual meeting in 1906 he said that —
When the taxation of the country and the income tax were
reduced, and they had a little money in the till, then with the
greatest pleasure he would tackle the Chancellor of the Exchequer
and put it before him in the most forcible language that of all the
demands which were being made upon him there was not one that
deserved more sympathetic and more practical, hearty support
than that of the Society of which Mr. Yerburgh was the head.
He was glad to have had an opportunity of showing his entire
sympathy with, and his practical support of, the co-operative
movement, and he could assure them that every member of His
Majesty's Cabinet hoped to see a great development of the work
of the Society in the future.
Mention should be made, also, of the cordiality shown
towards the Society, and the practical help given in many
I 2
ii6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
ways, by all the leading officials of the Board of Agriculture,
and more especially by the Permanent Secretary, Sir Thomas
Elliott, whose ever-ready assistance has been of great service
in furthering the Society's propagandist work, and helping
to place the Society itself on a firmer footing. Most useful,
also, were the leaflets issued by the Board of Agriculture
from time to time dealing with the A. O. S. or with particular
phases of its activities, together with the further references
thereto in the Board's official journal.
The Home Office.
In 1903, also, the Home Office granted the prayer of a
memorial from the A. O. S., asking for the removal of certain
disadvantages under which creameries in Great Britain
laboured as compared with creameries in Ireland, by reason
of the special exemptions granted to the latter as regarded
the employment of women on Sundays.
The Treasury.
Equal success attended the presentation, again in 1903,
of a joint memorial to the Lords of the Treasury from the
Co-operative Banks Association, the Agricultural Organisa-
tion Society and the Irish Agricultural Organisation
Society for the removal of certain restrictions regarding the
registration of Agricultural Credit Societies designed in the
interests of small cultivators and the rural labouring class.
It was asked that in view of the essentially " friendly "
character of these village societies, coupled with the fact that
no profit or dividend is divided amongst their members,
there should be an amendment of such regulations as pre-
vented the societies from being registered as, and sharing in
the privileges of, ordinary friendly societies. The amend-
ments desired were — {a) Abolition of the £1 fee for regis-
tration and of the los. fee for amendment of rules, these fees,
it was pointed out, being *' prohibitive to the very poor
people it was sought to encourage in the direction of
economic self-help " ; (6) exemption from stamp duty, as per
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 117
clause 33 of the Friendly Societies Act, and (c) priority of
claims against the estates of officers, as per clause 35 of the
Friendly Societies Act. All three proposals were acceded to
by the Treasury.
Board of Education and County Councils.
Indirectly, a certain degree of State-aid was obtained in
1902 through an important concession by the Board of
Education.
As the result of several conferences between Mr. C. G.
Watkins, secretary to the Education Committee of the Bucks
County Council and the A. O. S., a representation was made
to the Board of Education, on behalf of the Agricultural
Sub-Committee of the County Council in question, that
instruction in the " Principles and Practice of Agricultural
Co-operation " — which subject was not included in the
branches of science and art with respect to which grants were
then being made by the Board of Education under the
Technical Instruction Act of 1889 — was required by the
circumstances of the district.
Mr. Yerburgh also waited specially on the then Permanent
Secretary to the Board of Education, Sir George Kekewich,
in respect to this application, and there was reason to believe
that the representations he made had much to do with the
granting of the desired concession by the Board. Following
thereon, the Education Committee of the Bucks County
Council employed, for three months, one of the organisers of
the A. O. S. to give instruction in the methods of agricultural
organisation, a society being formed as the result of his
labours. A circular letter was issued by the Board of
Agriculture to the County Councils of England and Wales,
bringing the concession under their notice, and several
councils, obtaining like sanction, utilised the services of
the Society or took other steps to promote the teaching
of the principles and practice of agricultural co-operation.
In Wales, where the interest in the movement had, by this
time, become exceptionally keen, the County Councils of
ii8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Carmarthen, Cardigan and Pembroke sent in August, 1902,
a deputation of 18 delegates to Ireland, where nine counties
were visited and close enquiry was made into the working of
agricultural co-operation there. The Secretary of the A. O. S.
accompanied the deputation, and helped in organising the
tour. The Irish Agricultural Organisation Society also gave
a good deal of assistance. Much of the success of the tour
was due to the untiring efforts of the hon. secretary,
Mr. H. Jones-Davies.
In a report subsequently presented for the consideration
of their respective County Councils the delegates placed
on record their conviction " that the principles of agricul-
tural co-operation, as established on the model of several
European countries, and as successfully appHed in Ireland, are
eminently adapted to further the present condition of agri-
culture in west Wales, and that their adoption is highly
desirable in the farming interest." The delegates thought
the comparative failure of the butter factories hitherto
established in that part of Wales was mainly attributable
to the fact that the elementary principles of agricultural
co-operation had not been applied to their formation and
subsequent conduct, and they made a long series of recom-
mendations to their Councils with a view to securing the
dissemination of these principles in the general interest of
agricultural industries in their districts.
The example set by those of the English and Welsh County
Councils which had taken up the teaching of the principles
and practice of agricultural co-operation was speedily fol-
lowed in Ireland, so that in this respect, at least, England led
the way. County Councils were, indeed, finding that agri-
cultural co-operation was but the logical outcome and
practical application of such agricultural instruction as they
were already, in many instances, so actively engaged in
imparting. The position was put very clearly by one of the
County Council instructors in Ireland, who said : — " When
farmers have been taught by lecturers and experts every-
thing they can teach them about artificial manures, farm
seeds, and feeding stuffs, the farmers naturally want to be
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 119
placed in a position to procnre these articles of the very best
quality and at the lowest prices."
Among other developments of this action on the part of
the County Councils mention might be made of the delivery
of lectures under the combined auspices of the Worcester-
shire County Council and of the local co-operative societies ;
the inclusion, in 1903-4, of " Farmers* Clubs and Co-opera-
tion '* and " Co-operation in Dairy Work " among the
subjects discussed in a series of " Informal Talks " included
in the Notts County Council Education Committee's scheme
of technical instruction ; the formation of a society at
Frampton-on-Severn as the result of a lecture on agricultural
co-operation arranged by Mr. Turner, director of agricultural
education for the Gloucester County Council, the lecturer
being an A. O. S. organiser ; the delivery in Buckingham-
shire of further series of lectures on " The Benefits of Co-
operation," by an A. O. S. organiser, in 1907 and 1908, under
an arrangement with the Bucks County Education Com-
mittee ; and the lectures arranged by the County Councils
of Cambridge, Lancashire and Wilts.
As will, however, be shown later on, the statement made
in the second annual report, for the year 1902, to the effect
that " County Councils have not, as a rule, realised the
importance of thorough organisation in agricultural matters,"
remained, generally speaking, still applicable, notwith-
standing various gratifying exceptions thereto.
Colleges.
From various colleges came much support for the move-
ment, more especially in regard to educational matters.
At the University College, Aberystwith, some courses of
lectures on " Agricultural Co-operation " were begun in
1902 by Professor D. D. Williams, and in the following year
Mr. Augustus Brigstocke, honorary representative for South
Wales, and also a member of the Committee, presented to
the governors of the college two scholarships of the value
of £10 each to enable diploma students to pursue these
courses of lectures.
120 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The Agricultural Department of the University College of
North Wales, Bangor, organised a series of " extension
lectures " on '' Agricultural Co-operation/' the outcome of
which was the formation of two new societies.
The Council of the University College, Reading, took part
in the holding, in that town, on March 21st, 1903, of a confer-
ence attended by Mr. Hanbury, Sir Horace Plunkett, Mr.
Yerburgh, and others, at which a resolution affirming the
desirability, in the interests of agriculture, of encouraging
" the study and adoption throughout Great Britain of those
principles of agricultural co-operation which have been for
many years so successfully established in foreign countries,
and more recently in Ireland and several parts of England
and Wales."
The present Director for Agriculture of the Reading
College, Mr. R. Hart-Synnot, is most sympathetic and
recently issued a circular letter to the principal newspapers
in the counties of Hants, Dorset, Wilts, Berks and Oxon in
support of agricultural co-operation.
Co-operative Union.
To the Co-operative Union and its late secretary, Mr. J. C.
Gray, the Committee expressed themselves, as early as 1902,
" much indebted and very grateful for the advice and guid-
ance given in matters of great importance" to the movement.
These acknowledgments were renewed in 1903. At the
1904 Congress of the Co-operative Union the following
resolution was passed : —
That this conference notes with satisfaction the growth of
co-operation amongst agriculturists, as evidenced by the numerous
co-operative societies established during recent years for the
purpose of supplying farmers and others with the machinery,
implements, manures, seeds, etc., required in their business, and
also for distributing their produce on a co-operative system.
Believing it desirable that a closer connection should be main-
tained between all branches of the co-operative movement in
this country, the Congress pledges itself to assist in the develop-
ment of co-operation in this direction by encouraging the Agri-
cultural Organisation Society in its work, and by using its
influence towards the establishment of mutual trading relations
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 121
between the Co-operative Wholesale Societies and the Agricul-
tural Societies.
The present General Secretary, Mr. Whitehead, continues
the policy of his predecessor, Mr. Gray.
Farmers' Associations.
Another feature of the good progress made was the number
of societies formed as offshoots of existing farmers' associa-
tions, — a fact which fully confirms what has already been
said as to the supplying of needs not met by the earlier
agricultural organisations, however valuable the services
they rendered in other directions. Of the 46 societies formed
between January ist, 1905, and June 30th, 1906, seven
originated with existing farmers' associations, and eleven
more of these bodies were, on the latter date, considering
proposals for the formation of co-operative societies. At a
meeting of the Yorkshire Union of Agricultural Clubs and
Chambers of Agriculture on June 19th, 1906, it was resolved
that clubs affiliated to the Union should be urged to form
co-operative agricultural societies and a committee was
appointed to carry this resolution into effect.
The Press.
To the Press of the country the A. O. S. is indebted for an
almost general support, the exceptions being very few, and
including various trade papers which thought that the
interests of their own particular class of readers might be
prejudiced by the movement. The articles published from
time to time in London and provincial papers had a powerful
effect in making the movement better known, and securing
for it a still greater measure of public sympathy and en-
couragement.
The publication, in 1904, through Mr. John Murray, of
" The Organisation of Agriculture," a book which repre-
sented a substantial expansion of a series of four articles
published in The Times at Easter in that year, giving details
concerning the development of agricultural organisation in
122 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
other countries and the position at home, was also con-
sidered to have served a useful purpose.
Small Holdings Grant.
Notwithstanding all this wide-spread approval of its
objects and work, the Society continued down to 1909 to be
entirely dependent on voluntary contributions for the means
by which that work could be carried on, and its powers of
usefulness were severely restricted by the inadequacy of its
finances. At the end of 1908 the A. O. S. was the central
body of 281 affiliated societies, viz., societies for the supply
of requirements or sale of produce, 121 ; small holdings and
allotments societies, iii ; dairy societies, 13 ; agricultural
credit societies, 20 ; farming societies, 3 ; auction markets,
3 ; industrial societies, 2 ; fruit-grading societies, 2 ; together
with one motor service society, one milling society, the
Agricultural Co-operative Federation, the Central Co-
operative Bank, the Agricultural and General Co-operative
Insurance Society, and the Scottish Agricultural Organisa-
tion Society. These affiliated societies had then a member-
ship of about 15,000, and their turnover for the year was
estimated at £770,000, while the financial position, in 1908,
of the parent Society, which was pioneering the whole move-
ment and seeking to establish it on national lines, stood
thus : —
Receipts — £ s. d. £ s. d.
Subscriptions .. .. 1,22218 o
Affiliation fees . . . . 78 i 7
Donations . . . . . . 77 o i
Guarantee fund called up . . 670 7 o
Other receipts . . . . 478 8 10
Total receipts . . 2,526 15 6
Total expenditure .. .. 2,477 ^^ ^
Balance of receipts over
expenditure . . . . 49 3 10
Some degree of relief, however, was to come to the A. O. S.
in the form of a grant from the Board of Agriculture, made
under the following circumstances.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 123
In April, 1905, the President of the Board of Agriculture
appointed a Departmental Committee to enquire into the
administration and working of the Small Holdings Act,
1892. The members of this Committee included the President
of the A. O. S. (Mr. R. A. Yerburgh, M.P.), and among the
witnesses examined were the secretary (Mr. J. Nugent
Harris), and the then chief organiser (Mr. W. M. Tod) of
the A. O. S., and representatives of some of the affiliated
societies. In their report, dated December loth, 1906, the
Committee dealt with (among many other matters) the
subject of co-operation as applied to small holdings, and
said : —
The Committee are of opinion that practical steps should be
taken by the Government to promote all forms of agricultural
co-operation, and especially to encourage the formation of
agricultural credit societies. The Committee have carefully
considered the question whether it is desirable that the promotion
of co-operation should be undertaken directly by the Government
Department, or should be entrusted to a voluntary organisation
which should receive a grant from the public funds. The
Committee have come to the conclusion that the propagandist
work can be more effectively carried out by a voluntary organisa-
tion, more particularly if that organisation is of a representative
character. They have considered the work which is being done
by the Agricultural Organisation Society, and are of opinion that
an annual grant should be made to the said society by the Board
of Agriculture, under such limitations as the Board may think
desirable.
Following on this report. Parliament passed the Small
Holdings Act of 1907, consolidated in the following year by
the Act of 1908. Small Holdings Commissioners were to be
appointed ; a special account, to be called " The Small
Holdings' Account," was created ; and there was placed on
County Councils the obligation to provide small holdings for
bond fide applicants, compulsory powers for acquiring land
being, to this end, given to the Councils and also to the
Board of Agriculture in the event of the Councils not per-
forming their statutory duty.
It was further enacted, by Section 49 (4) : —
The Board [i.e., the Board of Agriculture], with the consent of
the Treasury, may, out of the Small Holdings Account, make
124 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
grants, upon such terms as the Board may determine, to any
society having as its object or one of its objects the promotion of
co-operation in connection with the cultivation of small holdings
or allotments.
As the result of this new legislation considerable demands
began to be made upon the A. O. S. for assistance in the
formation of co-operative small holdings and allotment
societies, and the greater part of the time of the staff was
engaged thereon, although the organisation of agricultural
co-operative societies in other directions called for increased
energy and was pushed forward with, if possible, still greater
vigour.
It was evident that, under the Small Holdings and Allot-
ments Act, the scope, purpose and future working of the
A. O. S. would be very materially affected, and that, unless
the Society were enabled to control larger funds than were
then available, it could not possibly show itself equal to
requirements. An application for a grant was made to the
Board of Agriculture, which eventually agreed, with the
consent of the Treasury, to a grant of £1,200 per annum for
a period of three years from April ist, 1909, provided that
the income of the Society from subscriptions and donations
in each year was not less than £1,200. In the event of the
income of the Society exceeding that sum the grant to be
made by the Board was to be increased by a corresponding
amount, with a maximum of £1,600. Further conditions of
the grant were that the Society should have a Committee of
Management of twenty-four members, including six to be
nominated by the Board of Agriculture and two by the
National Poultry Organisation Society ; and that the
Society should appoint at least three organisers for the
promotion of co-operation in connection with the cultivation
of small-holdings or allotments, one of the three to be
conversant with the organisation of co-operative societies
for the production and sale of poultry and eggs.
The six members of the Committee of the A. O. S. nominated
by the Board of Agriculture were : — Mr. E. J. Cheney and
Mr. M. T. Baines (Small Holdings Commissioners), directly
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 125
representing the Board ; Mr. C. Roden Buxton and Mrs.
Wilkins, nominated to represent the Central Small Holdings
Society ; the late Mr. J. C. Gray (general secretary of
the Co-operative Union) ; and Mr. D. Mclnnes (secretary
of the Midland Section of the Co-operative Union and a
director of the Co-operative Wholesale Society), nominated
to represent the Co-operative Union.
The National Poultry Organisation Society nominated the
Marchioness of Salisbury and Col. R. Williams, M.P., as its
representatives.
In further accordance with the conditions on which the
grant was made three new organisers were appointed.
D.— RECONSTITUTION.
The concession of State aid through the grant which had
been made by the Board of Agriculture was followed by
a complete reconstitution of the Society as the result of a
subsequent grant under the Development and Road Im-
provement Funds Act, 1909, and the amending Act of
1910.
Designed to " Promote the Economic Development of the
United Kingdom and the Improvement of Roads therein,"
this new legislation led to the appointment, in May, 1910,
of a body known as the Development Commissioners, by
whom the objects of the Act were to be carried into effect.
This was to be done through the administration of a
" Development Fund," created by the setting apart annually
of ;f 500, 000 from the Consolidated Fund for a period of five
years, supplemented by such moneys as might from time to
time be provided by Parliament for the purposes of the Act.
Under section i (i) it was provided that " The Treasury
may, upon the recommendation of the Development Com-
missioners appointed under this Act, make advances to a
Government department, or through a Government depart-
ment to a public authority, college, school or institution, or
an association of persons or company not trading for profit,
either by way of grant or by way of loan, or partly in one
way and partly in the other, and upon such terms and
126 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
conditions as they may think fit '' for a variety of purposes,
the first-mentioned of which were : —
Aiding and developing agriculture and rural industries by
promoting scientific research, instruction and experiments in the
science, methods and practice of agriculture (including the
provision of farm-institutes), the organisation of co-operation,
instruction in marketing produce, and the extension of the
provision of small holdings ; and by the adoption of any other
means which appear calculated to develop agriculture and rural
industries.
The A. O. S. being " an association of persons not trading
for profit,'' and having on hand (as will be explained later
on) a scheme of Branch Devolution which would involve a
complete reorganisation of its work, applied for an annual
grant to meet the cost of that scheme.
An interim grant was made on July 25th, 191 1, subject to
certain conditions which were duly carried out. The
Society removed from Dacre House, Westminster, to more
commodious premises at Queen Anne's Chambers, West-
minster ; it made the stipulated appointments, and it
obtained extra clerical assistance in order to meet at once
the emergency created by the substantial increase then
proceeding in the work.
Basis of Reconstitution.
The conditions recommended by the Development Com-
missioners to be attached to a permanent grant to the
Society, so far as they referred to its reconstitution on
representative and national fines, were indicated in a letter
received from the secretary of the Development Commission,
dated May 30th, 191 1, following on an interview between
representatives of the Development Commission and the
Society, at which the matter was discussed. Briefly stated,
the conditions were as follows : —
1. The reconstitution and registration of the A. O. S. as a
non-profit-earning Association under Section 20 of the Companies
(ConsoHdation) Act of 1908.
2. The governing body to be partly elective and partly
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 127
appointed, the appointed members being representatives of the
Board of Agriculture, the County Councils Association, the Co-
operative Union and other representative bodies.
3. On the District Committees, or Boards, to which would be
entrusted the local administration of the Society's business.
County Councils within the district should be strongly
represented.
The letter further stated that the Commissioners were
prepared to recommend the Treasury to make annually to
the Board of Agriculture such grants as they may be satisfied
are necessary for the energetic promotion of co-operation
among agriculturists in England and Wales, and that these
grants should be paid by the Board to the Society thus re-
constituted.
The necessary resolutions for the voluntary winding up of
the old Society, under the conditions of the Development
Fund grant, were passed at meetings held in April and May,
1912, and a new Society, with the same title, was registered
under section 20 of the Companies (ConsoHdation) Act, igo8.
The first Governors have been appointed jointly by the
Board of Agriculture and the Development Commissioners,
and are to remain in office until the first annual general
meeting, to be held after April ist, 1914. Their present
number is not fixed. Those now holding office are as
follows : —
Mr. R. A. Yerburgh, M.P., President.
The Earl of Shaftesbury, K.P., K.C.V.O., Chairman of the
Governors.
Mr. F. D. Acland, M.P. Mr. Duncan Mclnnes.
Mr. Charles Bathurst, M.P. Mr. George L. Pain.
Mr. S. Bostock. Mr. Abel H. Smith.
Mr. W. Fitzherbert-Brock- Mr. Clement Smith.
holes, D.L.
Mr. PhiHp Burtt. Lord Strachie.
Mr. E. J. Cheney. The Hon. Edward Strutt.
Mr. H. C. Fairfax-Cholmeley. Mr. A. Whitehead.
Mr. J. S. Corbett. Mrs. Roland Wilkins.
Mr. Rupert Ellis. Colonel Robert Williams, M.P.
Mr. H. Jones-Davies. Sir James Wilson, K.C.S.I.
Mr. Cyprian-Knollys.
Subsequently to the holding of the first annual general
128 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
meeting of the Society, after April ist, 1914, the Board is
to consist of 36 Governors, chosen as follows : —
Elective (including the President)
Appointed by the Board of Agriculture
18
12
County Councils Association 2
2
2
„ „ Co-operative Union
Co-opted by the Governors
Total .
36
Power is taken either to increase or to reduce the number
of Governors, provided that the same proportion as in the
above list is maintained between the elective Governors (that
is to say those who have been elected by the affiliated
societies) and those appointed by the Board of Agri-
culture, though the total number is at no time to
exceed 60.
It will be seen that, in the first instance, a guarantee of
proper expenditure of grants from the Development Fund
is assured by the appointment of the first Board of Governors
by the two bodies by or through whom the grants are made,
while the fact that a number of the Governors so appointed
have been chosen from the Executive Committee of the old
Society will no less assure a continuity of experience and
policy.
By the end of this first period the Society, as re-consti-
tuted, will have settled its policy, and have brought about,
through its organising efforts, the formation of a much larger
number of affiliated societies, and these will naturally expect
to have a share in the work of administration. Hence the
introduction of the elective element.
The reconstitution of the Agricultural Organisation
Society on this greatly expanded scale of usefulness will have
the effect of placing on a permanently established basis a
movement previously dependent to so large an extent on
voluntary support, though aiming at the accomplishment of
a really national work.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 129
Development Commissioners' Policy.
In the second report of the Development Commissioners,
being the report for the year ended March 31st, 19 12, it
is stated : —
The arrangements for assisting the organisation of co-opera-
tion in Great Britain have been settled in outline. The principle
adopted by the Commissioners has been in substance to utilise
the existing voluntary societies which have done the work in the
past, and entrust its extension to those bodies, reconstituted and
strengthened by the admission of representative elements from
outside. Two reasons have weighed with the Commissioners in
adopting this policy. In the first place, they think that co-
operation is particularly the kind of movement to which it is
essential to retain the enthusiasm of voluntary workers. They
fear that the grant of Government assistance, and the consequent
measure of Government control, may to some extent weaken the
spontaneous character of the movement ; but they feel that it
has a better chance of surviving under the arrangements now
made, than if the necessary assistance which the Commissioners
were glad to supply had been given to official bodies. Secondly,
the geographical and other limitations of the available public
authorities, at least in England and Wales, render them incon-
venient and probably expensive agents for this particular purpose.
The natural co-operative divisions of the country do not follow
county boundaries, nor is the area which one organiser and his
assistants can cover confined to one county.
Information is given as to the course taken by the Com-
missioners (on the lines already stated) in regard to the
organisation of co-operation among agriculturists in England
and Wales during the year covered by their report, and they
say concerning the reconstitution of the Agricultural
Organisation Society, in accordance with the terms of their
grant : —
Owing to legal and other difficulties, the reconstitution of the
Society probably cannot be effected before the end of the present
summer. Meanwhile the Commissioners propose to recommend
such grants as may be necessary to enable the Society to carry
on its work pending reorganisation ; when that event takes place
they hope that the new Governing Body of the Society will be able
to submit a scheme of extension wliich will command their
approval and the Treasury's.
The action of the Commissioners in regard to the Agri-
A.O. K
130 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
cultural Organisation Societies of Scotland and Ireland is
also recorded.
In June, 1911, the Commissioners considered an applica-
tion from the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (the
story of which will be told in the section that follows) for an
annual grant of £1,500. It was decided to recommend an
advance for the current year equal to the amount spent by
the Society from its own funds, but not in any case exceeding
£1,000, and with the proviso that the Committee of the
Society should be increased by the addition of members
nominated by the chairmen of the County Councils and the
Scotch Agricultural Colleges ; that the Society's operations
should be in harmony with the scheme of work of the
colleges ; that the Society should appoint an additional
organiser and have its accounts audited by an approved
professional auditor ; and that it should give particular
attention in organising agricultural co-operation to the needs
of small holders in that direction.
The question of assisting the organisation of agricultural
co-operation in Ireland was found by the Commissioners to
have been rendered more difficult by complications with
party politics. An application from the Irish Agricultural
Organisation Society for assistance was opposed both by the
Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for
Ireland and by the Irish Council of Agriculture, the latter
body passing a resolution to the effect that any money
available for agricultural co-operation in Ireland should be
granted to and administered by the Department. A draft
scheme, which contemplated a grant of £9,000 and the
organisation of co-operative associations for the growing
of fruit, early potatoes and flax, bee-keeping and lime
burning, was prepared by the Department, but the Com-
missioners " were not satisfied that it amounted to a scheme
for the organisation of agricultural co-operation in the sense
which they felt bound to attach to those words," and " they
could not, therefore, accept it as the Irish counterpart of the
measures taken for that purpose in England and Wales and
Scotland." At their meeting in March, 1912, the Commis
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 131
sioners heard evidence in support of the Irish Agricultural
Organisation Society's application, and subsequently, the
report adds, " they have recommended a grant of ;£2,ooo to
the Society, with prospective further grants, on conditions
designed to secure that the Society's work is confined to
purely agricultural co-operation, and that it is carried on
without the possibility of any suspicion of political partisan-
ship."
In explaining the " Finance of the Development Fund "
the Commissioners say concerning agricultural co-op-
eration : —
This expenditure under this head takes the form of grants to
the three existing agricultural societies. ^^50,000 might be
sufficient, but it is possible that this sum may be exceeded as
co-operation is a subject to which the Commissioners attach
great importance.
Finally, in their " Conclusion " the Commissioners say : —
The scheme for agricultural instruction and research, when in
full operation, should at least go some way towards organising
into a coherent system the more scientific side of agriculture in
this country, as the schemes for promoting co-operation should
help in organising its more commercial side.
E.— DEVOLUTION.
Reference has already been made, on page 126, to the
fact that when the Society approached the Development
Commissioners, in 1910, with a view to obtaining a sub-
stantial grant from the Development Fund, it had on hand
*' a scheme of Branch Devolution which would involve a
complete reorganisation of its work."
Devolution was then by no means a new idea. There had
been an initial development of this principle in 1904, or
within three years of the Society being originally constituted.
That particular development took place in regard to the
work in Scotland.
Agricultural Organisation in Scotland.
Under the original plan of campaign, the A. O. S. was to
take up the work of agricultural organisation throughout
K 2
132 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Great Britain in general, doing alike for England, Wales and
Scotland what the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society
was doing for Ireland. In this way some early attempts
were made to foster propagandist efforts and promote the
establishment of societies in Scotland. Owing, however,
both to the labour and expense involved in carrying on such
efforts from London and to the limited extent of the funds
then controlled by the central body, the actual progress was
so slight that down to the end of 1904 only a single co-
operative Agricultural Society — one, namely, at Tarff Valley,
Kirkcudbrightshire — had been formed.
By this time, however, there had been brought about
in Scotland a great awakening of interest in agricultural
organisation . Captain John Sinclair, M . P . f or Forfarshire , had
visited Denmark and been so impressed by what he saw and
heard that on his return he sought to induce some of his
constituents to make up a party to go to Denmark in order
to study the position there for themselves and apply, as far
as practicable, to their own farming any lessons they might
learn from Danish methods.
The reception given to his proposal can best be described
in the words of an official report subsequently issued : —
The idea grew. What was a Forfarshire project developed
into a project based upon a larger area of interest. The Secretary
for Scotland was good enough to agree that a member of the
Congested Districts Board and Crofters' Commission should be
invited to join the party. Members of Parliament of both
political connexions contributed suggestion and aid in the
composition of the Commission. Landlords of extensive acres
in some cases became members ; in others nominated their
estate agents ; in others, gave the names of tenants. The
Highland and Agricultural Society and the Scottish Chamber
of Agriculture appointed representatives. From the Agricul-
tural Colleges, east and west, were drawn several members of the
teaching staffs. Apart from these, the larger number of the
Commission were weU-known farmers hailing from all parts of
Scotland, many of them with specialised interests, such as
dairying, poultry-keeping and cattle-breeding.
Following on the attention which had a-ready been so
widely attracted in Scotland, as in other parts of the United
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 133
Kingdom, to the general subject, the report made on its
return from Denmark by this Scottish Agricultural Com-
mission of 1904 had a powerful effect on public opinion in
Scotland.
In praising the Popular High School system in Denmark,
the Commissioners thought they could not too strongly
impress upon the sons of farmers, and all others contem-
plating a farmer's life, the necessity for taking a regular course
of tuition at one of the Scottish Agricultural Colleges. On
the subject of land tenure they thought a sound case was
made out for creating a class of small holdings in the hands
of cultivating owners. Concerning egg-collecting, they
pointed out that the great and profitable egg export trade
of Denmark rested upon numerous groups of peasant pro-
prietors and cottagers who kept from 10 to 100 fowls each,
and joined in co-operative societies for collecting, testing
and marketing the eggs, and they thought that, although in
Scotland the keeping of poultry for profit was less general,
the practice would rapidly grow were similar organisations
formed. Bacon-curing factories they considered to be clearly
a phase of co-operation in which farmers might take the
initiative to their common advantage, and they recom-
mended the formation of district committees to consider the
subject. By the Danish system of improvement of dairy
cattle and keeping of milk records they had been greatly
impressed, and they hoped there would be a more extensive
adoption of the system in Scotland. In respect to State aid,
they had found that in Denmark not only the various
educational institutions, but all other organisations formed
for the promotion of agriculture in its various branches were
assisted and encouraged by grants in aid contributed from
the National Exchequer, and they were of opinion that
lasting benefit would accrue to British agriculture were the
present small grants to colleges, dairy schools and experiment
stations largely increased, and were the formation of associa-
tions for the promotion of rural industries in any practical
and efficient manner also stimulated by assistance from the
State.
134 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Finally, on the subject of " Co-operation," the Commis-
sioners said : —
Although one great principle runs through all co-operative
societies, the operations of that principle vary with the particular
objects. There is much information to be gathered from Den-
mark, as well as from other European countries, which will be
found profitable for guidance in the construction of a union,
whether for the purchase of farmers' requisites or for collecting
and marketing the products of farm, field and dairy. The
tendency to greater co-operation is well set, even large farmers
confessing its utiUty, and the tendency must strengthen with
time. Of all origins of a co-operative society, the most natural
and the best is the local origin — the unpretentious coming
together of the few who are persuaded of the suitability of united
action to the local conditions. But as an easily accessible source
of information, and as an agency for helping the desires of
beginners to take shape, an Agricultural Organisation Society
would, it appears to the Commission, have a useful place in
Scotland.
On January i8th, 1905, a meeting convened by the
Scottish Chamber of Agriculture was held in Edinburgh to
consider what action should be taken. The meeting was
attended by, among others, Mr. Yerburgh, President, and
Mr. Harris, Secretary of the A. O. S. Mr. Yerburgh delivered
an address on agricultural co-operation, and an influential
committee was appointed to decide upon the best means
of promoting the movement in Scotland. The committee
met in April and, in turn, referred the question to a small
sub-committee. Invited to attend a meeting of this sub-
committee, Mr. Harris did so, and presented a memorandum
strongly urging that Scotland should have an independent
propagandist society of her own.
As the result of all these deliberations it was decided to
form a Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society. An
appeal for a guarantee fund of £1,000 a year for three years
met with a liberal response ; the Scottish Agricultural
Organisation Society was inaugurated at a meeting held in
Edinburgh on October 25th, 1905, and registered on Novem-
ber 1 6th ; active propagandist work was begun early in
1906 ; the services of the then chief organiser of the A. O. S.
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 135
were placed at the disposal of the society during the
month of March, and the new organisation became an
established success.
For the A. O. S. this formation of a sister society in Scotland
was of great advantage, not only in relieving it of responsi-
bility in regard to that country, but also in building up
there an organisation which, though separate and distinct so
far as regards all Scottish affairs, was affiliated to, and has
joined cordially with, the A. O. S. for all purposes of mutual
interest and support.
Growth of the Movement.
Thus far, therefore, devolution had been adopted with
excellent results ; but there came a time when it was found
desirable to carry the principle still further.
So great had been the growth of the movement by 1910
that the Society even though it had been relieved of responsi-
bility in regard to Scotland, was beginning to find the work
in England and Wales beyond the powers of direction and
control of a headquarters' staff in London. Even if a
sufficiently large number of organisers could have been kept
there to deal with an unwieldy mass of details, the expendi-
ture of much time and money would have been involved
in constantly sending those organisers to all parts of the
country, while even then they would not have been able to
keep in such close touch with new developments as could be
maintained by organisers resident in the district.
This position will be more clearly understood from the
following table, showing progressive growth, with number of
societies, membership and annual trade turnover, since
1901 : —
^EAR.
Societies.
Members.
Trade.
I90I
.. 25
5-^7
9,467
1902
.. 41
1,094
16,274
1903
72
3>245
38.909
1904
.. 98
4,926
136,677
1905
.. 123
7.439
221,524
1906
.. 137
8,700
375.000
136 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Year. Societies. Members. Trade.
1907 . . . . 163 10,500 610,000
1908 . . . , 281 15,000 749,000
1909 . . . . 321 19,500 860,000
1910 .. .. 396 24,000 1,100,000
Branch Devolution.
So, at the end of 1910, this substantial expansion of the
Society's activities led to a beginning being made with a
fresh devolution policy.
The fundamental principle of the scheme then drawn up
was the division of England and Wales into suitable areas,
each of which would eventually have a Branch or Advisory
Committee (or, as it was called in the first instance, a
" Section *') designed to link up the local societies and
various local interests, and to deal, through its own adminis-
tration, with all matters of detail in the general organising
work within its own area, affording, to this extent, a
material relief to the headquarters' staff, though still looking
to the central organisation for control, guidance or direction
in regard to questions of principle or matters on which expert
advice might be desired. Each Branch was to be centrally
situated, and was to have its own committee, its own offices,
its own secretary, and its own staff of organisers, these
officials being members of the headquarters' staff though
working under the supervision of the Branch Committee.
While retaining the independence secured to them under
their rules, and having their representation on the Branch
Committee, the affiliated societies within each area were to
be encouraged to look to the Branch office for such advice or
assistance as they might need, as there would be obvious
advantages in obtaining this advice and assistance in the
aforesaid matters of detail from competent officials on the
spot, and familiar with local conditions, in preference to
having always to apply direct to London.
Apart from these practical benefits alike to the head-
quarters' staff and to members of the affiliated societies, the
scheme would, it was expected, have a powerful effect in
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S. 137
stimulating local interest and the spread of the movement.
A closer intimacy with the farmers would be established ;
there would be increased facilities for arranging, holding and
attending meetings and following up their results ; and it
would be possible, not only to watch closer over the welfare
of societies already formed, but also to ascertain the exact
conditions prevailing in every part of the country, which
information would enable the A. O. S. to formulate and carry
into effect a propagandist policy on scientific lines, and suited
to the needs of each particular district. Then, also, it was
thought that a Branch organisation would be able to adjust
any difference that might arise between the various societies
in its group in regard to overlapping. When societies are
engaged in trade and their business is extending there is the
risk that they may seek to push that business still further
by invading what another society may regard as its own
particular territory ; or, alternatively, new societies may be
started in areas which existing societies might consider are
sufficiently covered by their own activities. Matters of this
kind could all be taken in hand by the local branch, with a
consequent avoidance of friction and to the advantage of the
operations in general.
Finally it was hoped that a further effect of this Branch
Devolution scheme would be the securing of a larger amount
of voluntary support.
Constitution of Branches.
The precise details to be followed in the formation of the
Branch Committees were to depend on circumstances ; but,
generally speaking, it was proposed that they should include
representatives of the County Councils, the Agricultural
Colleges, local sections of the Co-operative Union, the railway
companies, the A. O. S., and the affiliated societies in the
counties included in the Committee's area.
Three Branches have been formed, namely a North
Eastern Counties Branch, with Mr. Philip Burtt, Assistant
General Manager of the North Eastern Railway Company,
as chairman, to deal with the whole of Yorkshire, Durham
138
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
and Northumberland, which three counties constitute in
themselves a recognised area for agricultural produce ; a
North Wales Branch, with Lord Boston as chairman, for
the counties of Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint,
Merioneth and Montgomery ; and a Southern Branch, with
the Earl of Shaftesbury as chairman, for Dorsetshire, Wilt-
shire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The total number
of Branches projected, to cover the whole of England and
Wales, is fourteen or fifteen ; though this number might be
increased, should the continued growth of the movement
render still further decentralisation desirable.
Present Position of the A. O. S.
The following statistics of co-operative societies affiliated
to the Agricultural Organisation in September, 1912, show
the position of the A. O. S. at the time when it is passing
under the control of the new Board of Governors : —
Societies for the Supplj- of Requirements of Sale of Produce
Dairy, Bottled Milk, and Cheese-making Societies
Small Holdings and Allotments Societies
Agricultural Credit Societies
Eggs and Poultry Societies . .
Miscellaneous Societies
Central Co-operative Agricultural Bank
Agricultural and General Co-operative Insurance Society
Scottish A. O.S
164
23
180
45
24
14
I
I
I
453
The increases in (i) total membership of the affiliated
societies and (2) the estimated aggregate money value of the
transactions of the various societies in 1911 over 1910, may
be shown thus : —
1911.
1910.
Increase.
Membership .
Turnover ^ .
31,020
;^i,33i,o83
24,000
;^i,053,322
7,020
;^277.76i
EVOLUTION OF THE A.O.S.
139
Among the larger trading societies the Eastern Counties
Farmers' Association still takes the lead with a turnover of
£258,378. The business done by some of the other large
societies in 191 1 as compared with 1910 is shown by the
following figures : —
1910.
1911.
Southern Counties Agricultural Trading Society .
Carmarthen Farmers' Co-operative Society .
Newport (Salop) and District Agricultural Trading
Society ........
Midland Farmers' Co-operative Association
Clynderwen and District Farmers' Association .
West Midland Farmers' Association .
Framlingham and District Farmers' Co-operative
Association .......
Guildford and Mid-Surrey Farmers' Agricultural
Co-operative Association .....
i
87,845
58,210
46,551
30,734
22,949
24*317
18,136
13*259
i
107,186
83,654
50,221
36,094
28,076
36,848
23,981
14.845
CHAPTER VI.
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS.
It will have been seen, from what has already been nar-
rated on pp. 93-4, that the real beginning in England of the
agricultural co-operation movement, as known to us to-day,
was the invitation extended in 1895 to Lord Winchilsea and
other representatives of the agricultural interests to meet
Lord Claud Hamilton, the chairman of the Great Eastern
Railway Company, and various officers of that company, and
confer with them on the general relations of the railways and
agriculture. Prior to this conference, it would seem, Lord
Winchilsea's efforts were mainly directed to the idea of
securing Parliamentary action ; and it may be assumed that
it was Lord Claud Hamilton's strong argument in favour of
co-operation among the agriculturists themselves, in order
to supplement thereby what the railways could or would do
in their interests, that led to the movement taking a more
practical direction, and one that, notwithstanding initial
disappointments, was eventually to result in the widespread
acceptance to-day of the co-operative principle.
Railway Policy.
The action taken by the Great Eastern was followed by a
general movement on the part of the leading railway com-
panies in the direction of affording greater facilities to the
agriculturists of the country for the transport of their
produce.
It led, in the first instance, to the President of the Board
of Trade, Mr. Ritchie, inviting the chairmen of railway
companies having their termini in London to confer with
him, on January 30th, 1896, concerning the question of
facilities for the distribution of agricultural produce. The
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 141
conference was duly held, and subsequently Lord Stalbridge,
chairman of the London and North Western Railway
Company, wrote on behalf of the Railway Companies' Asso-
ciation to Mr. Ritchie, explaining the railway position,
stating what the companies were doing or were prepared to
do, denying the existence of the alleged preferential railway
rates for foreign produce (" equal rates under like conditions
and circumstances are required by law and are in general
operation ") and saying, also : —
As to reductions for large consignments, these are now given
by all companies, and are provided for in many cases by the
General Railway Classification of Goods Tariff. To obtain
advantage of the lower scale under these regulations it is not
necessary that all the goods in the larger consignments should
be of the same description so long as they are in the same class.
Where the general railway regulations do not apply, lower
rates for large consignments are frequently conceded by the
companies, who desire to make known their willingness to receive
and favourably consider such applications.
Combination amongst agriculturalists to increase the weight
of consignments is a matter over which railway companies have
little control, but they will gladly aid and co-operate in any
effective movements in this direction.
On February 14th, 1896, the chairman, Sir George Russell,
several of the directors, and the leading officers of the South
Eastern Railway Company met, at the Cannon Street Hotel,
representatives of the leading agricultural societies and
farmers' clubs in the district served by their line who had
been invited to come to London and inform the company, in
friendly conference, what they would like the railway to do
for them. The chairman announced that the company
would be prepared to meet the requirements of the agricul-
turists " frankly, fairly and generously," and he invited
suggestions. These were freely made, and resolved them-
selves mainly into requests for reduced rates, the delegates
having previously agreed to ask the company for a reduction,
by 25 per cent., of the rates for agricultural produce in
general. At the close of the conference the delegates were
invited by the chairman to form a committee of twelve to
consult further with the company, and, as the final outcome
142 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
of the deliberations thus entered upon, the members of the
committee were informed, at a further meeting held on
March 30th, that the company had resolved to make a
number of material reductions in their rates for agricultural
commodities, besides putting on a special fruit train to run
from Maidstone to London and connect with trains to the
north. Mr. Cosmo Bonsor, then deputy-chairman, remarked
in regard to these concessions that "a big instalment had
been made in the right direction, and what had been done
might be regarded as an earnest of what might be done
in the future, the company being thoroughly disposed,
in the interests alike of themselves and of the country,
to encourage by every practicable means the prosperity
of the district they served."
On April 21st, 1896, the Great Western Railway Company
had a conference at Paddington with leading landowners and
agriculturists in the western and midland counties in order
to ascertain their views and requirements, among those
present being the Earl of Jersey, Sir W. Cameron Gull,
M.P., Sir R. H. Paget, Sir A. F. Acland Hood, M.P., and
Mr. Rew, secretary of the Central Chamber of Agriculture.
Viscount Emlyn, chairman of the Great Western, who pre-
sided, said the question of railway rates had been brought
to the front by the large amount of foreign competition,
and a good deal had been said about advantages given to
the foreigner. The Great Western had no desire to give
any advantage to the foreigner ; but it must be remembered
that the foreigner seemed to have gained his footing by
sending his supplies in such a form that they could be
handled with the smallest possible amount of trouble and
cost to the railways. This was found, for example, in the
carriage of 'meat. From Birkenhead to London train loads
of meat, representing a minimum of 30 tons, were sent at
a 25s. rate, and the farmers living between Birkenhead and
London had wanted to know why they could not have the
same rate. To this the Company had replied that if only
the farmers would send consignments, not in 30-ton, but in
3-ton, lots, the company would quote them a lower rate.
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 143
The consideration thus arose -whether the farmers could not
do something more to aggregate their supphes, and so secure
these advantages. There were the further questions of
markets and middlemen. A railway company could not
take on its own account a course that might interfere with
these interests, and thereby prejudice its own ; but if any
outside persons or agency would only take action with regard
to these matters, the Great Western Company, with its
large staff of servants, would be able to afford very valuable
assistance ; and he could assure them that the directors
of the company would willingly discuss at any time any
proposals put forward for deahng with these problems.
Lord Jersey, who was among those taking part in the dis-
cussion, remarked that " a railway company might offer
the greatest advantages, but these would not be of much
use unless the producer did something to help himself."
The company followed up this gathering by sending
officers into the principal agricultural districts served by the
Great Western system in order both to enquire closely into
the particular directions in which the agriculturists thought
that further co-operation would be of value and to bring
prominently to their notice the fact that, by adopting
combination instead of acting independently, they might
frequently obtain the advantage of rates for grouped
consignments lower than those they were actually paying.
The London and North Western Railway Company did
not hold a formal conference in London, as the companies
already mentioned had done, but it sent, in this same year
(1896), representatives to interview personally something
like 1,000 farmers having farms contiguous to their railway
and to explain to them how, by combining and sending
their commodities in bulk, they could already obtain the
lower rates they desired. Commenting on this fact at a
meeting of the Newport (Salop) and District Agricultural
Trading Society on February 9th, 1905 — presided over by
the Duke of Sutherland, and attended, also, by the Secretary
of the A. O. S. — Mr. Frank Ree, then the chief goods
manager and now general manager of the London and North
144 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Western, added : — " In spite of the efforts thus made, barely
half-a-dozen farmers showed a willingness even to consider
the matter, and the renewal of these efforts in 1903 led to no
better results than before." As further indicative of the
poHcy of the London and North Western, mention might
also be made of the fact that on the publication of " The
Organisation of Agriculture," in May, 1904, the chief goods
manager sent a copy to each of the company's district
officers in agricultural districts ; and in January, 1905, a
number of copies were forwarded to them with a letter from
Mr. Ree, which stated : —
I am sending you to-day copies of Mr. Edwin A. Pratt's
book, entitled "The Organisation of Agriculture." Please make
use of the books to the best advantage, going so far as to hand
a copy to any large farmer or other person concerned in agricul-
ture whom it will be well to educate on the lines advanced by
Mr. Pratt.
It will be seen from these examples — without reproducing
others which might be given — that, whereas the attitude of
the agriculturists on the South Eastern system, when invited
to state their requirements, had been simply to ask for a
general reduction of rates on agricultural produce, even to
the extent of 25 per cent., without any action being taken
by themselves, the attitude of the companies in general was
to point (i) to the need for co-operation on the part of the
producers, and (2) to the possibility of their obtaining,
through co-operation, lower rates on the basis of those
already existing. These two points — together with the need
for more being done to effect co-operation than the railway
companies themselves could do — were brought out very
clearly in a letter, dated March 25th, 1903, addressed by
Sir Joseph Wilkinson, then general manager of the Great
Western Railway Company, to Mr. Hanbury, President of
the Board of Trade, in reply to a communication sent to the
company on the subject of the railways and agriculture. In
this letter it was said : —
It is a matter of general knowledge that in the past the farmers
have frequently had just reason for being a s ?picious body of
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 145
men as regards trusting the sale of their produce beyond their
own observation ; and a practical and practicable method of
overcoming this difficulty would be hailed with satisfaction. It
seems to me that an important duty might be performed if the
Department could organise groups of agriculturists in various
districts who would be wiUing to join together in forwarding
butter, cream, eggs, honey, fruit and vegetables, mushrooms,
game, dead rabbits, dead poultry and such-like products to selected
markets and manufacturing towns ; the Department, or some
subsidiary authority, undertaking the selection of the persons to
whom the consignments were to be sent and guaranteeing fair
treatment and due payment to the farmer.
It has always been my opinion that any wide and compre-
hensive movement to be of a useful and lastingly beneficial
character to agriculturists ought to emanate from and be
conducted by themselves. There have in the last few years been
great, stimulating and educational influences at work, and these,
combined with certain elements of prosperity that have appeared,
are making the farmer more regardful of outside influences than
was formerly the case. If he is assisted with a due share of
guidance and protection, and (from my point of view) if he is
encouraged to believe that the railways would be his best friends
if he would co-operate with them and regard them as such, there
are great hopes of better times, in any case for the smaller forms
of agriculture.
Sir Joseph Wilkinson expressed the view that these senti-
ments were universally felt by those responsible for the
working of railways, always having regard to the varying
requirements of the different portions of the country ; and
he continued : —
I would add that my company will be glad to meet in friendly
conference any agriculturist who may have practical suggestions
to make upon any point of mutual interest, and we are prepared
to respond to all invitations and to send experienced officers
to attend and give information at any and every meeting of
farmers which may be summoned or brought about in our districts
in connection with the renewed interest that is happily being
awakened in agricultural matters.
As will have been gathered from what has already been
told in the section on " Earlier Efforts/* the railway com-
panies were attempting at this time an almost hopeless task
in endeavouring to secure combination for transport and sale
without that preliminary education of the producers in
A.o. I,
146 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
co-operative effort which an independent propagandist body
like the Agricultural Organisation Society could alone supply.
None the less does the sincerity of the efforts made deserve
recognition.
Lower Rates : Increased Facilities.
The fact must be further recognised that the railway
companies which were thus urging the importance of co-
operation, and pointing to the advantages in transport to
be secured thereby, did, also, concede lower rates in certain
directions, and offer increased facilities to the producers in
others, with a view to rendering to them such assistance as
they then considered practicable.
To meet, for example, a desire which had been expressed
for lower rates for fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, rabbits,
butter, eggs and other produce sent by fast merchandise
train, new tables conceding such rates were prepared and
issued, authority being given to the senders to lump together
. or aggregate the various kinds of produce under conditions
that would allow of such loads being made up as would
justify the running of through trucks direct to the towns to
be served ; yet one company at least, the Great Western,
found that the response of the farmers approached on
this subject was not always encouraging, many of them
being distinctly averse to any departure from established
practices.
The companies were more successful with the special
trains which (in addition to ordinary services) they ran to
meet the requirements of seasonal traffic, such as broccoli,
new potatoes, fruit, etc. Arrangements were also made by
various companies for the supply, in return for moderate
charges, of hampers, baskets, and cloths for meat and
poultry traffic.
It might here be mentioned that, long before Lord Win-
chilsea came on the scene at all as the self-sacrificing cham-
pion of farmers' interests, the London and North Western
Company had made special efforts to expand the Aylesbury
duck industry, not only supplying cloths and hampers, but
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 147
sending a man to collect the produce, carrying it by rail*
delivering it to the London salesmen, and even obtaining
from them the amount due to the sender, and remitting it
to that person. This arrangement was a most convenient
one for the senders, who were mostly producers of the
" small " type, and in 1880, when the business was in an
especially prosperous condition, the accoimts thus collected
by the railway company for the senders amounted to over
£3,000. On the Post Ofhce granting increased facilities to
the public for the remittance of small sums, the company
found it no longer necessary to act as financial intermediaries
for the Aylesbury duck-raisers, who, however, can still
obtain from the railway company the hampers in which to
send their ducks to market.
Several companies followed the example set by the Great
Eastern in establishing the system of consignment, direct
from farmer to consumer, of produce packed in non-returnable
wooden boxes, of various sizes, supplied at a low charge
by the railway company. Thus under the arrangements
adopted by the Great Western Railway Company, in 1904,
any farmer who wished to send consignments of produce,
up to 24 lbs., from a station on the Great Western system to
a householder in London, could obtain from the company, at
prices ranging from twopence to fivepence halfpenny each,
wooden boxes holding just such supply of poultry, eggs,
butter, cream, fruit, etc., as might be desired ; while the
railway company would carry such a box a distance of fifty
miles by passenger train, and deliver it, within a certain
radius, at the house of the consignee, for an inclusive charge
of sixpence.
Some of the companies — including the Great Eastern and
the Great Western — also incurred considerable expense in
compiling and publishing pamphlets giving the names and
addresses of farmers and others on their respective systems
who were prepared to supply urban householders with regular
or occasional boxes of produce ; but the actual results,
from a traffic point of view, were disappointing, while the
box system itself was adversely criticised by leaders of the
L 2
148 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
agricultural organisation movement, who held that it
tended to encourage individualism on the part of the farmer
in place of that principle of co-operation in which the greatest
hopes of effecting an improvement in his position were
centred.
The policy adopted by the railway companies in regard to
the milk traffic is dealt with in the section on ** The Dairy
Industry," and references to the egg and poultry demonstra-
tion car in South Wales in April, 1910, will be found in that
on " Eggs and Poultry."
The a. O. S. and the Railways.
Much attention had naturally been paid throughout by
the A. O. S. to these questions of cost of transport, which it
regarded as often being no less important to the grower than
the two other items that influence so materially his final
balance sheet — namely, cost of production and market prices.
Where there is but a comparatively small margin between
these two, an undue cost of transport may, of course, convert
an otherwise possible profit into a loss.
While, however, there may have been, at first, a certain
degree of prejudice entertained towards the railway com-
panies in respect to their transport of English farm, market
garden, or dairy produce, further experience showed that,
although the action of the railways in regard, more especially,
to various matters of detail, might still afford scope for
criticism, the great need of the situation was, not to abuse
the companies for their unwillingness to carry produce at
unremunerative rates, but to induce the agriculturists
themselves to adapt their business to the transport con-
ditions which would enable them to secure the lower rates
already often available, provided these conditions were
fulfilled.
The complaint as to preferential rates, which had formed
a leading item in Lord Winchilsea's original programme,
appeared less substantial to the Society when it was looked
at from the points of view here suggested ; but there came
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 149
a time when it was thought producers still had a grievance
against the railway companies, inasmuch as, even when the
societies were able to give very large orders for fertilisers,
the companies would not quote lower rates than those that
applied to much smaller quantities.
To this it was replied by the companies that when they
fixed their minima for specially low rates at ten, four, or even
at only two tons, they did so with the idea of enabling the
small as well as the large producer to take advantage of
them, and with the full expectation that large consignments,
to which the rates would equally apply, would still be sent.
It was further declared that the British farmers who could
consign in 2-ton or 4-ton lots were being granted special
rates which on Continental railways might be conceded only
in respect to 5-ton or lo-ton lots, such concessions being
made by the English companies to meet the agricultural
and trading conditions of this country ; but there was no
idea on the part of the companies that, as soon as consign-
ments of 10, 20 or 40 tons or more could be made up, fresh
series of minimum rates should be fixed to apply to these
greater quantities. One company, in fact, protested that
its rates for 4-ton lots of fertilisers or other agricultural
commodities had been fixed at "a very low basis which
left no room for further reductions for lots of more than
4 tons/'
As for any occasional huge consignment of fertilisers
or other commodities which required the running of a special
train, traffic of this sort was affirmed to be less acceptable
to a railway company than the consignment of a few
additional truck loads at a time, over a series of days,
inasmuch as the special train would involve a certain
amount of dislocation of the regular service, whereas the
extra truck loads day by day, added to the ordinary goods
trains, would not interfere with the regular service at all,
and would, also, cost less, in proportion, in the way of
working expenses.
The policy of the A. O. S. in regard to these questions of
rail transport thus resolved itself mainly into one of showing
150 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
how, by means of combination for the sending of large, in
place of a series of small, consignments, material savings
might be effected on the basis of existing railway rates, apart
from any question of appealing to the railway companies
for further concessions.
Savings on Rail Transport.
Many examples of the economies possible in these
directions came under notice.
Reference has already been made, on pp. 143-4, to the
meeting of the Newport (Salop) and District Agricultural
Co-operative Trading Society on February 9th, 1905, at
which the present general manager of the London and North
Western Railway was one of the speakers. In addition to
the matters mentioned as having been touched by him on
this occasion, Mr. Ree further stated, on the subject of
railway rates for agricultural produce, that a table which
had been prepared by his company, giving details as to the
traffic in the Newport district and the actual rates paid
per consignment by the farmers, showed that, under the
conditions then existing, over 80 per cent, of the consign-
ments were carried at the higher rates on the company's
rate books, and only 20 per cent, at the lower. By means of
combination, in order that consignments could be sent in
large quantities coming within the range of these lower
rates, the small farmers who were members of that society
could save something like 19 per cent, on their payments
for rail transport.
In the issue of Co-operation for October, 1910, reference
was made to the fact that the 90 members of an agricultural
co-operative society had been found to be sending each
his own particular lot of produce to one and the same
market. Such individual consignments generally averaged
about half a ton, the charge for which, at the rate of 9s. 2d.
per ton, was 4s. jd. There was, however, a special rate of
6s. 3^. per ton for consignments of not less than 4 tons, and
it was shown that if eight growers each put his half-ton lot
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 151
to make up this minimum the saving effected would work
out thus : —
Total Cost. Cost Per Sender.
£ s. d. s. d.
8 consignments in separate ^-ton
lots ... .. .. .. I 16 8 4 7
8 consignments in one 4-ton lot. . 150 3 i^
Saving 11 8 i 5i
The average weekly payments per grower for rail transport
came to £1, and the average annual saving per grower made
possible by the figures just given would have been £17.
Multiplying this by 90, the number of members in the society,
it will be seen that the total saving per annum that might
have been effected by them in railway rates, by means of
combination, and without their asking for any further con-
cessions, was no less than £1,530.
The following further example of possible savings in the
same direction has been thus recorded by one of the
organisers of the Agricultural Organisation Society : —
As the result of an arrangement between the Cambridgeshire
County Council and the A. O. S., I paid a series of visits to that
county in the spring of 1911. The first place I visited was
Cottenham, where I found that the small holders were at a great
disadvantage in matters of transport. They were consigning —
mostly vegetables — at a rate of 15s. per ton to London, for small
quantities, and at one of 26s. 6d. per ton to Manchester. I
pointed out to them that there were special rates of 75. id. per
ton to London and 15s. 5^. per ton to Manchester, which would
enable them to effect a material saving if only they adopted the
principle of co-operation and grouped their consignments into
the stipulated quantities. They acted on my suggestion, a whole
season's produce has since been despatched from Cottenham at
the lower rates, and the small holders have expressed the warmest
thanks for having the matter brought to their notice.
Thus the Agricultural Organisation Society has often
succeeded where the railway companies themselves had
previously failed in bringing about the combination needed
for taking advantage of lower rates already on the companies'
books ; and this result may be attributed mainly to (i) the
distrust with which the naturally suspicious mind of the
152 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
British agriculturist had regarded the earher advances made
by the railway companies — a distrust inspiring the idea that
the companies were merely seeking some advantage for
themselves ; and (2) the absolute need for independent
educational and propagandist efforts as a means of converting
the producers from their old prejudices, of bringing home to
them the practical advantages of combination, and, still
more, of providing the machinery by which such com-
bination can be carried into effect.
Motor Services.
One interesting development in the application of com-
bination to transport is represented by the motor wagon
service established in 1904 by the North Eastern Railway
Company as a means of communication between their
railway system and the depot — now a commodious building
— of the Brandsby (Yorkshire) Agricultural Trading Asso-
ciation, Limited. The service has been of great advantage
in many ways to growers in the district, but the inauguration
of it would have been wholly impracticable had there been
no local society to group consignments, to bulk orders for
requirements, and otherwise to organise the traihc generally,
supplementing efficiently, in these respects, the means which
the railway company themselves were prepared to adopt in
the joint interests of the agriculturists and of their own
traf&c.
A like service was also established by the Great Western
Railway Company in the Teme Valley ; but in this instance
the results were not considered sufficiently encouraging to
warrantjthe continuance of the arrangement. There would,
in fact, seem to be a tendency on the part of agriculturists
to assume that, when a railway company provides the motor
wagon, they need only send by it when their own horses,
vehicles and drivers are otherwise engaged, the consequence
being that there is a risk of a regular service not paying
expenses. Whatever the reason, it is a matter for regret
that these motor services have not been estabhshed far more
generally.
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 153
Railway Station Depots.
Another outcome of organised effort is to be found in the
setting up at country railway stations of dep6ts to constitute
the headquarters of the local agricultural co-operative
society in the collection, storing or distribution of members'
produce or necessaries consigned or received by rail.
In the first instance the railway companies themselves
constructed these depots, and charged the societies a rental
sufficient to cover interest on capital expenditure. There
arose, however, the risk that a want of success on the part of
a local society might leave the depot on the hands of the
railway company. The societies, in turn, say that in certain
instances the railway companies, in their desire to assist the
movement, incurred greater expenditure in connection with
the depots than was really necessary. More recently the
railway companies have been reluctant to provide the
depots at their own cost, though they have offered facilities
to the local societies to build depots for themselves by letting
them have the necessary land in return for a nominal rental ;
and this, probably, will be found the better arrangement.
In one or two instances the difficulty has been solved by
the railway company partitioning off part of an existing
goods shed at a country station, and letting such portion to
the local society. In still other places, where only a limited
amount of accommodation has been required for such
purposes as egg collecting and grading, the railway company
have provided for the society — and again at a nominal rental
— an old goods van which had been retired from active
service on the line.
At Holsworthy (Devonshire) the London and South
Western Railway Company constructed some years ago, on
their station premises, a slaughter-house for the convenience
of dealers purchasing fat cattle in the district, the cattle
being taken to the station, killed in the slaughter-house, and
consigned by train in such quantities to the London markets
that at certain times of the year six or eight truck loads of
meat are dispatched. The members of the local agricultural
154 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
co-operative society, being under the impression that the
slaughter-house could be used by the dealers only, requested
the Society to approach the London and South Western
Railway Company with a view to the provision of similar
accommodation at Holsworthy station for its own members.
A deputation accordingly waited on the chief goods manager
of the railway company, who replied that the members of the
society were entitled to use the slaughter-house equally with
the traders on their making the payments fixed by a scale
of moderate charges, and the officer in question added that
if the society could make any suggestion as regarded addi-
tional accommodation on other parts of the line, and could
show that the provision of it would not involve a loss, he
would gladly support any such application that might be
made to his company.
Classification of Cucumbers.
Then an important concession has recently been obtained
from the railway companies in an altered classification of
cucumbers which, though of special benefit to the Worthing
and District Market Growers' Association, applies to the
lines of all the companies connected with the English
Clearing House system, and is thus of far greater value than
a concession in the interests of Worthing only would be.
The Worthing Association, it might be added, was originally
formed mainly to enable the growers to secure the lower
rates offered by the London Brighton and South Coast
Railway on bulk consignments of grapes, tomatoes and
cucumbers.
Fruit Transport.
In another direction the Swanwick (Hampshire) Fruit
Growers' Association adds to its other useful functions by
making known to the railway companies the needs of the
district with reference to the fruit traffic and by seeking to
bring about the general use of baskets of uniform size and
holding standard weights of fruit.
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 155
Railway Co-operation with the A. 0. S.
Mention has already been made of the fact that Mr. Philip
Burtt, Assistant General Manager of the North Eastern
Railway Company, is chairman of the North Eastern Branch
of the A. 0. S. and a member of the new Board of Governors.
To show still further the practical assistance which the
railways are giving to the movement, it might be added that
Mr. G. T. Phizackerley, District Traffic Superintendent of the
London and North Western Railway at Chester, has been
appointed on the executive committee of the North Wales
Branch of the A. O. S., and is showing great activity in
promoting the movement in that part of the country. It is,
in fact, understood that the London and North Western
Railway Company are taking considerable interest in the
work of the Agricultural Organisation Society, that the whole
tendency of their policy is to encourage the formation of
agricultural co-operative societies, and that they have, from
time to time, given to their officers definite instructions —
recently renewed — to offer every encouragement to, and
every facility for, the setting up and successful operation of
such societies, this fine of action to be taken throughout
the company's system.
With direct representation of the railway companies, not
alone on the Board of Governors of the A. O. S. but, also,
on all the Branch committees which, it is suggested, should
eventually be formed to cover the whole of England and
Wales, the possibihty of ensuring harmony and co-operation
in the mutual relations of agriculturists and the railways, to
the advantage of both, should be still further very materially
increased.
Road Transport.
Cost of transport by rail is, in many instances, only one of
two important items of expenditure in getting produce from
farm or small holding to market, the other being cost of
transport by road, either as between farm and railway
station or as between farm and market, the latter provided
that the commodities can be sent the entire distance by road.
156 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
When the individual farmers or small holders are left to
their own resources in getting their produce to the railway,
it may happen that the cost, even although the station is
only a few miles away, will work out at a higher rate per ton
than the charges for consignment by rail to destination.
For instance, the sums per package paid by a group of smaU
holders at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, for the transport of
their individual consignments of potatoes and vegetables to
Oakington station, on the Great Eastern Railway, situate
only two miles away, were found to represent a road trans-
port rate equal to about 24s. or 25s. per ton ; whereas the
same produce was being carried by rail from Oakington to
London, a distance of 62 miles, at a rate, for small consign-
ments, of 155. per ton, which would have been reduced to
one of 7s. id. per ton if the senders had made up consign-
ments of 4 tons.
Should a district be situated at any distance from a
railway station with which frequent communication is
maintained, great advantage is to be derived from the
setting up of a motor wagon service, in combination with
a local co-operative society, for the collection and transport
of the produce of farmers and small holders within a
certain area, thus relieving them of any need for making
individual arrangements ; and the advantage is greater still
when the same service can be used for bringing from the
railway, on the return journey, commodities necessary for
use on the farm or holding.
Light Railways.
Light railways constitute another phase of the transport
problem, and one which, as an alternative either to
motor wagons or to the much more expensive type of
ordinary railways, is certain to attract increased attention
in the near future.
Road motors, operated in conjunction with an agricultural
co-operative society, may, indeed, to a certain extent be
regarded as the precursors of light railways inasmuch as
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 157
their tendency, under an efficient system of operation, is
to expand the traffic to such an extent that a motor service
may become no longer adequate in the course of a few years,
and the need will then have been created for still further
facilities which a light railway would be best adapted
to supply.
These conditions are well brought out by the Light Railway
Commissioners in their fifth annual report to the Board of
Trade on their proceedings to December 31st, 1911, wherein
they make the following references to motor traction,
light railways and co-operation in agriculture : —
With regard to the great development in recent years of motor
traction upon public roads, it is of interest to note that, in our
experience, confirmed by the two cases of proposed light railways
which we have most recently had under consideration, the
establishment of a service of motors (in each case combined with
the organised co-operation of the agricultural and other local
industries) has tended to stimulate the desire, and to emphasise
the need, for better railway facilities, rather than (as it is some-
times supposed would be the case) to supersede them, or to take
their place. In these cases evidence was brought to show the
considerable extent of saving to the road authorities in the
annual cost of maintenance which would follow from a trans-
ference to a railway of the traffic otherwise carried on the public
roads ; this point was also in accord with our previous experience
as bearing on the economy of transport by railway.
In making these observations, we appreciate that in districts
where it is not practicable to construct a railway, and where the
traffic is not sufficient to support one, a motor service (especially
when combined with some " co-operative " system) may be of
much use, and in many cases would develop the traffic to a point
at which railway facilities would become requisite and feasible for
the further progress of the district.
One especially significant example of the tendencies in
question is afforded by the aforesaid Yorkshire village
of Brandsby, where the success of the motor service con-
necting with the North Eastern Railway system has led to
an application being made to the Light Railway Commis-
sioners for an order sanctioning the construction of a light
railway. An enquiry into the matter was held by the Light
Railway Commissioners at York on February 20th, 1912.
It was shown at this enquiry that the motor wagon service
158 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
is now carrying about 2,000 tons of goods a year for the
Agricultural Association established at Brandsby, the popu-
lation of which place is 325. Not only has the service
been of great practical advantage, but it has become wholly
unequal to present requirements. In certain parts of the
district which cannot take advantage of the service at all
the cost of haulage to or from the railway is prohibitive.
Farmers there are obliged to be content with making butter,
though they would gain more — if only adequate facilities
were available — by sending their milk to York, which is
the natural market for the district. In some localities,
through which the proposed light railway woidd pass, the
only direct communication with York is by a carrier's
cart, occupying three or four hours on the journey. Farmers
at a distance of five or six miles from the railway are unable
to obtain, at a sufficiently low cost for transport, the manures
which would increase the production of their crops. Even
at Brandsby itself the farmers may be deprived of the use
of the motor wagon when, in wintry weather, the roads
are impassable.
Hence the proposal for a light railway. Starting from
Brandsby it would have a total length of nine miles, and
connect with the North Eastern system at Haxby, four miles
north of York. The district it would serve comprises
20,000 acres, and has a population of about 3,000. In this
district there are eleven villages, the present average
distance of which from a railway is five miles. The line
is to be a full gauge one ; it will have three stations and two
halts, and it will be operated with a single engine, (steam),
and practically without signals. The estimated cost is
£34,000, including £1,500 for land and £2,500 for contin-
gencies. It is proposed to raise £36,000 by ordinary
shares and £12,000 by debentures.
In regard to prospective traffic, the Brandsby Agricultural
Trading Association itself expects to provide at least
3,200 tons a year. A good milk traffic is anticipated ; the
greater use of manure should ensure more traffic in itself
and further increase the output of produce available for
TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 159
transport ; improved facilities for travel should develop
the residential possibilities of the district, while a still further
argument put before the Light Railway Commissioners in
favour of the proposed Hne was that a light railway would
save the local rates by lessening the wear and tear of the roads.
So conclusive was the case thus made out in favour of
the scheme that the Commissioners had no hesitation in
deciding in favour of granting an order authorising the
construction of the line. This order they have since made
and submitted to the Board of Trade for confirmation.
The position at Brandsby is deserving of this detailed
reference because it is, in many ways, typical of the position
of many agricultural districts throughout the country,
and, also, because it foreshadows what may be expected
to happen in other places where an improvement in existing
transport facilities is begun with an organised motor wagon
service under some mutually satisfactory arrangement
between a railway company and an agricultural co-operative
society, itself receiving the loyal support, in this particular
matter, of members seeking, if only in their own interests,
to make the scheme a success.
The main-line railway system of the country may be
regarded as practically complete ; but there is still great
need for the building of more light railways which would link
up undeveloped or inadequately developed districts where
railways of the ordinary type would not pay, while the choice
for such light railways of the standard gauge of main
line railways would allow of a ready transfer of rolling stock
from the one system to the other.
The whole subject is so intimately connected with the
welfare of agriculture, with the possible success of colonies
of small holders, and with the further development of our
national resources, that it may well claim the special study
and attention of the Agricultural Organisation Society.
From Farm to Market.
With the improvements brought about in motor construc-
tion and in the roads of the country there is certain to be a
i6o AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
considerable development in the transport of farm and
market garden produce by road in place of transport by
rail. The new conditions allow of a steady expansion of
the suburban area within which such road transport is
practicable, while the railway companies, with their heavy
outlay on lines, stations and goods depots, and the increase
in their wages bills, taxation, and other items falling under
the head of working expenses, are heavily handicapped in
meeting the competition of a road transport that, among
other advantages, has fewer expenses to cover and can
convey produce direct from farm or local depot to market.
On the other hand it has to be remembered that the possi-
bilities of road transport are still limited by distance ; that
where agricultural produce is carried in large quantities the
locomotive, counting as a single unit, may still be a more
economical form of transport than an equivalent number
of motor lorries, each counting as a separate unit ; that
in proportion as the increasing road traffic takes business
from the railways, the latter may seek compensation by
encouraging still further their long-distance traffic, with a
corresponding effect on the markets, and leading to still
greater risks of gluts thereon, unless precautions are taken
along the lines of a scientific marketing of agricultural
produce operated through the agricultural co-operative
societies which the A. 0. S. has sought to establish, and that,
as the example of Brandsby shows, the setting up of an
organised motor service may, for a variety of reasons, be
only the precursor of demands for increased rail facilities.
CHAPTER VII.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED.
A.— CO-OPERATIVE SALE.
As compared with the simpler forms of the co-operative
principle represented by combination for the joint purchase
of agricultural necessaries, co-operative marketing is a
matter involving great complexity and presenting manifold
difficulties.
Assuming that production has been conducted under the
best and most economical conditions, and the crop duly
harvested, there is presented, in the first instance, the
question of grading.
What this may mean to the grower can be illustrated by
the concrete fact that a certain expert market gardener
who grades most of his produce and sells it to a wholesale
dealer, received, in 1912, £5 los. a ton for his graded potatoes
at a time when the ordinary market price was only £3 los.
per ton. As the crop he had grown would work out at
about seven tons to the acre, this higher price meant for
him a difference of £14 an acre in his receipts.
Packing is the next consideration. Foreign fruit may
find greater favour on the market than the English, not
because it is of better quality, but because it looks better in
the well-packed boxes in which it is sent over.
Combination for the bulking of a collection of small lots
— all going from the same country station to the same town
— into a grouped consignment in order to obtain the lowest
available railway rates, is no less essential if transport is to
be secured under the most favourable conditions.
Then comes the question as to whether the produce shall
be sold on the spot or sent away to be sold in a town.
In the former case the grower may not get the best
A.O. M
i62 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
possible prices should he be left to his own resources in
dealing with the middleman buyer.
In the latter case he ought to know which will be the best
markets for him to send to — that is to say, not simply the
best markets as a general rule, but the markets where his
produce would be most likely to bring a good return on the
day when it will be sold. Whatever their advantages under
ordinary conditions, Covent Garden and the markets at
Manchester and Liverpool might be already overstocked
with the very commodity which a particular grower thought
of sending to them, and he might — if he only knew the exact
condition of the markets at the moment — have a far better
chance by sending elsewhere. So important, in fact, is
this knowledge of the position both of markets in general
and of markets from day to day that the spending by the
Peninsular Products Exchange of Maryland, U.S.A. of
£2,000 a year merely on gaining this information for its
growers must obviously be regarded as money well laid out,
since otherwise it would surely be saved.
Having ascertained the best markets to send to, the
producer still wants to be assured that he will get a
thoroughly trustworthy return on the sales effected.
In the past most of these essentials to good marketing
have been applied by enterprising traders who, taking advan-
tage of the inexperience or the inefficiency of the growers,
have themselves " organised " collection, transport and
marketing on thoroughly business lines, but mainly to their
own advantage, representing in this respect still another
development of these great commercial interests which
have grown up alongside of agriculture in its latter-day
expansion on more scientific lines, and have flourished on
its growth, once more annexing profits of which the actual
producers should have retained a much larger share.
These intermediaries performed a useful function as
distributors so long as the growers were unable, by reason
of their extreme individualism, to collect, distribute and
market efficiently for themselves. When, in fact, the
railway companies began to urge the farmers to combine in
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 163
order to take advantage of the lowest available railway
rates, they were simply advising them to do what had
already long been done by enterprising middlemen who
bought up the produce from a number of growers, graded
and packed it, and sent it away in the quantities which
allowed of consignment by lower rates than the individual
grower could get for his own particular lot. It was not
only, therefore, that foreign produce was carried by rail at a
lower rate, by reason of its bulk, etc., than the British
farmers' small lots, but the same was the case, also, and for
exactly the same reasons, in regard to collections of British
produce, grouped by British middlemen.
So the obvious course for the producers to adopt was to
be found in combination with a view to their doing for
themselves much, if not most, of what the middleman was
doing, and putting all they could of the intermediate profits
into their own pockets ; but this meant, not simply com-
bination for transport, but combination throughout the full
and complete list of essentials specified above.
That this result could only be brought about by such a
body as the Agricultural Organisation Society was self-
evident ; yet the difficulties to be overcome might well
have been regarded as almost insurmountable.
On the one hand there was the rooted prejudice of the
agricultural mind to all innovations ; there was the inveterate
suspicion of any new ideas coming from the towns ; there
was the habitual distrust of neighbours and competitors.
On the other hand there was the fact that, as the direct
result of the inadequate attention the farmer had paid to
the science of marketing in the past, there had grown up
those powerful vested interests which, though flourishing
upon his output, might well oppose the idea of surrendering
any of the advantages they had obtained.
Influenced by considerations such as these, and ever
bearing in mind the unfortunate trading experiences of
Lord Winchilsea, with their tragic consequences in helping
to bring his career to an untimely end, the Agricultural
Organisation Society decided from the outset against any
M 2
i64 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
hasty action in the development of schemes for co-operative
sale. In the course, however, of eleven years' experience,
the Society has accumulated valuable information and
expert knowledge which might be utilised in the development
of this especially difficult phase of co-operative effort, and
the question arises whether much more should not now be
done in this direction.
What has been Accomplished.
A few examples might be offered by way of indicating
what is already being done in the way of co-operative sale
of fruit and market-garden produce.
The East Anglian Farmers, Limited, was originally
formed, in 1900, as the East Anglian Farmers' Co-operation,
with the object of affording an outlet for the sale of its
members' produce, in large or small lots, at Stratford
Market, in the East of London. It acquired its initial
experience at the price of some heavy losses, but has since
profited from them so well that it is now selling, not alone
for its own members, but for several societies of small holders.
It also does business, on commission, for growers generally.
For 1910 the society paid a bonus of 3 per cent, to all mem-
bers on the value of the produce sent in by them, and in
1911, when its turnover amounted to £28,000, one of 2J
per cent. The society has now opened a branch in Covent
Garden Market. The committee of management consists
of representatives of agricultural co-operative societies and
of industrial co-operative distributive societies, together
with individual members.
The Federated Growers, Ltd., was formed in 1910, at
the instance of a number of fruit growers, market gardeners
and agricultural co-operative societies, with headquarters
at Smithfield Market, Birmingham, to provide better outlets
and greater facilities for the disposal of produce. It operates
on lines similar to those of the East Anglian Farmers, but
as yet is only in its initial stage.
At Pershore, Worcester, a satisfactory local solution has
been arrived at in a marketing problem which had caused
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 165
a considerable degree of perplexity and dissatisfaction.
Pershore is in the centre of a great plum-growing district,
about 4,000 acres there being devoted to fruit-production
or to market-gardening ; but the arrangements for disposing
of the fruit were for a long time unsatisfactory, the growers
often failing to obtain what they considered an adequate
return on their enterprise. There was but one local market
available, and that at Evesham. They could, also, dispose
of some produce at Worcester; but this meant a journey
of four miles in the former case, and one of seven miles in
the latter. They had the further alternative, which some
of them adopted, of consigning to Birmingham, Manchester,
or Liverpool for sale there on commission ; but here, again,
the results were too often unfavourable. The growers also
felt that some of their produce, which has a high reputation,
suffered from being sold with inferior qualities from other
districts.
With the help of the Agricultural Organisation Society,
a co-operative fruit market was organised at Pershore in
June, 1909, a society being established for that purpose by a
group of growers whose holdings range from a fraction of
an acre to 100 acres ; and arrangements were made for
selling the fruit in this market as occasion required,
(generally about three days a week), without sending it
away for sale elsewhere.
At first it was thought there would be some difficulty in
getting buyers from distant towns to attend ; but this has
not been the case. As soon as the buyers found they could
purchase, under the hammer, produce of a guaranteed
standard, the success of the market was practically assured,
while the growers realised better prices, and disposed of
their produce under more satisfactory conditions generally,
than had been the case before.
So well has the scheme answered that in 19 11 the Pershore
Co-operative Fruit Market, Ltd., as the society is called, had
a turnover of £11,000, paid 5 per cent, to the shareholders,
carried 25 per cent, to a reserve fund, presented 5 per cent,
to the employees, and gave to the members a bonus equal
i66 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
to ij per cent, of the profits, on the value of the produce
they had sent in for sale.
Incidentally it might be mentioned, in connection with
the Pershore co-operative auction market, that whilst the
commission system will, no doubt, always remain as a
means of distributing fruit and market garden produce,
many salesmen are finding that they cannot get, on the
commission principle, all the produce they want, and they
have, therefore, of late years, purchased largely at fixed
prices direct from the grower ; though these fixed prices
have in many instances been considerably below what the
grower might have got had a rural auction market been
available. Hence the special significance of the course
taken at Pershore; though, in effect, the growers there
did no more than follow, consciously or otherwise, the
example already set — and with no less success in their case,
also — by the fruit and market garden produce growers
of Holland.
At Nantwich (Cheshire) a problem closely resembling
that which arose at Pershore, but relating to a different
class of produce, is being dealt with. The Urban District
Council own a market building in which a general market
is held every Saturday ; but Saturday is too late in the
week for the purposes of a wholesale market for farm and
garden produce, poultry, eggs, etc., and local sellers and
buyers of such produce have hitherto had to go to Crewe
(4 miles distant), Sandbach (8 miles), and other places.
What was specially desired was that Nantwich should have
a weekly wholesale market of its own which would not only
serve local purposes but attract buyers from Manchester,
Liverpool, and other large towns of Lancashire and the
Staffordshire Potteries. Such desire has now been attained
through the formation, again with the help of the A. O. S.,
of a co-operative society known as the Nantwich Wholesale
Produce Market, Ltd., at whose disposal the Urban District
CouncU have placed their market building in return for a
nominal rental.
Altogether there are over twenty co-operative societies
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 167
which are at the present time engaged in the sale of fruit
and market garden produce for their members ; and it is
evident that those difficulties in the way of inducing British
growers to combine for the purposes of sale which once
appeared so great are now being steadily overcome.
Need for Further Action.
The special need to-day for further action being taken
in regard to co-operative sale is due to the expansion of
the small holder movement.
Production of fruit and market garden produce must
be considered the mainstay of the small holder growing
commodities for the market since he will require, by means
of a more intensive cultivation, to obtain a larger return
per acre from his land than would satisfy the ordinary
farmer ; yet the fact is recognised by all who are concerned
in agricultural organisation that if more and still more
supplies of such produce are merely sent to the existing
markets, under existing conditions, the results may be
unsatisfactory for producers all round.
So the small holdings societies affiliated to the A. O. S.
have been looking to that body for advice and assistance,
and, as a result, the East Anglian Farmers and the
Federated Growers, referred to above, have had special
attention paid to them in the hope that they would provide
outlets for the produce of the small holdings societies.
The first proposal was that each should act as the central
body for societies within its district, those societies being
affihated to it and forwarding to it, for sale, the collected
produce of their members, the sum total thereof providing
the requisite varieties and quantities for ensuring satis-
factory trading. The different societies in each district
were invited to fall in with this arrangement. It was
further designed that similar central societies should be
formed, under like conditions, in other districts.
Experience has shown, however, that in order to do an
adequate business a central society for sale must draw
supplies from places beyond its own particular district :
i68 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
and this fact has already led to an overlapping which must
needs increase as more societies of this same type are
formed. Then there is the further difficulty that inasmuch
as the central marketing society receives supplies only
from small holders' societies in affiliation with it, the latter
must, as at present arranged, become affiliated with every
central society with which they may seek to deal in their
desire to consign to a variety of markets. This means an
increase in those working expenses which it is one of the
main purposes of agricultural organisation to keep as low
as possible, and in more than one instance members of the
local societies have been deterred from consigning to the
co-operative depots, and have dealt with private salesmen
elsewhere.
The Small Holders' Opportunity.
That organisation on national lines would be the small
holders* opportunity is suggested by two examples typical
of the conditions under which the members of many a
colony of small holders now settled on the land are struggling
to make a living under conditions in which they may be
hopelessly handicapped by lack either of proper guidance
or of adequate facilities.
In the one instance a group of small holders cultivate,
altogether, 194 acres (giving an average of from ten to
twelve acres each), on which they grow potatoes for sale.
They produce, however, on this quantity of land, no fewer
than nine different kinds of potatoes, with the result that
each grower must hawk round and dispose of his own
particular stock as best he can, since the wholesale dealers
will not look at such a collection of varieties. In a case
of this kind a National Organisation would advise the
growers to confine their attention to one or two kinds of
potatoes only ; and, when they had grown a sufficiently
large crop thereof to be worthy of consideration on a whole-
sale market, the means would be available for them to
dispose of the output at a co-operative depot or otherwise
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 169
with the least trouble to themselves and the best assurance
of a fair return on their labour.
In the other instance about thirty small holders have
settled on some Crown lands in Lincolnshire, situate about
five miles from the nearest railway station. They formed
a co-operative society for purchase in March, 191 2, and
within six weeks they had saved £15 on the clover seed
and manures they had bought in common ; but, under
existing conditions, each provides for the transport of his
own particular lot of produce to the railway station, en route
for his own particular salesman in London or the northern
counties. Each thus requires to keep a pony and trap
or a donkey and cart, though sometimes one of them will
confer a favour on a neighbour by taking his consignment
for him, and saving him a journey. Allowing both for
the actual cost of cartage to the railway station and for
the time that may be lost through the majority of the group
having to be their own carriers, one sees how (apart from
the risks of marketing) the people who are being encouraged
to go '' back to the land" may be faced from the outset
by practical difficulties in the path of success unless they
resort to co-operative effort in regard, not simply to one
phase, but to all the various phases, of their activity as
producers.
In addition to fruit and market garden produce there
are other branches of agricultural production — the dairy
industry, eggs and poultry, live stock, grain, hay, seeds,
etc. — in regard to which co-operative sale has already
been organised, and there are others, more especially
wool and hops, for which co-operative sale is projected.
These will be dealt with in the sections that follow.
B.—THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.
One especially important phase of scientific marketing
of agricultural commodities relates to the sale of milk.
Mention has already been made of the fact that the
British farmer gains more from the sale of whole milk than
170
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
he would from converting the cream from it into butter, and
it has, also, been shown that imports of whole milk from the
Continent constitute a negligible quantity, so that in this
respect, at least, our dairy farmers have nothing to fear from
such foreign competition as they would meet with in regard
to butter.
Under these conditions, and as shown by the latest
available figures — those for 1908 — 70 per cent, of the total
milk production in Great Britain is sold as whole milk,
20 per cent., it is estimated, is used for cheese-making
purposes, and 10 per cent, for butter and cream. As for
the financial aspects of the industry, the figures already
given on page 61 show that the value of the 850,000,000
gallons of whole milk estimated to have been the output
in Great Britain in 1908 was no less than £24,820,000.
Milk Traffic on Railways.
There is difficulty is grasping the full significance of these
figures. A more concrete idea of what the milk industry
really means may, perhaps, be gained by showing (approxi-
mately), as is done in the following table, the proportions of
the milk traffic on four of the leading railway systems of the
country in 191 1 :
Railway
Company.
Number
OF Cans
Carried.
Imperial
Gallons.
Proportion Received
IN London.
Cans.
Gallons.
Great Western . .
London and North
Western
Midland . .
Great Eastern . .
3,176,416
2,600,000
1,386,000
924,421
47,636.240
34,000,000
17,505,000
13,866,315
1,273,100
870,000
481,700
166,750*
19,096,500
11,300,000
6,478,000
2,501,250*
* Figures for Liverpool Street station only, exclusive of London
suburban stations.
No less remarkable is the extent of the area over which
the milk industry is distributed. At one time the dairy
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 171
farmers, dissatisfied with the profits they were making,
began to lay the blame on the railway companies, and the
latter sought, in or about the year 1896, to meet them by,
among other things, codifying a previously complicated
system of charges, and bringing the milk rates within a
mileage scale which works out thus, per imperial gallon : —
Up to 20 miles , . . . . . . . . . . . ^d.
Above 20 miles, and up to 40 miles . . . . . . ^d.
40 ,, 100 ,, . . . . . . id,
,, 100 ,, 150 ,, . . . . . . i^d.
,, 150 miles, irrespective of distance . . . . i^d.
Minimum charge, as for 12 imperial gallons per
consignment.
Fractions of a gallon to be charged as a gallon for
each consignment.
Fractions of id. to be charged as id. for each con-
signment.
One effect of this revised scale of charges has been that
beyond 150 miles the distance from which the milk may come
makes no difference in the railway rate. The most distant
point from which milk has been brought to Euston is Toome,
in Ireland, a station on the Northern Counties Committee
(Midland) Railway, 513 miles from London. On the Great
Western Railway, 1,549 cans were brought to Paddington
during 191 1 from St. Erth, Cornwall, 320 miles from London,
while there is a regular milk traffic on that line of railway
from places about 130 miles distant. The bulk of the milk
supply for London comes from farms within a radius of
from 40 to 100 miles, and would thus cost for rail transport
an average of one penny per gallon.
In addition to putting their milk rates and charges on a
uniform basis, the leading companies greatly improved their
milk train services, opening branch lines for Sunday traffic,
constructing special milk vans on framework similar to that of
the best passenger rolling stock, concentrating milk from
specified districts at suitable junction stations, and carrying
it thence in special and often non-stop milk specials run at
a speed of over 40 miles an hour, and setting apart, more
especially at London stations, certain lines, with platform
and approach road, exclusively for milk traffic.
172 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
They found, however, in regard to the reductions they had
made in their milk rates with the view of assisting the dairy
farmer, that that person was not always deriving from their
action the benefit they had designed. There was between
what the dairy farmer got for his milk and what the consumer
in the towns paid for it a big difference which was in no way
accounted for by the average of a penny per gallon paid to
the railway companies. It was even found that when, on
the occasion in question, the railways reduced their milk
rates, certain of the buyers reduced to a corresponding
extent the prices they paid to the dairy farmers, who were
thus no better off than they had been before. The benefit
went in these instances to the middleman at the expense of
the railway companies, and the view thus not unnaturally
taken by the latter was that, in the absence of combination
on the part of the producers, any concession granted in their
favour might fail to attain its object.
This combination the A.* O. S. sought to effect ; but, in
order that the situation may be clearly understood, it is
necessary that the conditions under which the milk industry
is carried on should first be explained.
The Milk Trade Middleman.
In actual practice a dairy farmer contracts to send all his
milk to a wholesale dealer in some large town, the arrange-
ments being generally made twice a year on the basis of
summer prices and winter prices. The wholesale dealer,
who may receive thousands of gallons of milk a day from
many different sources, disposes of it to the retail vendors
who, in turn, take it round in their milk carts to the house-
holders. The wholesale dealer, acting as middleman in
passing on the milk from the farmer to the retail dealer,
fixes the price he is prepared to pay to the one and the
price at which he is prepared to sell to the other. He runs
a certain risk because he may get more milk than he can
dispose of, and he has then either to utilise the surplus as
best he can or to waste it. All the same, it is he who has the
best chance of taking most of the profit. He offers, in fact.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 173
another example of those purely commercial interests which
have grown up alongside of agriculture, are flourishing at its
expense, and are annexing gains which ought to flow to a
far greater extent into the pockets of the farmers themselves.
In some instances a large wholesaler will sell to a smaller
one who will sell to a smaller one still, until there may be as
many as five distinct profits made after the milk leaves the
producer and before it gets to the consumer. This fact was
stated by Mr. J. S. Corbett in the course of a speech he made
at a meeting of agriculturists held at Chippenham, Wiltshire,
in August, 1910.
In London, especially, owing to the following up of a
policy of absorption and amalgamation, the tendency of
late years has been for these intermediate interests to get into
fewer and still fewer hands, so that to-day the wholesale
dairy trade of London is carried on mainly by three or four
large and powerful firms linked with each other so closely in
questions of policy as to constitute, in effect, a milk " trust ''
or " combine," and this trust, it is contended, would have
continued to control the situation as regards the dairy
farmers of the Western, the Midland, and the Eastern
counties if a policy of self-defence had not been entered
upon by them.
How Co-operation can Help.
A useful purpose has been served by the Dairy Farmers'
Protectionist Societies, which assist their members in the
making of contracts, fix minimum prices, seek to prevent
undercutting, and " protect " the interests of the farmer in
other ways, also, as against the middleman.
Much more than this, however, is needed, and the further
requirements can only be supplied by co-operative effort,
which has especially aimed at : —
1. Establishing closer relations between producer and retailer ;
2. Setting up central dep6ts at which, by means of the most
perfect machinery, the milk can be subjected to cleansing and
proper cooling before being despatched by train ;
3. Regulating the quantities of milk sent to the towns, in
174 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
order to avoid any fall in prices owing to the supplies forwarded
being in excess of the demand ;
4. Retaining the surplus and converting it into cheese or
some other marketable commodity, thus not only avoiding a fall
in prices for the milk, but ensuring additional profits in other
directions.
5. Opening up possibihties of a further resort to co-operation
by the joint purchase of feeding stuffs, fertilisers and other
requirements ; and
6. Encouraging the keeping of cows by small holders, as is
the case on the Continent, there being good reason for expecting
that, with co-operative marketing of the produce, the cow may
become the mainstay of the small holder.
In the carrying out of this programme there is no idea of
increasing the price of milk to the consumer. All that is
required to improve the position of the dairy farmers, small
holders and other land occupiers can, it is believed, be
secured by them through co-operation and without pre-
judicing the interests of any one except the middleman.
Happily, too, not only have steps already been taken in this
direction, but much more is now being done.
Co-operative Dairying in England.
Although at the present time Denmark is recognised
as holding the premier position in co-operative dairying,
it is not generally known that several co-operative cheese
factories were started in England during the early seventies.
Through good and bad seasons they have continued
their operations for upwards of forty years, a period which
has seen great developments in the commercial life of this
country.
It is to be regretted, however, that notwithstanding
the early commencement of co-operative dairying in England
the subsequent development of the industry has been
exceedingly slow when compared with that which has
taken place in this direction in other countries.
As far back as 1874, a number of farmers, in the Manifold
Valley, Derbyshire, met to consider the advantages of
combining together to build and equip a cheese-factory
for their joint use. This they eventually did, each member
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 175
contributing an equal share towards the cost of erection
and equipment.
They did not adopt the present-day methods of company
promotion and create funds by the issue of shares, but each
member agreed to send his milk to the factory, and at the
end of the season, when all the cheese had been sold and
expenses paid, the remaining balance was divided out,
according to the number of gallons of milk delivered by each.
They still retain this method of payment, although if
a member requires to draw a sum of money on account,
he can do so, provided the value of the amount so drawn
is not greater than the estimated value of the amount
of milk which he has delivered to the factory. Each
member also agrees to purchase from the factory a quantity
of whey in proportion to the quantity of milk delivered. /
The Croxden Dairy Association, Ltd., Croxden Abbey,
near Rocester, which was established in 1884, is also
deserving of mention. This society, as well as the Manifold
Valley society, makes upwards of 60 lbs. of whey butter
per week, and, as the butter finds a ready sale at 8d. per lb.,
it follows that the profits of the members are benefited to
the extent of about £2 per week.
The manager is paid by contract for the whole of the
season, in one case, and in the other at the rate of so much
per cwt. of cheese made ; but in both cases the manager
agrees to find any extra labour he may require.
The methods in vogue at each of these factories are very
similar to those adopted in Denmark, and they afford
admirable examples of up-to-date co-operative dairying,
worthy of more extensive imitation.
Their records show that during the autumn months they
can produce i lb. of cheese from 8 J lbs. of milk, whilst in
spring and early summer it takes 10 lbs. to 12 lbs. of milk
to make i lb. of cheese.
All milk is bought by weight, and the net prices per 10 lbs.
of milk received by the supplier are — from 6d. to yd. during
summer and 8ji. to g^d, during autumn and winter.
The Dovedale (Derbyshire) Dairy Society, Ltd., and
176 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
the^^Yoxall (Staffordshire) & District Co-operative Dairy
Society, although of later date, are dealing with over a
thousand gallons of milk per day during the season and
return remunerative prices to their suppliers.
The operations of the Water Orton Dairy Society, near
Birmingham, will be of interest to farmers in the vicinity
of large towns. All the members of this society sell their
milk to Birmingham retailers, but during the early summer
months they found they had a surplus supply of milk
which they were not prepared to deal with at home. A
room on the farmstead of one of their members was accord-
ingly fitted up for cheese-making, and the occupier, Mr.
Walley, agreed to make their surplus milk into cheese for
a certain sum per gallon. This deals very economically
and effectively with the surplus milk problem in the district.
During recent years farmers have repeatedly had to meet
a seri^ of adverse circumstances, all of which have tended
to make farming both onerous and more or less unremune-
rative, and it will be unfortunate if agriculturists do not
pay more attention to co-operative buying and selling
in order to improve their returns.
The Eastern Counties Dairy Farmers' Co-operative
Society, which was estabUshed in 1896 as an offshoot of the
Eastern Counties Dairy Farmers' Association, has for its
special purpose the protection of the interests of dairy
farmers in Essex.
Experience had shown the dairy farmers there that in
order to obtain better prices for their milk they required a
closer combination ; and this was sought by the formation
of a co-operative society with 52 members, each of whom
took twenty £1 shares, on which los. per share was paid up.
The society began business by selling its members' milk
on commission ; but as it grew stronger it adopted the
method of making contracts both with the retail dealers and
with its members. At the headquarters in Stratford, E.,
there is a refrigerating, cold storage, pasteurising and
separating plant of the most sanitary and up-to-date type.
If, on any one day, there should be a glut in the market.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 177
such surplus as the society cannot profitably dispose of is
pasteurised or put into cold storage, and held over until the
following day, or is separated if there should be at the time
an outlet for cream.
In 1909 the society, in order to overcome the difficulty
caused by a great surplus of milk on the market during the
months of May and June, acquired a cheese-making plant at
Bilsden, converting there into cheese, in that year, 11,223
gallons of milk which otherwise might have increased the
glut of milk in London and have affected prices accordingly.
The society has also bought some land close to Ongar
station, and built on it a milk depot and cheese factory
having facilities for dealing with 1,000 imperial gallons daily.
The Wensleydale (Yorkshire) Pure Milk Society was
formed in 1905, on the model of the Copenhagen Pure Milk
Company, for the supply of pure milk to the principal towns
in the North of England. The contracts made by the
society with its members are based on a number of conditions
in regard to feeding, milking and general arrangements
which are rigidly enforced with a view to ensuring absolute
purity and wholesomeness of the milk, while the cows of
the farmers supplying the milk must be certified by the
society's inspector. DeHvered at the society's depot at
Northallerton, immediately adjoining the lines of the North
Eastern Railway Company, which has done much to foster
the scheme, the milk is first scrupulously tested, being
rejected if the quality should be unsatisfactory. It is then
subjected to various processes, bottled, and so sent out to
the consumer, the bottles, each labelled with a different
coloured label for each day in the week, being packed in
crates and conveyed to their destination in improved vans
specially constructed by the North Eastern Railway Com-
pany for the purpose. In 1908 the society installed at its
depot new machinery which has been found most effective
and economical. It deals with about 400,000 gallons of
milk a year, and has a turnover of between £20,000 and
£25,000.
The Scalford (Leicestershire) Dairy Society, Ltd., which is
A.O. N
178 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
in its tenth year, has been especially successful in manufac-
turing Stilton cheese, having completely refuted the old
idea that the finest quality of that cheese can be manu-
factured only from the milk of a particular herd, and not
from mixed milk. In 1911 the society made nearly 5,000
cheeses, which realised an average price of lo^d. per lb.
Good work has also been done by the Nidderdale (York-
shire) Dairy Society and the Walkden (Lancashire) Farmers'
Milk Supply Association, Ltd.
The most recent developments are represented by the
Wiltshire Farmers, Ltd., the Cheshire Milk Producers'
Depots, Ltd., and the Cornwall County Farm and Dairy
Co-operative Society, Ltd.
Wiltshire is one of the chief centres of milk supply for
London, and the general conditions in regard to the relations
between the farmers and the wholesalers, as already told,
prevailed there in full force until the opening, in January,
191 1, by the Wiltshire Farmers, Ltd. — a co-operative
association of dairy farmers in Wiltshire — of their Chippen-
ham depot. Here the milk supply of a large proportion of
the 500 members is received and passed through the milk
cleaners and pasteurisers, and then over copper milk coolers,
which, together with other appliances and the general
arrangements of the building, are of the most up-to-date
type, the whole of the plant being the best that science can
suggest and engineering skill furnish. Run into 17-gallon
churns on the dairy floor, the milk is either despatched at
once to London from Chippenham station, on the Great
Western Railway, or placed in one of three specially-
constructed cold rooms until the following day, no change
whatever taking place in the nature of the milk so kept.
Surplus milk not wanted at all for despatch to London is
converted into cheese, for the making of which every
necessary appHance, once more of the best possible type, is
provided. So well does this arrangement answer that during
the three months of May, June and July, 191 1, about
£7,000 worth of milk was turned into cheese, this being milk
which, under previous conditions, would have been thrown
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 179
on the London market — with the risk of keeping down
prices there — because of the lack of means of dealing
efficiently, economically and profitably with superabundant
supplies on the spot.
The total cost of building, plant, machinery and formation
expenses has been over £10,000. In regard to sale and
distribution the society deals direct with retailers. A large
proportion of the milk it sends to the Metropolis goes to an
organisation known as the London Retail Dairymen's
Mutual, Ltd., which is no less desirous of dispensing with the
wholesalers. At first there was an idea that the society
should itself start a retail trade in London ; but further
consideration and inquiry led to the conclusion that it
would be more expedient if the society contented itself
with supplying the retailers, and sought to dispense with
the wholesalers only.
That the large milk contractors should have shown the
most vigorous opposition to the new society was only to be
expected, but the society has done so well that its turnover
for the first half of 1912 was about £66,000.
The Cheshire Milk Producers' Dep6ts, Ltd., is a co-opera-
tive society formed by the milk producers of Cheshire,
Shropshire, Derbyshire, and Denbighshire to deal with the
milk supply of these counties with greater advantage to the
producer. It had the cordial support of the landowners of
the district, who took up shares and loan stock, and the
Co-operative Wholesale Society, together with the Industrial
Co-operative Societies, rendered much assistance by the
orders they gave ; but a formidable opposition was raised
by certain interests in Manchester and Liverpool, whose
association passed a resolution boycotting the society.
The difficulty thus created was met by the society setting
up numerous depots at which milk not sent to the towns
could be converted into cheese. At the Balderton depot
an average of 3,000 gallons of milk was being dealt with
daily at the end of April, 1912. The maximum received
there in one day had been 4,500 gallons.
The Cornwall County Farm and Dairy Co-operative
N 2
i8o AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Society, Ltd., has been established mainly through the zeal
and activity of Viscountess Falmouth, of whom the annual
report of the A. O. S. for igio says : — " She has spared
neither time nor trouble, and has been the means of creating
an enthusiasm for the undertaking that is unique in the
history of our movement." Among the objects of the
society are the following : —
1. Unification of the dairy industry in Cornwall.
2. Increase of the dairying area by encouraging and stimulating
production.
3. Uniform standard of produce, and consequent improved
status of supplies for the London and provincial markets.
4. Control of output by means of cold storage in order to secure
regularity and continuity of sale at remunerative prices.
5. Reduction of cost in reaching market by economy in manage-
ment and consignments in bulk.
Collecting depots and a central factory with offices, cold-
store plant and separating station, have now been estab-
lished. "It is believed," the annual report further says,
" that the society will have the effect of greatly stimulating
the dairy and poultry industry in the county, and of leading
to such developments and extensions, concurrently with
greater excellence of manufacture and uniformity of output,
as will be of marked advantage to suppliers and indirectly
of benefit to the community at large. There are districts
in Cornwall where there is little dairying, notwithstanding
suitable conditions, and this society hopes that the facilities
and inducements for developing the dairy industry and
promoting the general agricultural production in such places
will be made clear to the people."
A Dairy Societies' Federation.
It is now proposed to follow up the establishment of these
various societies, and to prepare for others still to come, by
forming District Federations of Dairy Societies with a view
to the holding of periodical conferences by society managers,
to discuss questions of common interest.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED i8i
Retail Dairymen's Interests.
Milk retailers in the towns are no less interested than milk
producers in the country in dispensing with the middleman
wholesaler and his profits ; yet in the one case as in the other
there may be practical dependence on the tender mercies
of a " milk trust " so long as those concerned act only as
individuals. Not only, therefore, are the dairy farmers
themselves combining, but the milk retailers, also, are
beginning to adopt a like policy.
Some years ago there was formed in London a Retail
Dairymen's Association, the object of which was to provide
the retail dairymen of the Metropolis with the means of
safeguarding their own interests. The association secured
sundry trade reforms and other advantages, but the majority
of the retailers found themselves still prejudiced by having
to obtain their milk supplies through the wholesale con-
tractors who constituted the London milk trust.
The question then arose whether, by means of combina-
tion, the retailers could not control their supplies indepen-
dently of the middlemen whom they had hitherto regarded
as " a necessary evil," but against whose " immense profits "
they were now disposed to rebel. It was felt, however, that
a combination of milk retailers would require to deal with
a combination of milk producers, in order to be certain of
getting adequate and regular supplies.
A deputation was thereupon appointed to wait on the
secretary of the A. O. S., who gave all the assistance in his
power, with the result that the Retail Dairymen's Mutual
Supply, Ltd., was formed and registered under the Industrial
and Provident Societies Act, 1893. Whilst being a co-
operative society of milk retailers, the society was really
designed to take the place of the wholesaler for its members,
with the advantage that through affiliation with the central
body it would be brought into touch with the co-operative
societies of dairy farmers also affiliated thereto. By this
means supplies could be obtained from organised sources
with probably less friction than in the case of dealing with
i82 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
individual producers ; but the society itself was to act
exclusively as a wholesale milk contractor, and was not to
engage in the retail trade in competition either with its own
members or with other retailers.
Starting operations with sixty-five members in March,
191 1, the society had 115 in August, 1912, at which date, also,
it was being suppHed with 25,000 gallons of milk a week,
including 18,200 gallons from the Wiltshire Farmers, Ltd.
It is found possible to pay slightly more per gallon to
organised sources of supply, such as the Wiltshire Farmers,
Ltd., than to individual farmers, the reason being that the
former are able to arrange more conveniently to send the
exact quantity needed, and to deal with milk not required.
The policy of the society is to make contracts with the best
dairy farmers in the best milk-producing districts ; stringent
precautions are taken to ensure purity and good quality ;
the society supplies genuine retail dairymen only ; all
members pay the same price and receive the exact quantities
they require ; and selling prices, which are to be uniform
throughout London, are fixed at the making of each contract.
Coupled with what the dairy farmers themselves are doing,
this most interesting and most significant development
among the retailers would seem to foreshadow some material,
if not, indeed, some revolutionary, changes in the future of the
dairying industry, to the advantage both of producers and of
actual distributors, and without any detriment to the
consumers.
Organisation of Milk Records.
The efforts to bring about more remunerative methods of
milk distribution are now being supplemented by endeavours
to increase still further the financial returns of dairy farmers
and small holders through the effecting of improvements in
milk production.
It is hoped to attain this end with the help of a system of
milk records and milk testing organised on lines similar to
those so successfully followed by co-operative societies
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 183
established expressly for the "purpose in Denmark and else-
where.
If, as is pointed out in an article published in the issue of
Co-operation for February, 1912, the milk production of the
average cow could be considerably increased, the whole
dairy industry would be placed on a firmer basis, and
individual farmers would be enabled to better the conditions
under which their milk is produced, and to carry out many
other improvements that might now involve a financial loss.
Any increase in prices to the consumer being undesirable,
the dairy farmer is faced by the twofold problem (i) how
to increase the yield of every individual cow in his shed ;
and (2) how to lessen per gallon the cost of production. In
solving this problem he requires to know, as nearly as possible,
the quantity of milk produced annually by each cow in his
herd ; the quality of that milk (and more particularly the
percentage of butter fat it contains) ; and the cost of each
cow's food for the year. This information being obtained
by a system of milk records, the farmer must then seek
(i) to eliminate unprofitable cows ; (2) to select the best
milkers for breeding purposes ; and (3) to adjust rations in
proportion to the milk yielded. By operating on these
lines he may once more hope to conduct his business
of agriculture in greater accordance with business prin-
ciples.
The advantages of the system are undeniable, and they
need not here be further discussed. The only question for
consideration is how best they can be secured. In Ayrshire
and Dumfriesshire the farmers have formed their societies
for the keeping of milk records, and the average milk yield
of the Ayrshire cow has, in consequence, been largely in-
creased. In Ireland, also, there are co-operative societies
of this type. It would, of course, be hopeless to expect
every dairy farmer or small holder in the country to make
regularly his own tests and keep his own records, nor is it
necessary that he should when the work can be much more
efficiently done through the co-operative employment of
experts who would visit each farm or holding at fixed
i84 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
intervals, and make the weighings and tests with the
apparatus or appHances specially adapted thereto.
It has been suggested that there should be adopted in
England and Wales, with modifications suited to our own
conditions, the system already found to answer elsewhere —
that is to say, a system under which the farmers and small
holders in a certain district would form themselves into a
society, adopt rules properly drawn up, raise funds by
means of entrance fees and annual subscriptions based on
the number of cows to be tested in each member's herd, and
employ an expert who would make his tests, enter the results
in suitable books, and give a certificate for each cow, at the
end of her lactation period, showing the amounts of milk
and of the butter fat therein which she had yielded.
Two schemes for the formation of Co-operative Milk
Records Societies have been drawn up by the secretary of
the A. O. S., giving approximate estimates of the cost of
working for the first year and for the second or subsequent
years respectively. The first scheme is in respect to a
society of twelve members, to whose farms the expert would
pay fortnightly visits. The second scheme is for a society
of twenty-four farmers, who would themselves weigh their
milk each week, the expert paying monthly visits to their
farms to supervise the weighing and sampling, and to do the
actual testing.
Cattle and the Tuberculin Test.
One of the affiliated societies, the Wensleydale Pure Milk
Society, has adopted a line of policy which, if generally
followed up, should have a further important influence
on the future of the dairy industry.
In addition to the other means adopted by the society, as
already told, to ensure a pure milk supply, attention was
directed to the taking of efficient means for dealing with the
question of tuberculosis in cattle.
This further item on the society's programme was found
to be a difficult proposition, inasmuch as the farmers had to
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 185
be won over to the idea of having their herds tested by means
of tubercuhn. Strong prejudices were not unnaturally
encountered, and, although two farmers consented, in
1906 — 7, to the test being apphed to their cattle, the other
fanners in the district expressed disbelief therein, and would
not then follow the example set to them. Gradually,
however, their objections have been overcome, and to-day
practically all the farmers concerned have adopted the test,
and show confidence in it, some of them now buying their
fresh stock subject to the animals passing the test.
Such confidence has been fully deserved. The milk from
cows certified to have passed the test is marketed, in bottles,
as tuberculin-tested milk, is sold in thirty towns in Durham
and Yorkshire, and has become a well-recognised standard
article. The healthiness of the cattle, too, has materially
improved.
So great is the importance it has attached to this action on
the part of the Wensleydale society that the A. O. S. has
called the attention of its co-operative dairy societies in
general to what has been done. It is felt that there should
be an especially good opening for the societies to supply
guaranteed milk of the type in question to the sanatoria to
be set up under the National Insurance Act, while there is
no doubt that the consumption of milk as a beverage would
be greatly increased in the towns if a guarantee of absolute
purity could be offered to would-be consumers. There are
already great possibilities of a further increase in the con-
sumption of milk ; but with the guarantee here in question
those possibilities would be greater still, and, with an
improved and a more profitable system of distribution, the
position of the British dairy farmer would be far more
satisfactory in the future than it has been in the past.
Thus the general situation of the British dairying trade has
materially changed since the late Mr. Hanbury interested
himself in this and other phases of agricultural production
in 1903 ; but the improvement effected has been mainty
due to the co-operation which at that time appeared so
difficult of attainment.
i86 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
C— EGGS AND POULTRY.
An early effort to bring about better conditions in the egg
and poultry industry in Great Britain was begun in 1898 by
the National Poultry Organisation Society. The would-be
organisers of that date, however, started without much
experience and with the disadvantage of having to encounter
considerable prejudice. Nor, at first, did the society operate
on purely co-operative principles.
Then, as now, there were two lines along which work
required to be done — teaching and organisation.
There was a great necessity for teaching in regard to
methods of production ; there was equal need of effective
organisation for sale. Farmers and small holders required
to be shown exactly what to produce and how to supply it ;
but they wanted, in turn, a guarantee that when they had
produced the quaUties and the quantities desired they
would be able to market them to advantage.
It was the second of these two functions that the National
Poultry Organisation Society took in hand. Educational
work it regarded as falling within the province of the
educational authorities, and notably within the schemes of
technical instruction undertaken by the County Councils.
When the Agricultural Organisation Society came into
existence, in 1901, it naturally included the egg and poultry
industry within the purview of its operations. It agreed
with the earlier society on the point as to poultry instruction,
and was equally disinclined to undertake responsibilities in
this direction. In dealing, however, with organisation only,
there was the risk of the two societies overlapping. Steps
were taken to avoid this, and in the annual report of the
A. O. S. for 1903 it was said: — "We are pleased to be able
to report that we have come to an arrangement with the
National Poultry Organisation Society that will prevent
overlapping in our respective propaganda." Where the
work undertaken by the A. O. S. was especially useful was in
the direction of inducing producers to adopt co-operative
methods.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 187
Proposals for a combination between the two societies
were under consideration for some years, but there were
difficulties in the way of adopting this idea. The National
Poultry Organisation Society not only thought it desirable
that the promotion of the poultry industry should be
specialised and kept distinct from that of agriculture in
general, but the society had felt compelled, in the interests
of affiliated local societies, to organise trading, whereas the
Agricultural Organisation Society was a non-trading body.
Arrangements with the National Poultry Society.
These difficulties were overcome in 1909 by means of a
working agreement, in virtue of which the A. O. S. undertook
the organisation of local societies, the N. P. O. S. retaining
the other branches of its work. In July, 191 1, the National
Poultry Organisation Society transferred its marketing
section to the British Poultry Federation, Ltd., which had
been formed by a number of local co-operative societies
engaged in the collection and marketing of eggs and poultry,
and undertook sale on their behalf. The federation, which
opened premises at 27, Hozier Lane, E.G., in January, 1912,
is registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies
Act, and is operated on a co-operative basis.
By reason of the arrangement with the A. O. S., the
National Poultry Organisation Society was enabled to devote
more attention to the technical side of its work, and this was
of the greater importance inasmuch as comparatively Httle
was then still being done by the County Educational Com-
mittees in the matter of instruction in poultry keeping.
Although, too, a few colleges had taken up the subject, the
provision for teaching was totally inadequate.
The work of the A. O. S. was especially directed to bring-
ing before agricultural co-operative societies — where the
holdings of their members were moderate or small in acreage,
and the conditions generally were favourable — the desira-
bihty of adding the sale of eggs to other operations.
Hitherto the great majority of the societies had devoted
i88 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
their attention to the purchase of supplies for members, and
the sale of members' produce was a new departure which
required careful consideration and judicious direction.
The desirability of offering better opportunities for the
profitable disposal of eggs had long been great enough, but
it had now become greater than ever owing to the operation
of the Small Holdings Act. More people were being induced
to settle on the land, and it was evident that the keeping of
poultry would, in most cases, be essential to the success of
a small holder in helping to provide for him a constant and
adequate income.
Here we get back to the two fundamental principles of
(i) instruction both in the production of just those supplies
that should bring in the most profit and in preparing them
for market ; and (2) the organisation of such marketing
methods as will ensure the producer obtaining the best
possible return for his labours.
Egg and Poultry Demonstration Train.
Wide scope exists for increased instruction, the need for
which was felt so keenly by the Agricultural Organisa-
tion Society and the National Poultry Organisation
Society that in igio the two bodies combined in order, by
arrangement with the Great Western Railway Company,
to run an egg and poultry demonstration train on a tour
through parts of South Wales, this being the first occasion
of a trip of this kind being made in Europe, though agricul-
tural demonstration cars are, of course, well-known in
Canada and the United States. Concerning the results of
this trip the official who was in charge has reported : —
Nothing in which I have been permitted to share, concerned
with promotion and organisation, has had equal influence, con-
sidering the time and money expended. Wherever I have gone
since that time, at home or abroad, references have been made to
it. It evidently struck the imagination of many people, not alone
by its novelty so far as Europe is concerned, but its practical
educational value. Doubtless part of the success was due to the
great publicity given to it by the Press, which, in turn, was in
some measure owing to recognition of the fact that it was a
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 189
Poultry Institute on Wheels. - The results are considerable.
Collecting depots have been estabHshed at four centres ; the
important place which poultry should hold in relation to general
farming has received recognition to an extent never known
before ; and the educational value of this demonstration train
has been manifested, not alone by increased production, but by
adoption of better methods of marketing, and by a striking
advance in the values of eggs, especially throughout the various
districts visited, in some instances as much as 2s. per great
hundred.
This widespread interest in the egg and poultry train
experiment has led to definite demands that similar trains
should be run in North Wales and in Dorset and Wilts. At
least a dozen other trains have also been suggested, and
offers have been received from various railway companies to
afford facilities on their respective systems ; but inasmuch
as the cost of such a train is considerable, the two societies
which defrayed the entire expense on the first occasion feel
that they could not bear the financial responsibility unaided
in other parts of the country as well, and the question arises
whether the running of demonstration trains of the kind in
question might not be regarded as a branch of educational
effort which the Development Commissioners or the County
Councils would be warranted in assisting.
Poultry Industry Instruction.
The whole subject of poultry industry instruction requires
reconsideration from a national standpoint. We are
notoriously behind other countries in the matter. In
Canada and the United States the poultry industry has
undergone remarkable expansion ; but this fact is not sur-
prising considering that sixty-five experts are there engaged
in poultry teaching and investigation at agricultural colleges
and experimental stations. " Guelph College, Ontario," it
is said in an article in The Times of August 26th, 1912,
on " The Poultry Industry and its Future," " has earned
a world-wide reputation for successful experiment and
research ; the MacDonald College of St. Anne-de-Bellevue,
in the Province of Quebec, possesses a poultry plant larger
igo AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
than all of those in England combined. Cornell University,
of New York State, possesses a larger staff than is to be found
in all the agricultural colleges of this country." As for our
own colleges, evidence given to the Reay Committee showed
that out of eighteen colleges and schools of agriculture ten
have no provision at all for poultry teaching ; eight make
provision of some kind for practical instruction, but only
five give courses of lectures, and of these five there are three
which do not provide specialist instructors, the final result
being that in only two or three of the colleges does the
subject receive adequate attention.
A certain advance is being made, however. A proposal
has been mooted for the formation of a National Poultry
Institute which would be a centre for training teachers and
others, and for the conduct of experimental work and research
in the many problems which present themselves for solution.
The Development Commissioners and the Board of Agricul-
ture have approved the scheme, and the former have stated
that they are prepared to recommend the Treasury to make
a grant of £8,500 for establishment and equipment and of
£2,000 a year for maintenance, conditionally upon equal
amounts being obtained from other sources. The Committee
of the National Poultry Institute are endeavouring to obtain
the sums requisite to placing them in a position to obtain
these grants.
In the next place, as the result of a conference held in
London in July, 1912, there was formally established, with
Mr. Edward Brown as its president, an International
Association of Poultry Instructors and Investigators which,
in reflecting the " world-movement " now proceeding in
the investigation of many problems of poultry production
awaiting solution, should have some effect in helping to
raise Enghsh conditions to a better state of efficiency.
Marketing.
All this educational work is, of course, far beyond the
range of A. O. S. activities; yet in the organisation for sale
which is the logical outcome of teaching for production there
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 191
is also good scope for the Society's action. In some parts
of the country — Cornwall for example — the trade in eggs and
poultry is almost entirely in the hands of higglers, who give
what prices they like, and, as a rule, pay only just sufficient
to induce the farmers or small holders to keep on providing
them with supplies. In some districts the barter system is
still very prevalent, eggs and poultry being given to a local
shopkeeper — who himself fixes the values — in exchange for
groceries or other household goods, the cottager or small
holder thus, possibly, being allowed too little in the one case
and paying, in effect, too much in the other.
So it often happens that the whole marketing system is
conducted on the most antiquated lines. The produce itself
may not be worth so much as it would be if put on the market
under better conditions ; but the material difference, even
then, between the prices paid to the producers in the country
and the prices paid by the consumers in the towns represents
a considerable range of middlemen's profits which it is one
of the objects and purposes of agricultural organisation —
supplementing efforts in the direction of improving the
production — to abolish.
Societies and Egg-Collecting.
This particular purpose can only be achieved through
co-operation, and the one debatable point is, not as to the
principle itself, but as to the particular form of co-operation
that may best be recommended.
In actual practice, co-operation as appHed to the sale of
eggs means that, as far as possible, the members of an agricul-
tural co-operative society should send all their eggs, as fre-
quently as possible, to their society's depot, where they will
be tested, graded and paid for according to size, freshness
and shape, and thence be despatched for sale in accordance
with the arrangements made to that end by the society.
The producer is thus saved all trouble and expense in market-
ing ; he should, where the quality is satisfactory, get a better
price for what he supplies, and any sum left as profits, after
192 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
interest has been paid on share capital, is generally
returned to the supplier in the form of a bonus in proportion
to the value of the business done.
Where the debatable point arises is on the question as to
whether co-operative egg-collecting should be taken up,
preferably, by societies devoting themselves exclusively
thereto, or by societies which regard it as only an addition to
their other work or undertakings. There are societies of
each type, and the experience already gained suggests that
societies which exist for egg-collecting alone can only be run
with advantage in districts where eggs are very cheap, and
a sufficiently large margin can be secured to cover expenses.
Owing to the small capital at their disposal, these societies
may be at a great disadvantage in operating against com-
petitors possessed of substantial financial resources, or even
as against higglers who, when the society offers a slightly
higher price — in order to ensure the support of members —
themselves also give a higher price, doing so the more
readily because, in addition to dealing with eggs, they trade
in butter and other products, smaller gains in one direction
being thus made up by the returns in another. Societies
depending on egg-collection only have not the same resource,
and in 191 1 four societies estabhshed on this basis were
dissolved because they could not make the business pay.
Where, on the other hand, egg-collecting is adopted as an
adjunct to other activities, the society is in a stronger
position. It has the same advantage as the aforesaid
higglers in not having to depend on only one set of profits.
When, for instance, a dairy or a trading society, operating
in a district where good prices for eggs are already obtainable,
starts an egg-collecting branch, it can, on account of the
other business done, afford merely to cover expenses, or even
to bear a slight loss on the egg-collection, which it will
find an advantage in continuing because the addition of
egg-collecting to its other branches may bring in more
members, and so lead to more capital being available for the
society's purposes in general. Under these conditions co-
operative egg-collecting is carried on successfully even by
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 193
societies devoting themselves chiefly to eggs and poultry in
districts where a society confining itself exclusively thereto
could scarcely hope to avoid failure, though the majority of
agricultural co-operative societies have been reluctant to
undertake this work.
The best example of a co-operative society's success in the
direction of egg-collecting is afforded by the Framlingham
(Suffolk) and District Co-operative Society. Originally
formed, in 1903, mainly for the purchase and supply of
agricultural requirements, the society started egg-collecting
as a subsidiary branch of its main line of business. The
experiment answered so well that in 1907 the society sold
for its members 1,593,000 eggs, and paid them, according
to the calculations made, between £1,000 and £1,500 more
than they would have received before the society was
established. In addition to the central depot at Framling-
ham, a number of branch depots have been opened through-
out the district for receiving and dealing with eggs, and the
business has grown so substantially that in 191 1 the society
sold for its members 3,922,000 eggs, of a value of £16,000.
In the same year the egg department of the Eastern
Counties Farmers' Co-operative Association sold over
1,225,000 eggs, for which £3,614 was received.
The complete returns for 19 11 in respect to the two classes
of societies undertaking egg-collection show the following
totals : —
Value of
Societies. Number. Eggs.
£
Trading and dairy . . . . . . 12 25,700
Egg- collecting only . . . . . . 21 8,600
Total . . . . • . 33 34.300
These results are, however, only approximately satis-
factory, since there is stiU a great deal to be done.
Need for Further Action.
" Until," as was said in the annual report of the A. O. S.
for 1910, " we have a thoroughly practical training of
A.o. o
194 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
managers, making them feel that their future in connection
with the egg movement is dependent upon loyal acceptance
and adoption of regulations laid down for collecting, grading
and testing of produce, co-operation for sale will fail to
accomplish its purpose."
Still more needs to be done to bring home to the minds of
poultry keepers the fact that they must do all they can to
further the aim of the movement in advancing the character
and quality of the home produce, thus capturing the highest
class of trade.
Societies should be encouraged to develop egg-collecting
branches of their present work, and to bring all possible
persuasion to bear on their members to send in their supplies,
instead of being content only with purchase of requirements
from their society.
Measures might well be taken to ensure control and
continuity of British suppHes. "It is generally admitted,"
the Society's report for igio further says, "that the
success of the Danish egg societies is largely due to the
regularisation of supplies by adoption on a large scale of
preservation, or * pickling.' The advantages of this system
are not alone that eggs for cooking purposes are available
during the periods of scarcity, but that prices are steadied
by the eggs being kept off the market in the cheap season.
As production of eggs increases in the United Kingdom, the
tendency will be to overload the market and so reduce
returns."
Pressure, again, should be brought to bear on the local
authorities concerned in technical education to appoint a
larger number of practical instructors in poultry keeping.
Overlapping.
For some time it has been apparent that there is con-
siderable risk of societies engaged in the sale of eggs and
poultry competing with each other in the great consuming
centres. Already this has been experienced to a limited
extent, but with increase of production and of loCal societies
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 195
it would become a serious problem. Those operating in the
cheaper districts would be able to cut out others and yet
find the business profitable. The prices at which these
were able to sell would be the determining factor.
Imports and Opportunities.
All the world over the consumption of eggs and poultry is
increasing, and this is especially the case in countries where
the leading of " the strenuous life " favours a lighter dietary,
more particularly for the mid-day meal, or in Continental
countries where, again, boiled eggs are being more and more
eaten as an addition to the orthodox coffee, rolls and butter
for breakfast, while increasing wealth allows of a more
general indulgence in small luxuries.
This greater consumption by the world in general has led
to decreased imports and increased prices in this country,
as is well shown by the following table, which gives imports,
in great hundreds (a " great hundred " is 120 eggs), and
values for the years 1906-9 : —
Year.
1906
1907
1908
1909
In 1910, and again in 1911, there was an increase in
imports ; but, comparing the returns for the first six months
of 191 2 with the corresponding period of 191 1, we find a
reversion to the decline in imports, with a continuance of
the rise in values : —
First half of Imports. Value.
Gt. hundreds. £
191 1 .. .. .. 8,569,492 3,407,200
1912 8,073.233 3.375.345
Thus against the drop in imports of 496,259 great
hundreds, or 60,000,000 eggs, in six months there was a
dechne in total values of only £31,855. In other words,
o 2,
Imports.
Value.
Gt. hundreds.
£
18,874,059
18,567,901
18,210.070
17,710,431
7,098^122
7.135.530
7,183,112
7.233.932
ig6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
whereas the value of 120 imported eggs in January- June,
191 1, was 7s. lid., the value of the same quantity in January-
June, 1912, was 8s. 4ld., an increase of 5j^. per 120 in this
short period.
Of the total imports of eggs in 191 1 Russia sent no less
than 52-69 per cent., or more than all the rest of the world
put together. Denmark, which imports eggs from Russia
for domestic consumption, sent us, of her own better
qualities, equal to 20.95 per cent, of our total from abroad.
Only one other country, Austria-Hungary, exceeded 5 per
cent.
As showing the distance of the countries from which eggs
are brought to Great Britain, it might be mentioned that
imports reached us in 1911 from, among other places,
Morocco, Canada, Asiatic Turkey, the United States of
America, Roumania, Gibraltar, China, Bulgaria, Servia,
Canary Islands, New Zealand, European Turkey Madeira,
and the Cape of Good Hope, the quantities from these
different countries diminishing in magnitude in the order
given. To what extent the eggs imported from the more
distant countries may have been used for various manu-
facturing purposes cannot be told.
When one bears in mind that the genuine new laid egg
favoured on British breakfast tables should not be more
than three days old, the initial advantage which the English
egg-raiser has over his foreign competitors is abundantly
manifest ; and this initial advantage becomes greater still
in proportion as the foreigner keeps more of his eggs at home
for his own consumption, or, alternatively, as Germany
absorbs more of the eggs that might otherwise come to us
in still greater volume from Russia and Southern Europe.
In regard to poultry the maximum value of imports
attained in 1908, namely, £934,679, has not since been
surpassed, while it is significant that, though the imports
from Russia have shown a large increase, those from the
United States — where consumption is so steadily overtaking
production — have shown a marked decline, as will be seen
from the following table : —
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 197
Values of Imports of Poultry
FROM
Year. Russia. United States.
i
i
1906
. . 185,635
243.750
1907
.. 271,357
202,065
1908
. . 354.394
153.544
1909
.. 35i>303
^J?'552
I9I0
303,260
88,144
T9II
. . 404,994
137.469
It need hardly be said that fresh-killed English poultry
ought to have a better chance on our own markets than
poultry from either Russia or the United States, or elsewhere.
Certain is it, also, that poultry ought to enter far more
largely into the dietary of the average English household
than is actually the case ; yet the co-operative fattening
and sale of poultry — in which there is a vast field awaiting
development — has hitherto scarcely been touched.
So it may be suggested that the remark as to the oppor-
tunities for a development of the ^^'g and poultry industry
here having never been greater than they are at the present
time is in no way exaggerated ; yet full advantage can be
taken of those opportunities only by adherence to the dual
principles laid down by the Agricultural Organisation
Society and the National Poultry Organisation Society,
namely, better teaching to secure improved production, and
organised marketing to ensure more remunerative sales.
D.— SALE OF LIVE STOCK.
Progress in the co-operative sale of live stock has
hitherto been comparatively slow. Apart from the ordinary
difficulties in the way of organising combination for sale
there are, when such combination relates to live stock, great
and powerful vested interests to be faced. '* Rings " of
traders naturally object to, and fight against, innovations
hkely to diminish their own profits, and even buyers who
have not formed such rings may strongly disapprove of
changes in established methods until it is shown that they,
too, may benefit through those reductions in the scales for
igS AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
commission to which the sellers themselves look for
increased gains.
Yet although the co-operative sale of live stock may be
growing only very gradually as a whole, there are several
examples of a noteworthy success, establishing the sound-
ness and practicability of the principle, and offering good
encouragement for the future.
In 1905 the Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-operative
Association added to its other undertakings the sale of its
members' pigs. The reasons which led to the taking of this
new departure were told in a lecture delivered in 1911 by
Mr. W. Wilson, junr., chairman of the association's Hve
stock committee. Suffolk, he claimed, is, for its area, the
largest pig-breeding and pig-fattening county in England.
It cannot be called a " dairy county" ; it possesses no bacon
factory ; it is a long distance from thickly-populated
industrial centres, and yet it has become so much the fashion
to keep pigs in Suffolk that Mr. Wilson says "it is no
uncommon thing to find as many as 500 pigs on one farm."
The combination of a large industry and a small local demand
has nevertheless led to the question of outlets becoming one
of vital importance.
Prior to the formation, in 1904, of the Eastern Counties
Farmers' Co-operative Association, the general practice was
to send the pigs to (i) local auction sales ; (2) Birmingham
salesmen ; or (3) private customers ; but there were dis-
advantages in each of these methods, and the final outcome
of a resort to any one of them was too often the making of
very poor prices. In regard to the local auction sales this
result was especially attributed to the existence of strong
rings " among the dealers.
The association considered the matter, decided against
the setting up of a bacon factory, and eventually adopted
a scheme which is thus described in the A. O. S. report for
the eighteen months ended June 30th, 1906 : —
A pig expert is employed who is paid a fixed salary and a
commission on every pig dealt with by the society. The expert,
who is in touch with all the markets throughout the country.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 199
attends members* farms and advises as to whether the pigs
inspected should be sent to the West of England, Birmingham,
Sheffield, or other distant markets, or should be marketed
locally. The pigs are forwarded to the selected market in the
name of the association, or, if the member prefers to sell them
locally, the expert attends the market and sees that they realise
their proper value. If they fail to do so they are bought in.
An immediate success was secured by this scheme. In
the first eight months of its operation pigs to the value of
£17,352 were sold, and the association's report for 1905
said : — " This new departure has no doubt greatly, if not
entirely, neutralised the effect of the ' ring ' operations
which have been carried on so frequently in the past, to the
detriment of sellers."
So well, too, has the initial success been followed up that
in 19 1 1 the number of pigs sold by the association was
21,154, of a total value of £85,925.
The Winchcombe (Gloucestershire) Co-operative Auction
Mart, Limited, established in 1904, began business in 1905
with an auction market which became at once " a complete
and striking success,'* and has maintained its position ever
since. It holds 15 sales in the year, and in 1910 it disposed
of 6,325 cattle, sheep, pigs and calves.
At Winchester (Hampshire) a movement for the co-
operative sale of live stock was set on foot in 1906. The
Winchester Agricultural Trading Society, having such sale
as its main object, was formed, and began operations early
in 1907. It held weekly sales by auction of all kinds of fat
stock in the Southampton market, as well as sales of sheep
and lambs at Overton and Alresford fairs, and special spring
and autumn sales of store stock at Winchester. The new
system was found advantageous alike to sellers and buyers,
and the business done steadily advanced, the turnover in
1910 being £46,762. The stock sold in that year comprised
802 beasts, 1,710 sheep, 716 calves and 86 pigs. In 1909 the
name of the society was changed to '' The Southern Counties
Agricultural Trading Society, Limited."
Other societies have also undertaken co-operative sale of
live stock.
200 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The results thus far accomplished in the co-operative sales
of live-stock may be looked upon as encouraging ; yet when
one considers the large proportions and the substantial value
of the live stock sold off the farms of Great Britain, as
shown by the figures given on page 6 1, it is obvious that in
this particular department co-operative effort is still merely
at the beginning of things.
E.— SALE OF GRAIN, HAY, SEEDS, ETC.
A number of the afhUated societies have done useful
work for their members by undertaking for them the sale
of their grain, hay, seeds, etc.
The Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-operative Association,
to whose sales of members' pigs reference has already been
made, undertook, in 1905, to dispose of its members'
clover, trefoil, trifolium and other seeds of the same class,
disposing of them on Mark Lane or to wholesale seed
merchants, and securing prices 5s. or 6s. per bushel in
advance of those which the members would have secured
locally. A cargo of beans sent by sea to a firm in the North
of England realised 2s. per quarter above the local market
prices. Wheat, barley, oats, and straw were also sold for
members by the Association, which, in its report for 1905,
said : —
In this branch, although of course there are exceptions,
members have, as a rule, obtained very great advantage indeed,
and instances can be adduced where clear gains, up to as much
as £10, have accrued to members who have placed their seeds
with the Association for disposal.
The example set by the Eastern Counties Association was
followed in 1907 by the Southern Counties Agricultural
Trading Society, which sent a representative to Mark Lane
to sell corn by sample for its members.
In 1908 there was a steady development of co-operative
sale of the commodities mentioned, the other societies taking
it in hand, in addition to those mentioned, including the
Midland Farmers' Co-operative Association, the Newport
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 201
(Salop) Agricultural Co-operative Trading Society and
the East Sussex Farmers' Co-operative Society. The
Midland Farmers' Co-operative Association published the
following in its monthly price list : —
We are prepared to sell members' corn for them at a com-
mission of 3^. per quarter. Send on your samples to the manager,
with particulars as to the quantities and stations you can deliver
at. You may put on a Hmit to the price you wish him to make,
or leave it to his discretion.
The Newport Society reported that it had done a large
business in the sale of grain for members, and that the best
prices had been obtained for barley, wheat, oats, etc. On
the sales of barley the society had been able to obtain
from 2s. to 3s. a quarter more than the members themselves
would have got.
In 1909 there was a further steady increase in the number
of societies selling grain, hay, seeds, etc., for their members.
The A. O. S. report for that year said : —
The first step to starting this business is the appointment
of a manager who can devote his whole time to the work of the
society, and it is the general experience that when a society
appoints an expert manager it is not long before it begins to sell
produce as well as to supply requirements.
The manager of the corn, coal and feeding stuffs
department of the Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-operative
Association gave, in 1909, the following examples of the
advantages gained by members selling through that
department : —
A member of our society brought us a sample of blue peas,
for which he asked 30s. per coomb. We informed him that he
was not asking full value, and gave him 33s. per coomb. He
informed us that a local man had bid him 28s., at the same
time stating that he was offering more than the market value.
At Ipswich market, a certain merchant bought sixteen bushels
of seed from a farmer at 20s. per bushel. We heard of this,
and to find out if the merchant knew the value of the stuff,
we bid him 30s. per bushel. This he would not accept. Had
the farmer been a member of our Association, and brought
the seed direct to us, we should have had no hesitation in giving
him 35s. per bushel.
202 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
In this same year the manager of the East Sussex Farmers'
Co-operative Society made an arrangement with a merchant
to purchase the members' hay on favourable terms, the
annual report of the A. O. S. saying in regard thereto : —
On being notified by the manager that a member has hay to
sell, the merchant will send a representative to view it, and will
give full market price for it, besides allowing the society a small
commission on the transaction.
It is very difficult for a farmer who only sells his hay or grain
once a year to deal on equal terms with a merchant who is
constantly buying and selling, and it is an immense advantage
to be able to sell through a society which has the same knowledge
of the market as a merchant, and will place that knowledge at
its members' disposal.
A still further increase in the number of societies selling
for their members the commodities mentioned was reported
in 1910. " The advantages," remarked the A. O. S.
report for the year, " of being able to get in touch with
sound firms who are prepared to give the full market value
for produce have enabled the societies to assist their members
to an extent not hitherto possible." The business done
by the Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-operative Association
in the sale of members' produce has undergone steady
expansion and has now assumed considerable proportions,
additional accommodation having had to be provided
for dealing with seeds.
F.— ORGANISATION OF THE WOOL INDUSTRY.
The imports of sheep's or lamb's wool into the United
Kingdom in 191 1 amounted in value to over £33,000,000,
those from Australasia alone being calculated at close on
£22,000,000. The number of sheep in various large pro-
ducing countries of the world in the years stated was as
follows : —
Country. Year. Number of Sheep.
Australia 1910 91,676,231
New Zealand 1910 24,269,620
Argentina 1908 67,212,000
United Kingdom . . . . 1910 3i»i84,587
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 203
These figures show the relative importance of the home
grown wool to the foreign wool. English farmers undoubtedly
have to face severe competition in the wool supplies from
abroad, yet they should still be able to maintain a fair
position for their own wool — if properly marketed. It is
here, however, that the difficulty arises, and, inasmuch as
the English wool is too often not properly marketed, our
farmers are at a double disadvantage.
Wool from abroad is carefully graded into different classes,
packed in bales, each bale containing a recognisable class
of wool, and sent in large consignments to the London
market, where buyers from all parts of the world bid against
one another for it ; whereas the English wool is not graded,
or very imperfectly so, is packed in bulky sheets, is sold in
small or comparatively small lots either through local
brokers or at local auction fairs, fetches a lower price
because the dealer has to buy all sorts together, and in
many cases passes through several hands before reaching
the woollen manufacturers, intermediate profits being thus
made which ought to go into the pockets of the sheep
farmers themselves.
Individually the farmers might not be able to alter
conditions which are so much to their disadvantage ; but
the opinion is entertained that, by a resort to combination
on co-operative lines, and by improving the conditions
under which their wool is offered to the buyers, they would
be in a better position to compete on the London market
with wool from abroad, or, alternatively, should be able to
get better prices when selling their wool, for home use, on
other English markets.
In January, 1912, a conference of those interested in the
wool-growing industry was held at the offices of the Society
to consider the whole question, and a resolution was passed
to the effect that the advantages to be obtained by the sheep
farmers of England and Wales from a scheme of organisation
of the wool industry on co-operative lines appeared to be
very great, and that it was, therefore, desirable that action
should be taken in the matter.
204 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
G.— ORGANISATION OF THE HOP INDUSTRY.
The hop industry is one that offers considerable scope for
co-operative effort, though the general position is one of
great complexity, and any efforts that are made to deal with
it on lines that would be really effective must needs be
attended by considerable difficulty.
Under existing conditions hops are, as a rule, handled by
four groups of persons in their passing from the hop fields
to the brewer's tun — (i) the actual grower ; (2) the factor,
otherwise the grower's agent ; (3) the hop merchant who
buys from the factor, and (4) the brewer who buys from the
hop merchant. There are thus at least two intermediate
profits made by traders whose main purpose, it would seem,
is to act as middlemen in passing the hops on to the brewer.
The rates of commission charged are various, but they are
regarded by the growers as unduly high for the services
rendered. In Herefordshire the dif erence between what the
grower receives and what the brewer pays is said to be
generally about 15 per cent.
Years ago the hop merchants bought up practically the
whole crop by the end of the year, if not by the end of
November, only determined holders keeping their production
on hand after that period. In this way the merchant served
a really useful purpose towards the grower, who received the
money for one crop before he required to start on the raising
of another.
More recently the merchants have adopted the practice of
making smaller purchases at intervals all the year round, on
a " hand-to-mouth " principle. It is even alleged that some
of them do not really deal in hops, but merely buy, on com-
mission, such supplies as may be asked for from them by the
brewers to meet immediate requirements.
As the result of this change of practice on the part of the
merchants, the grower's capital is locked up, and he may find
it necessary to make constant efforts to sell in the autumn —
thus helping to bring about a fall in prices — after he has
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 205
already had to depend on the obtaining of advances on his
growing crop.
In no other branch of farming does the practice of
advances, both on the growing crop and on the crop itself
after it has been harvested, prevail to the same extent as is
the case in the hop industry. A grower may get as many
as three separate advances before he finally sells his crop —
(i) in June or July, when he wants money to meet the cost
of washing the plants ; (2) at picking time, to pay the
pickers (whose wages are one of the heaviest items in the
cost of hop growing) ; and (3) when the produce has been
lodged in the factor's warehouse. The seeking of these
advances has become a regular practice in the hop industry.
They are obtained from the factor, who, incidentally,
strengthens his hold over the grower thereby, and, in these
circumstances, controls the situation. He does so, too, the
more completely because in accordance with his business
policy he rarely allows the grower to know the name of the
merchant to whom he passes on the hops he handles.
It is, again, an established practice for hop growers not to
pay until the end of the year for their manures and other
necessaries, and, in the circumstances, it may be assumed
that they pay much higher prices than would be the case if
they were to purchase through an agricultural co-operative
trading society.
As the final outcome of these various conditions the hop
growers do not get as much as they ought, and the brewers
pay more than they should, while the industry itself is
described by a leading authority as " always in a thoroughly
demoralised state from top to bottom.'*
The problem that arises resolves itself into the question as
to the possibiHty or otherwise of the growers adopting some
method of co-operation by means of which they would be
brought into closer touch with the brewers, the intermediate
profits thus being saved, or reduced, to the advantage of
both. This consideration should appeal to the brewers
no less than to the growers, considering that the financial
position of the former has been so greatly afiected by recent
2o6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
increases in taxation and licence duties. In the 191 1 season
a leading brewery company did buy direct from the growers.
Could this procedure be expanded by organisation into a
recognised system ?
It has been suggested that the growers should form
societies which would set up co-operative hop exchanges where
the hops would be stored until they could be disposed of at
satisfactory prices. By means of such combination, also, it
is thought the growers would be able to transact business on
a sufficiently large scale to attract the ultimate buyer
without the intervention of middlemen.
The provision of these exchanges, with the requisite cold
storage in order to keep the hops in good condition, would,
however, be a costly undertaking, and probably beyond the
means of growers who already depend on advances to pay
the cost even of raising their crops, though expenditure on
this account might be avoided to a certain extent by making
use of existing hop warehouses.
Assuming that the society could overcome the difficulty
in regard to the stores, there would still be left the further
serious question in regard to credit.
With combination and, also, with direct dealings between
the growers and the brewers, there should be a greater possi-
bility of disposing of the crop in good time, and in this case
the need for credit would be lessened ; but the view is enter-
tained that credit could not be dispensed with altogether.
There would still be growers of various types who could not
do without advances.
Would a co-operative society be able to control the large
amount of capital, and, also, secure the extremely able and
careful management, needed to enable it to face the risk of
advances on growing crops in so notoriously hazardous a
business as hop production ? True it is that the factors are
prepared to face the risk, and if they do there may seem to
be no reason why a co-operative society should not ; yet
though, in a general way, the risk may be small, there is
always the possibility of heavy losses, as, for instance, from
the appearance in the hop plants, at the last moment, of
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 207
"mould" or "red spider"; and it would be a question
whether such losses could be met by a co-operative society
of only limited resources.
H.— CO-OPERATIVE BACON FACTORIES.
The oft-repeated enquiry, " Why cannot we grow, or
produce, these things ourselves ? " would seem to be
especially applicable in the case of bacon, in regard to which
there are no considerations as to " vast expanses of virgin
soils in new countries," " cheapness of ocean transport,"
" difference in seasons," and so on, to account for the
magnitude of our imports ; and how great in extent the
imports of bacon into the United Kingdom really are is
shown by the following figures for the year 191 1 : —
Bacon Imports from Value.
I
Denmark . . . . . . . . . . 6,690,937
United States of America . . . . . . 5,067,533
Canada . . . . . . . . . . 1,793,946
Other countries . . . . . . . . 910,998
Total. . . . . . . . 14,463,414
The problem is an extremely difficult one to solve, and
presents considerations which would probably not occur
to individuals who, being unacquainted with the facts of
the situation, might think that more might, and should,
already have been done in the direction stated.
One important matter of detail, for instance, is that to
conduct a co-operative bacon factory successfully it is
necessary to have always a regular and adequate supply of
pigs ; though a no less important matter of detail, and one
upon which great stress is laid, is that the pigs suppHed
should be of the right quality, since unless this condition
also be fulfilled, failure might still result, whatever the
proportions of the supply.
The definite minimum with which a factory can deal and
continue to be financially successful has not yet been
established ; but it is quite certain that the working expenses
2o8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
are not increased proportionately to the niunber of pigs
handled. From experience is seems to be tolerably certain
that the working expenses in dealing with 500 per week,
while greater, are stiU comparable with the expenses when
only 100 pass through the factory weekly, though in the
latter case the initial cost of construction and equipment
would be considerably less, yet even then not propor-
tionately so. Judging from the co-operative factories
established in other countries and from private concerns
in our own, it seems that a weekly supply of from 300 to 500
pigs is necessary, the latter figure being the more desirable.
The smaller of these quantities represents a supply of over
1,500 per annum, a number sufficiently large to be secured
only with some difhculty even in those districts which are
noted for their output of pigs of the right size and quahty,
suitable for manufacture into high quality bacon.
Hence, to begin with, a co-operative factory would have
to be located in a district where an adequate supply of pigs
would be available. Even then, however, there would require
to be a guarantee of absolute loyalty on the part of the
members towards their society, owing to the danger that they
might yield to the temptation of private bacon factories,
and accept higher prices offered with the design of with-
drawing supplies from the co-operative factory, though such
prices would, of course, only be given until the new factory
had collapsed.
In Denmark, where co-operative bacon factories have been
highly successful, the difficulty here in question is met by
the members of a society voluntarily binding themselves,
under a penalty, to send all their pigs to the co-operative
bacon factories. It is feared, however, that in England,
where the co-operative idea is not yet so fully established as
in Denmark, there would be great difficulty in securing
acceptance of the principle of such a penalty as this.
Another no less important matter of detail is that for
the starting of a co-operative bacon factory on a sufficiently
large scale capital to the extent of from £15,000 to ;£20,ooo
would be necessary. Building and equipment would alone
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 209
cost about £7,000. This capital should also be supplied,
in the main, by the farmers themselves in order that they
might have a sufficient financial interest in the concern to
ensure their being loyal thereto.
Other conditions essential to success are, that the factory
should be within sufficiently easy reach of a large industrial
centre to allow of a ready sale for offal and by-products ;
that the manager should be thoroughly conversant with all
branches of the trade, and should understand the best and
most remunerative methods of dealing with the by-products
of the pig ; and that the directors should be alike capable
business men and farmers having a good knowledge of the
pig trade.
At Roscrea, Tipper ary, Ireland, a co-operative bacon
factory was started in 1909, as a society under the
provisions of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act,
1893. It has a subscribed capital of £15,000 and some
2,800 members, mostly farmers, there being thus a widespread
interest in the undertaking and especially among those who
are looked to for the necessary supplies. The members of
the Roscrea society, Hke those of the Danish bacon factory
societies, agree, under a penalty, to send to the factory all
the pigs they may raise which are of bacon weights. There
are, also, about 50 private bacon factories in various parts
of the United Kingdom. As regards co-operative bacon
factories in England and Wales, one is now being put up at
Hitchin, Hertfordshire, under a scheme in which Lord Lucas
is interested. The West Sussex branch of the Farmers'
Union has decided to adopt a scheme on co-operative lines,
and has appealed for guidance to the A. O. S., which is
drawing up rules with a view to the early registration of a
co-operative bacon-curing factory. The subject is also
under consideration in other districts.
Bacon Imports.
It is a matter for consideration whether the time
has not come for the making of more vigorous efforts to
promote bacon production at home.
A.o. p
210
AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The total supplies from abroad, and more especially those
from certain countries, have been steadily diminishing of
late years, and retail prices have risen so much that bacon
is likely to become a luxury for the well-to-do rather than
remain a favourite item in the popular dietary.
In the matter of bacon imports the significance of the
figures in the following table will be readily appreciated : —
From
1906.
1907.
1908.
1909.
I9I0.
I9II.
Denmark
U.S.A. . .
Canada .
Other
countries
cwts.
1,463,880
2,775.919
1,190,524
112,299
cwts.
1,806,934
2,280,644
1,192,401
85,626
cwts.
2,051,148
2,541.945
1,004,126
88,523
cwts.
1,809,745
2,189,053
443.386
183,279
cwts.
1. 794.416
1,306,921
411.935
350,117
cwts.
2,122,087
I.8I7.835
615,807
313.009
Total ..
5,542,622
5.365.605
5,685,742
4,625,463
3.863,389
4,868,738
Comparing 1906 with 191 1 it will be seen that in the last-
mentioned year there was a decline of 958,084 cwts. in the
importations from the United States, and one of 574,718
cwts. in those from Canada, — a total of 1,532,802 cwts.,
mainly due to the fact that the increasing consumption in
those countries is leaving only a steadily diminishing
quantity available for export. It is true that we are
importing more from Denmark and from " other countries,"
but the net result shows a decline in the total imports in
1911, as compared with 1906, of 673,884 cwts.
It must, of course, be remembered that what is known as
" swine husbandry " is, to a large extent, an adjunct of the
dairy industry, bacon production in Denmark, Canada and
Ireland being mainly dependent on the feeding of the pigs
on separated milk from the butter factories or otherwise.
In England there are only comparatively small quan-
tities of separated milk because the farmers gain more by
sending their whole milk to the towns instead of making
butter.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 211
Danish Bacon Factories.
It is further to be borne in mind — should the starting of
more of these factories be taken in hand — ^that in Denmark,
as told by Mr. Loudon M. Douglas in his pamphlet on " Co-
operative Bacon Curing," the breeding of swine is looked
upon as so important a feature of farming that the swine
husbandry of the country is directed by a special State
adviser, who has a staff of seven assistants. This, says
Mr. Douglas, is undoubtedly the reason why the pigs of
Denmark have reached such perfection ; and he proceeds : —
To begin with, the native pig was wholly unsuited for bacon
purposes, and various foreign breeds were introduced, notably
the Yorkshire breed from England. Under the skilled guidance
of State officials, a new race of swine was produced, and is
universal throughout the country, under the title of the Land
Race, from which the bacon is now derived. Another great
feature of swine husbandry in Denmark is the existence of breed-
ing centres, which have been known since 1893. These breeding
centres are meant to control the whole business of swine husbandry
throughout the country, and they receive a substantial subsidy
from the Government to enable them to carry on their work,
which they do under the following rules : —
1. The hogs in the breeding centres must be either of the pure
Danish or of the pure Yorkshire breed.
2. The breeding centre must be under the control of a com-
mittee appointed by the local agricultural society.
3. The breeding centre must consist of not less than one
selected boar and three selected sows.
4. The directorate of the local agricultural society, or a com-
mittee appointed by the local agricultural society, select the
hogs, which must be approved by the district committee.
5. The owners must see that the breeding animals and their
offspring are marked.
6. The owner of the breeding centre must keep a record of
pedigrees and sales. The record must be approved by the
district committee.
In this way the best type of bacon pigs are produced, and the
whole farming community benefits accordingly ; but co-operation
is applied to this industry in other ways besides the organisation
of individual factories. The various factories co-operate together
to give each other mutual help and advice, and in the disposal of
the products in the United Kingdom there is also co-operation,
so that the expenses of distribution are reduced to a minimum,
the net result being that the bacon industry of Denmark is the
most prosperous development of its agriculture.
P 2
212 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
The Problem for Co-operators.
While the opportunities for an increased production of
bacon appear to be so great, the aforesaid risks and
difficulties in the setting up of co-operative bacon factories
in the United Kingdom have led to the question being
raised as to whether agricultural co-operative societies
should not, preferably, content themselves with ensuring to
their members greater opportunities for the remunerative
sale of live pigs. What has been done in this direction by
the Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-operative Association,
Ltd., is told in the section dealing with the co-operative sale
of live stock ; and in some quarters where the subject is
being very closely considered there is a strong impression
that the Eastern Counties farmers have done better by
selling their live pigs co-operatively than they probably
would if they had started bacon factories on their own
account. In any case it is thought desirable that the
question should be looked at closely from the dual stand-
point here suggested.
I.-~GRIST MILLING.
As a means of obtaining, for their live stock, feeding stuffs
of assured quality at moderate prices, a number of societies
have resorted to co-operative milling, either taking over
one of the existing mills, disused or otherwise, to be found
in many different parts of the country, or else setting
up an entirely new milling plant.
In some instances members send their own barley to the
co-operative mill, and have it ground there, with an assurance
that they will get their own barley back again after it has
been ground at a lower rate than an ordinary miller would
charge. In other instances the society itself procures the
grain, prepares the meal, and sells to its members. In most
cases the co-operative milling is carried on as an addition to
the special purposes for which the societies have been formed
— sale of agricultural necessaries or eggs and poultry, or so
on — and they find the milhng a useful adjunct to their
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 213
other activities. The Sherston (Wiltshire) Co-operative
MiUing Society devotes itself exclusively to milling. The
members, all of whom are pig-feeders, have taken over a mill
previously operated by a private owner. It is worked by
water power, but there are times when this is inadequate
owing to the lowness of the water in the stream from which
the water supply comes. To remedy this defect, the society
has put in a gas engine which allows of the mill being worked
when it would otherwise have to stop. The society has
fattened pigs on its own account as a means of utilising any
surplus meal after supplying the want of purchasers.
The Harwarden (Cheshire) and District Co-operative
Farmers Society took over, in June, 1910, a mill that was
erected as long ago as 1750. It is one of the usual type of
old country mills, having two pairs of stones, worked by an
overshot wheel, and is in good working order still. The
society has found in the grinding of maize, oats and barley
for its members a good source of revenue.
As against this example might be put that of the Milton
(Cambridgeshire) and District Small Holders Co-operative
Society which, established in 1911, has set up, at a cost of
about £100, a modern milling plant which is operated by an
oil engine and combines simplicity in working with a low
cost of running. The mill is useful for the crushing of oats
as well as for grinding, and the members not only get good
feeding stuffs for their live stock but divide a balance of
profits at the end of the year.
The Eastern Counties Farmers Co-operative Association
has for several years had a mill which turns out large
quantities of pig feed, etc., the mill often being at work
both night and day.
The Preston and District Farmers Trading Society has a
mill which is operated by electricity, the premises being also
fitted with electric lighting. The society has already a
branch mill, in addition, and contemplates taking over still
another.
In June, 1912, the Whiteparish (Wiltshire) and District
Agricultural Trading Society, Ltd., an offshoot of the Southern
214 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Branch of the Agricultural Organisation Society, and only
formed in October, 191 1, opened a grinding and crushing
mill which is to be operated on co-operative lines and is
fitted up with machinery equal to meeting a large demand.
The necessary capital was advanced to the society by its
chairman, Mr. W. T. Spark, on terms advantageous to the
co-operators, who hope to pay off the purchase-money in a
few years and so have the mill as their own, while in the
meantime they will get their milling done at lower terms
and participate in the profits made.
There is scope for much more to be done in one or other
of these various directions. A revival of milling in English
villages would mean the revival of a decayed industry for
which there is still much scope alike in the direct advantages
offered to farmers or small holders and in the provision of
another means of rural employment. It has been found
that within the area of the Southern Branch of the A. 0. S.
there are about 250 water mills, namely, in Wiltshire 145,
Hampshire 50, and Dorsetshire 55 ; and these figures
suggest a considerable range of opportunities in the country
in general of which agricultural co-operative societies,
whether specially formed for the purpose or otherwise,
might take advantage.
K.— CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT.
By agricultural co-operative credit is to be understood a
system of credit which assists persons already in occupation
of land to cultivate it efficiently, or otherwise to command
capital designed to meet exclusively reproductive purposes.
Agricultural credit societies, though often confused with
them, thus differ essentially from " land banks " designed
to assist persons in acquiring the ownership of land. To
the former object the Agricultural Organisation Society
has paid much attention ; the latter is one that does
not come within the scheme of its own particular opera-
tions.
As regards agricultural co-operative credit proper, what
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 215
has thus far been done by the Society has led to a laying of
the foundations, rather than to the actual creation, of an
adequate system in England and Wales.
Whilst the results attained may have fallen below anticipa-
tions, it has to be remembered that in Germany it took about
twenty years to form the first credit societies, and that in
various other countries the advance made at the outset was
so slow that the pioneer efforts here do not compare at all
unfavourably with theirs, allowing for a corresponding
period of time. Then there are the further facts (i) that
exceptional circumstances in England and Wales have
retarded the expansion of the Raiffeisen system here as
compared with the present-day proportions thereof in
Continental countries and in Ireland ; (2) that even in those
countries the advance of the system was due to special
causes ; and (3) that developments are now taking place
which should lead to a greater rate of progress being made
in England in the early future.
In order that the whole situation may be clearly under-
stood, it is desirable that an outline of the various stages in
the policy adopted by the A. O. S. in respect to agricultural
co-operative credit should be given.
The first step taken was in the effecting of an amalgama-
tion, in 1904, with the Co-operative Banks Association,
several agricultural credit societies which had then already
been established by the latter body thus becoming affiliated
to the former.
Efforts were made by the A. O. S. to increase the number
of these societies through its propaganda work ; but one of
the greatest difficulties lay in the direction of raising the
necessary capital. There had been an expectation that
much of this capital would be provided by means of deposits
through the utilisation of the credit societies as savings
banks, savings already gained through production being thus
used over again for production ; but the practical difficulty
arose that money on deposit, and subject to repayment on
demand or at short notice, could not well be advanced by a
society of limited means to borrowers who might not be able
2i6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
to repay before the completion of the agricultural operations
for which they obtained their loans.
Central Co-operative Agricultural Bank.
It was sought to overcome this difficulty by forming a
Central Co-operative Agricultural Bank, a number of gentle-
men interested in the movement having undertaken to
subscribe the necessary initial capital. Such bank was
registered late in 1906 under the title of the Central Co-
operative Agricultural Bank, Ltd,, though business was not
commenced until September, 1907. The special purpose of
the Central Bank was to make advances to agricultural
credit societies, and a number of new societies of this type
were started. In 1908 the annual meeting of the A. O. S.
passed a resolution in favour of the Central Bank making
advances also to co-operative societies of other kinds, and
in 1909 a scheme for extending the business of the bank on
these lines was adopted by the directors.
It was proposed, under such scheme, to raise the necessary
working capital by {a) the issue of shares ; (b) guarantees,
and (c) the receiving of deposits from societies having
surplus funds or, alternatively, the obtaining of loans from
joint stock banks under conditions more favourable than
those which local societies could command when acting
separately. It was further hoped to make advances, not
only to local affihated credit societies (though not direct to
individual borrowers), but to local agricultural co-operative
societies which might need funds for —
1. The erection, for trade purposes, of such buildings as
dairy factories or sheds for the storage of feeding-stuffs and other
agricultural requirements.
2. The holding of large stocks, societies finding, in many
circumstances, that it is impossible to develop any considerable
business when they buy only against orders.
3. The appointment of expert managers.
4. The purchase of expensive implements for hiring to
members.
5. Organisation of the sale of produce on such lines, apart
from cost of depots, as will enable a society to pay for the produce
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 217
on receipt, and thus compete with the higglers and others who
pay cash down.
6. Purchase of pedigree animals for the improvement of
members' live stock.
If such a programme as this could have been fully carried
out, the powers of usefulness of the Central Bank would have
been greatly increased, and a very considerable impetus given
to the movement generally by the inclusion therein of a much
wider range of agricultural interests than could otherwise
be embraced.
It was felt, however, that the Central Bank would require
to have a credit of at least £25,000, and the hope was enter-
tained that the Treasury would be willing to help by giving it
a guarantee to that amount.
Difficulties and Hindrances.
Apart from these questions of finance, there were
hindrances in other directions to the rapid advance of the
co-operative credit movement.
Social and economic conditions among the agricultural
classes in England and Wales are somewhat different from
those of the corresponding classes in most of the countries
where Raiffeisen banks have developed into a great institu-
tion.
Those banks have their best chance of success in countries
or in localities where the people are all, or mainly, on an
approximately equal footing ; but in England there is a
much greater variety in the social standing of agriculturists
in general than is the case in the other countries in question,
while in England, also, the average small farmer would be as
little disposed to join with the agricultural labourer in the
unhmited liability of a Raiffeisen bank as the large farmer,
in turn, would be to join in with the small farmer. Raiffeisen
banks in England are thus most likely to succeed when they
can be estabhshed among colonies of small holders on a
footing of social equality with one another, and having wants
in common which call for collective action, though it must
2i8 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
be distinctly borne in mind that Raiffeisen banks are not
established with any idea of making a profit.
Economically, although there is much scope for the
agricultural credit system in England and Wales, the actual
need for it may not be so great as it is in, say, Germany,
India, or Ireland, owing, partly to the better financial
position here, class for class, of those concerned, and partly
to our own more highly developed joint stock banking
system. Experience shows that Raiffeisen banks are
generally developed according to the urgency of national
requirements, and this urgency may especially depend on,
among other factors, the extent to which those it is hoped to
benefit may already be in the clutches of usurers.
Supplementing these social and economic considerations
comes that innate conservatism of the British agriculturist
which makes him reluctant to adopt new ideas of any kind,
and more especially so in regard to an innovation which
involves, not only the borrowing of money — a procedure
which many of his class seem to regard as in itself a moral
iniquity — but going before his neighbours, explaining to
them his needs, and putting himself under an obligation
to them for an advance they are to make to him at their
joint and individual risk. He has still to be convinced that
growing produce or raising stock for sale is a business, and
that, under present day conditions, all business enterprises
are run on credit.
Societies Formed.
The number of agricultural credit societies affiliated to
the A. O. S. is forty-one, while the amount of business done
is not large. Returns in respect to thirty-one societies,
summarised in a leaflet (No. 260) issued by the Board of
Agriculture, show that at the end of 1910 they had 663
members, an average of twenty-one per society ; that during
the year they advanced 119 loans to their members, so that
less than one in five of the members took out a loan during
the year ; that the loans aggregated £1,390 and averaged
£12 per loan, with a range of from £3 to £40 in individual
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 219
cases ; and that the net profit of the thirty-one societies
on the year's working was £15. Some of the societies are
doing very well, and this is especially the case with those at
Scawby and Friskney, Lincolnshire ; Wiggenhall and
Whissonsett, Norfolk ; Coggleshall and Tiptree, Essex ;
and Hedge End, Hampshire ; but others are doing very
little, and still others are on the point of being wound up.
Benefits of the System.
Whilst it is perfectly true that the actual need for special
credit and banking facihties for the agriculturist is not so
great in England as in various other countries, it is great
enough both to justify all that it has been sought to do and
to call for still further action.
Growers who have inherited and still cherish the prejudices
of their forefathers against raising a loan for carrying on
their business of agriculture have no hesitation in depending
on long credit obtained from some dealer or trader ; though
in the result they may pay heavily for the favour, finding
themselves bound to purchase from the dealer or trader all
their requirements, of such quality as it suits him to supply,
and at such prices as he may please to ask ; or they may,
alternatively — if not in addition — be under an obligation
to let him have their produce, when it is ready, on practically
his own terms.
In such cases as these an agricultural credit society would,
among other things, restore the grower to independence of
the credit-giving but much-exacting dealer, and, while
providing him with the means to conduct his business on a
business footing, leave him free to buy and sell under the
most favourable conditions. Although, too, the extent of
the operations carried on may appear small, the reports made
by the societies show that much benefit has been conferred
by them on many a small grower by supplying him with a
modest sum which, though insignificant from the point of
view of London financiers, may have helped him to raise
stock or to cultivate his holding with a success he might
otherwise have hoped for in vain.
220 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Typical Societies.
A few typical examples will show more clearly the lines
on which the societies operate.
The Scawby society is the oldest of the agricultural
co-operative credit societies now in England. Scawby is
a rural parish in Lincolnshire, two miles from the market
town of Brigg, has a population of about i,ooo, and an acreage
under crops and grass of 2,825 acres. The land is held
in 39 holdings, of which 26 are under 50 acres each. The
society was formed as the final outcome of a public meeting
held on July 3rd, 1894, under the chairmanship of the
principal landowner of the parish, and addressed by the
secretary of the Agricultural Banks Association, but was
not registered, under the Friendly Societies Act, until
November ist, 1895.
The object of the society, as stated in the rules, is to
create funds to be lent out to its members ; but every loan
must be one that, in the opinion of the society, offers a
sufficient prospect of repaying itself by the production,
business or economy which it will enable the borrower to
effect. No part of the funds can be divided by way of
profit, bonus, dividend or otherwise among the members.
Any surplus accruing to the society after payment of the
costs of management must be carried to a reserve fund
which by vote of the general meeting of the members can
be drawn upon to meet exceptional losses. Only persons
(male or female) owning or occupying land or residing in
the parish of Scawby or its immediate neighbourhood can
become members, and applicants must be approved by the
committee. Each member has only one vote, and all are
liable to an equal levy in the event of funds being required
to make up any deficiency in the working of the society ;
in other words, all the members are equally, jointly and
severally liable for any debts incurred by the society, and
no limit is fixed for their liability. There are no shares,
and neither is there any share capital. The affairs of the
society are conducted by the chairman, a committee of six,
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 221
(elected annually by ballot at the general meeting), and an
honorary secretary and treasurer, this particular post
having been filled from the outset by the rate collector
of the parish.
With an initial membership of nine, (increased by the
end of 1910 to 32), the society started by opening an account
with the local branch of a joint stock bank, the chairman,
in his own name and that of the society, giving a guarantee
to the extent of £100 for sums due to the bank. At one
time the overdraft amounted to £94, but subsequently,
with the growth of deposits, the society has generally had
a balance to its credit. The bank charges 5 per cent, on
overdrafts and allows 2 per cent, on current account credit
balances. The society pays 3 per cent, on deposits, and these
amounted, at the end of 1910, to £186. Deposits are to
be left with the society for not less than three months,
and one month's notice must be given of withdrawal.
The chief purpose of the society is to make loans to its
members for profitable purposes at a low rate of interest.
In the total of 32 members at the end of 1910 there were
included eleven small farmers, three market gardeners,
three blacksmiths, two carpenters, two labourers, a butcher,
a horse-dealer, a carter, a woodman, a miner, and a foreman,
most of whom, in addition to their main occupations,
cultivate small holdings or allotments. The first loan
granted was one of £30 to a small holder to enable him to
buy some lambs, the amount to be repaid in eight months.
In the first year two loans were made, in the second only
one, and in the third two, but in 1910 six were made,
aggregating £175. In sixteen years the society advanced
to its members yS loans aggregating £2,300, and ranging from
£5 to the maximum of £50, with an average of nearly £30.
At first the society charged 5 per cent, per annum on loans ;
it soon raised the rate to 6 per cent, in order to build up a
reserve fund, and on attaining this object it put back the
rate to 5 per cent, again. Loans are granted mainly for the
purchase of cows, sheep, lambs, pigs, or seeds, or to enable
a borrower to hold over stock or corn for better prices. On
222 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
three occasions sureties have been called on to make good
part of a loan ; but the society itself has made no bad debts
and has incurred no loss. " Several of the members," as told
in Leaflet No. 261 of the Board of Agriculture, from which
these details are taken, " say the existence of the society
has enabled them to undertake profitable transactions with
sums borrowed from the society which they could not have
obtained elsewhere, and one family, at least, has, by its
own thrift and industry, risen from the position of day-
labourers to that of substantial small farmers."
The Wiggenhall (Norfolk) Agricultural Credit Society,
registered in 1896, was started with the help of a sum of
£70 placed in the hands of the treasurer (a representative
of a local joint stock bank) as deposits by the chairman
and two other members of the committee, and the purposes
for which loans are granted are such as purchase of live stock,
feeding stuffs, seeds, implements or manure, repairing
and working greenhouses, and hire of horse labour. The
membership at the end of 1910 was 45, and nine loans were
granted during the year, the aggregate amount advanced
being £127.
From the reports of various other societies the following
might also be given : —
MouNTSORREL CREDIT SOCIETY.— Three of the borrowers
are small holders under the County Council, which placed an
excessively high valuation on the holdings, thus absorbing
practically all the applicants' capital. The loans proved an
invaluable assistance in enabling the borrowers to properly
Stock and equip the land they had acquired. ... All the
monthly payments have been made with exemplary punctuality.
Hedge End Credit Society. — One member was able to
plant a particular field with potatoes through a loan. Many of
them could not have put labour into their holdings but for loans.
Friskney Credit Society. — We lent money in two instances
to labourers to buy seed potatoes and pigs, and also to assist
three young men to take holdings, one to buy implements,
another stock, and another to retain stock which he would
otherwise have had to mortgage.
Cradley and District Credit Society. — Our society is a
great help to its members. We have had several applications
for £50 loans, mostly for buying cattle and pigs.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 223
Increasing Need.
Then, whatever the exact proportions of the need to-day,
the planting of more small holders on the soil will increase
that need still further, while the creation of small-holder
colonies should greatly facilitate the formation of credit
banks among groups of cultivators of the same social
standing.
Nor is it the small holders alone whose wants require to be
considered. There are other growers, of the type of small
farmers, who stand in want of credit on a somewhat larger
scale, and for whom provision should no less be made, more
especially in view of the increasing difficulty they have
found of late years in dealing with the ordinary banks,
owing to the steady conversion of local private banks into
country branches of great Metropolitan banking concerns.
Altogether, the actual need for greater credit and banking
facilities for agriculturists must be regarded as much less a
question of the day than the problem as to the best way in
which those facilities can be afforded.
Attitude of Joint Stock Banks.
Further action by the Central Co-operative Agricultural
Bank has been in abeyance of late owing to (i) the limitations
of its available funds ; (2) the declared intention of the
Government to deal with the question of agricultural credit ;
and (3) the formulating by the Board of Agriculture of
certain plans which at one time made it seem possible that
a continuance of the operations of the Central Bank might
be less necessary.
These plans referred especially to the prospect of the
Board being able to arrange with leading joint stock banks,
having branches in rural districts, for the financing of
agricultural co-operative credit societies. Certain of the
banks in question have expressed their willingness to allow
the managers of their country branches to help in the forma-
tion of credit societies among small holders and allotment
224 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
holders ; to give advice to the officers on matters of book-
keeping ; to assist free of charge in the audit of the annual
returns ; and, when a society is being conducted on sound
business lines, to accept the post of unpaid treasurer. The
banks in question have also agreed to allow the societies
interest at the rate of 2 per cent, on daily credit balance
on current account, and 2 J per cent, on any reserve fund
deposit, and, further, to give favourable consideration to
applications from such societies for advances, " but without
departing from ordinary banking principles.'*
This particular condition gives rise to difficulties, since
agricultural credit banks established on the basis of
Raiffeisen unlimited liability do themselves depart from
" ordinary banking principles," while the stipulation to be
imposed would require the societies seeking advances to
give security to an extent and of a nature which would be
beyond the powers of, at least, the majority of them.
Alternatives.
One thus naturally reverts to the principle of the Central
Credit Bank and to the obviously much more practical
idea that, instead of the joint stock banks and the agricul-
tural credit societies being left to deal direct with one
another, the Central Credit Bank should act as an inter-
mediary, and itself be enabled to give to the joint stock
banks an adequate guarantee for any advances it might
arrange with them to make to the local societies. The
Central Credit Bank would thus in no way work to the
prejudice of the joint stock banks, but would, in effect,
facilitate their operations by giving them the security they
required ; while the principle of a Central Credit Bank, one
must remember, forms the basis of the system adopted in
Germany, India, and many other countries, including even
Ireland itself.
If the alternative here in question were adopted, the main
question left to be decided would be the particular form of
support which could, or should, be rendered to the Central
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 225
Credit Bank to enable it to fulfil a most useful function, for
which it would be pre-eminently suited.
Considering the wide extent of the very practical aid that
Continental Governments render to the Central Credit
Banks of their own country, it would not be unreasonable to
expect from our own Government some degree of financial
assistance to the movement here, more especially as the
amount involved would be comparatively small, while it
would be a matter, not of making an actual grant, but either
of advancing a certain sum on loan or of giving a State
credit for such sum on the guarantee of shares (unpaid),
subscribed for by responsible persons under the constitution
of the present Central Co-operative Bank. There is no
doubt that, with the desired credit of £25,000, the Central
Co-operative Credit Bank would have been able to do much
more than has, in the circumstances, been within its powers ;
and all that is now required in order that it may begin in
earnest with the carrying out of its full programme is the
control of some such amount of credit as this.
It was to a Central Credit Bank operating on the lines here
indicated that the A. O. S. looked for a solution of the
problem which has arisen ; and it entertained the view that
the Government would incur no risk in regard to the small
guarantee that would suffice to set up and maintain in
working condition agricultural credit machinery of unques-
tionable importance, not alone to agricultural organisation,
but also to the final success of the elaborate scheme of
land settlement by small holdings which it is being sought
to establish under the Small Holdings Act.
The President of the Agricultural Organisation Society
has long taken a practical interest in this question of
co-operative credit.
On the initiative of Mr. Yerburgh, the Central Chamber of
Agriculture appointed a Committee in November, 1894,
** to inquire and report how far the system of agricultural
credit banks may be extended to this country." The
Committee took the views of various authorities on the
subject and presented a report in May, 1895. Pointing to
226 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
the disadvantages of the agricultural as compared with the
mercantile and commercial classes in obtaining credit, they
said : —
There is no doubt that farmers have a difficulty in obtaining
advances, and are often forced to realise stock or produce which
they might otherwise more profitably hold.
One result of the absence of legitimate and recognised faciUties
for obtaining credit has been in many instances to drive farmers
into the hands of money-lenders of the worst type. In one
case brought before your Committee, it was stated that, during
seven months of last year, 105 bills of exchange were given by
small farmers and dairymen to a money-lending agency operating
in agricultural districts — all of them for the minimum sum of
£30 allowed by the Act. It appears that in a large majority of
instances in which loans are thus given the amount of interest
charged is 60 per cent, or more.
The Committee considered that the extent to which the
abuses of money-lending existed, especially in rural districts,
called for the serious consideration of the Legislature.
There appeared to them, however, to be difficulties insepar-
able from the conditions of farming in the way of assimilating
mercantile and agricultural systems of credit, and, though
they considered that the principle of the agricultural credit
banks advocated by the Agricultural Banks Association was
a sound one, it was important to remember, they said, that
while such banks might probably be of considerable service
to labourers, small holders and village tradesmen in strictly
limited areas and under favourable conditions, they would be
of no use to the larger tenant farmers. As for the Conti-
nental agricultural credit banks designed for the accommo-
dation of large occupiers of land, they appeared to offer
no advantages not already secured here through our highly
developed system of joint stock banking. The report
concluded : —
In view of the great difficulty attending the whole subject,
and of the alterations which would be necessary in the law before
agricultural could be assimilated to commercial credit, your
Committee regret that they are unable to make any definite
proposal which might lead to the improvement of the methods
now in operation for obtaining agricultural credit.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 227
In 1895 Mr. Yerburgh, in the House of Commons,
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, " Whether, in view
of the great benefits which have accrued to the poorer
agricultural classes of the community from the operations
on the Continent of the Raiffeisen system of co-operative
credit, as set forth in the Reports furnished to the Royal
Commission on Labour upon Germany and Italy, and of
the further fact that the Austrian Provincial Governments
have assisted in the development of the said system in
Austria, he will appoint a Commission to visit those countries
and take evidence on the subject " ; and, although it was
not considered necessary to appoint a Commission, a series
of reports on co-operative agricultural credit associations
was obtained by the Government from her Majesty's
representatives in various Continental countries, and duly
published.
Mr. Yerburgh was also the means of bringing about
the appointment, in 1897, of a Select Committee on Money
Lending, himself being appointed a member thereon ; and
in the Report ultimately presented by this Committee it
was said : —
Your Committee have received important evidence as to the
operation of co-operative banks on the Continent and in some
parts of the United Kingdom. It appears that the establishment
of such banks has been of great use in abolishing, or greatly
diminishing, the trade of lending money at exorbitant rates of
interest to the poorer classes.
Your Committee are impressed with the extreme usefulness
of these institutions, and they are of opinion that they must
meet a real want, especially in agricultural districts.
Mr. Yerburgh also induced the Small Holdings Committee
of 1905, of which he was a member, to include the following
in their Report : —
They are further of opinion that in view of the great advantage
offered to the small holders by the employment of the form of
credit known by the name of its founder, Raiffeisen, some system
should be adopted such as that advocated by the Agricultural
Organisation Society, and put forward by Mr. Sutton Nelthorpe
in his evidence, under which an advance from the Post Office
Q 2
228 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Savings Bank's deposits would be made available for the use
of village co-operative credit societies, on such approved security
as might be offered by a central co-operative agricultural credit
association.
In connection with this proposal for the utilisation of
Post Office Savings Bank deposits for the financing of
co-operative credit societies, and enabling them to make
advances for reproductive purposes, it might be mentioned
that in Belgium a law of June 21, 1894, authorised the
Savings Bank of that country to utilise part of its funds
as loans to co-operative societies of agricultural credit,
the object of this modification of the previously existing
law being — as stated by M. Mahillon, Director of the
Belgian Savings Bank, in a Manual on Credit pubhshed
by him — to favour the development in Belgium of co-
operative credit societies similar to those that had suc-
ceeded so remarkably in Germany, and had multiplied so
greatly in recent years throughout Central Europe in
general.
Further, a suggestion has been made with regard to
modifying in certain cases the principle on which, up till
now, credit societies in this country have been formed.
All the existing agricultural credit societies, registered
under the Friendly Societies Act, are based on unlimited
liability of the members. There is, however, still a certain
amount of prejudice entertained towards this principle, and
there is, besides, the need to provide for the special require-
ments of small farmers who may desire a ready means of
securing larger advances than a Raiffeisen society could
make, but who may also themselves be averse — especially
when these large advances come into question — to unlimited
liability.
These difficulties, it has been thought, would be overcome
if the rules applying to co-operative credit societies were so
altered that, while the societies were still registered under
the Friendly Societies Act, they might, by special authority
of the Treasury, and if they so desired, operate on the
principle of liability limited by guarantee.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 229
Particularly, it has been suggested, might the principle
of a limitation in the liability of members be found to be
applicable to those places which are not strictly rural, and
in which, owing to a changing population, it is almost
impossible to insist on one man pledging himself, with no
limit, for the default of a neighbour about whom, perhaps,
he knows practically nothing.
The soundness of liability limited by guarantee has in the
case of agricultural credit societies, working under conditions
especially favourable thereto, been established in Germany,
where the advantages of the dual system have been greatly
appreciated ; and a like alternative might be beneficial to
the movement here.
A National Problem.
In one respect the position may be considered to have
been rendered worse rather than better by recent changes
in land tenure.
In former days the losses due to bad weather or deficient
harvest fell to a material extent on the landlords, who met
the situation by granting reductions of rent, or otherwise
giving practical assistance to their distressed tenants,
helping, in the aggregate, thousands of such tenants to keep
going until better times came round again.
To-day the whole tendency is in the direction of abolishing
the individual landlord, and substituting for him either a
County Council or peasant proprietary. With the political
or other advantages claimed for either or both of these
systems we have here no 'concern ; but each of them offers
considerations which have a direct bearing on the question
of agricultural credit.
As a public body, a County Council cannot be expected
to be so sympathetic towards its small-holding tenants
as the landlord whose place it is taking. Dealing as it
does with pubUc money, it has to consider that any special
concessions granted to these tenants might have to be
made good by the general body of the ratepayers, so that
230 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
due payment of rent must needs be demanded, as long
as the land is occupied, whatever the position of the
occupier.
Nor is the peasant proprietor necessarily in a more
favourable position. Should there still be a mortgage or
other financial obligation on his land (and this would be
the case in the vast majority of instances) he might find the
payment of interest even more exacting than the payment
of rent, while even if he did escape foreclosure, he would
still have to find, as best he could, the money he required,
not alone for cultivation and for buildings, etc., but also
for repairing the ravages on his own land of such floods as
those of the autumn of 191 2.
So far as regards the granting of State assistance to
British agriculturists in a time of great emergency, that is
a question which public opinion and the Government may
be left to decide. The function of a society is, rather,
(i) to advise, on the basis of expert knowledge, as to
the best means by which the aid could be applied ; and
(2) help, through its own organisation, in a resort to such
means.
" A loan from the State, repayable in easy instalments,
would," it was said in a leading article published in The
Standard of September 3rd, 1912, " often enable the farmer
not, indeed, to recover what is already lost, but to save
himself from some portion of the further losses which
threaten to overwhelm him." Granted the irresistible
force of this argument, there still remains the practical
question. How would the loan from the State reach the
farmer ? What machinery would pass it on from the one
to the other, and afterwards collect the instalments by
which it would be repaid ?
It is on these important matters of detail that the Agricul-
tural Organisation Society should be in a position both to
advise and to act.
The advice it would give to the Government would
probably be, " Don't create a new State department to have
direct financial dealings with farmers or small holders.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 231
Support, rather, by grants or.by Government guarantee, a
Central Agricultural Bank which would finance provincial
federations of local co-operative credit societies themselves
having direct dealings with the persons to be aided, distribut-
ing the loans and collecting the repayments without the
trouble, cost and complications that would arise if the
State did the work itself."
As regards definite action, the Society could point to the
existence of a Central Co-operative Agricultural Bank and
its afiiliated societies as already constituting the foundations
on which a national scheme could be built up to meet, not
only an actual national emergency of to-day, but the
inevitable requirements of agriculturists, and especially
of small holders, in the future.
L.— CO-OPERATIVE LAND RENTING.
Desirous of establishing the principle of co-operation in
the initial process of acquiring and holding land, as well as
in the subsequent process of cultivating and developing it,
the A. O. S. aimed almost from the outset of its activities at
promoting a system of co-operative land renting. Certain
difficulties arose, however, in regard to the interpretation of
section 4 (3) of the Small Holdings Act of 1892, which was to
the following effect : — " The County Council shall have power
to sell, or, in the case of small holdings which may be let, to
let one or more small holdings to a number of persons
working on a co-operative system, provided such system be
approved by the County Council." The question arose as
to whether the power thus conferred on a County Council
did not relate exclusively to the selling or the letting of land
direct to persons actually engaged in the cultivation of the
land, and whether, in this case, a County Council could make
its arrangements with a co-operative society which would
sub-let to the individual cultivators.
:Doubt on this point was set at rest, however, by the Small
Holdings Act of 1907, which provides that, in addition to
the power granted under the earlier Act, " a County Council
shall have power ... to let one or more holdings to any
232 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
association formed for the purposes of creating or promoting
the creation of small holdings, and so constituted that the
division of profits amongst the members is prohibited or
restricted." The Act further authorises County Councils to
promote the formation or extension of societies, on a co-
operative basis, having for their object, or one of their
objects, " the provision or the profitable working of small
holdings or allotments/'
Advantages.
It was confidently hoped and anticipated that con-
siderable use would be made of these powers, which had so
much in their favour from the point of view both of the
County Councils and of the small holders.
The prospective advantages to the County Councils
were : — (i) that the work of a Council in providing small
holdings would be greatly facilitated through the formation
of Co-operative Land Renting Societies, since the Council
would then deal, in any district, with a single body instead of
with a large number of individual holders ; (2) that the
Council would receive the rents in one lump sum from such
single body, which itself would collect the rents from the
tenants and would be in a better position to undertake the
task than the officials of a local governing body ; (3) that
provided the society had an adequate amount of uncalled
share capital, full security for payment of the sum total of
the rent would be given, since the failure of any member to
pay his own rent would not relieve the society from its
responsibility for the whole amount due, while the society
itself would have the means of meeting all claims ; (4) that
the Council would be spared responsibility in supervision
and control ; and (5) that the members of a local society
would be better able than a County Council to judge of
the suitability and capacity of applicants for land, and would
have a direct interest in seeing that their fellow members
cultivated their land properly.
For the small holders themselves the advantages expected
were : — (i) That they might be in a position to obtain land
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 233
more readily and at lower rents through a co-operative
society than if they were left to their own resources as
individuals ; (2) that, owing to their mutual liability, they
would have a joint interest in looking after one another and
helping one another in case of need ; (3) that a society of
small holders would be able to make, and enforce, more
stringent tenancy regulations than a County Council could do
in the case of a large number of individual holders ; (4) that,
once joined together co-operatively, for the purpose of
land renting, the small holders might be expected to develop
other forms of co-operative action in the way of purchase
of necessaries, transport, sale, credit, insurance, etc. ; and
(5) that in these various ways the prospect of the small
holders being able to work their holdings with benefit to
themselves would be greatly increased.
These advantages for the small holders had already
been clearly proved by such examples, for instance, as that
of " The Ay lest one Allotments " (fully described in
Chapter XXI. of " The Transition in Agriculture "), this
being a case in which a group of men employed in the boot
and shoe and hosiery trades of Leicester formed a co-opera-
tive society in order to rent from a private owner, and
sub-divide among their members, a plot of land under
conditions that were far more favourable both to themselves
and to proper cultivation than if the men had been left to
act individually instead of collectively.
It was no less found that there were great social advan-
tages in the system of co-operative land renting, since it
helped to establish comradeship, to create a community of
interests and to spread a spirit of mutual helpfulness among
those who thus joined together co-operatively, the general
tone of the group concerned being distinctly raised.
Attitude of County Councils.
In October, 1907, the A. O. S. addressed a circular letter
to the County Councils of England and Wales calling
attention to the provisions of the new Act, suggesting that
234 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
steps should be taken by the Councils to bring about the
organisation of co-operative societies having power to acquire
land and to sub-let it, and offering to provide model rules
for such small holdings societies, to send organisers to
explain how the societies should be formed, and to give
subsequent guidance, when needed.
Among the would-be small holders themselves there was
an evident belief that action would be taken by the County
Councils along the lines indicated. From many parts of the
country applications were made for assistance in the forma-
tion of Co-operative Land Renting Societies for the making
of collective application for small holdings or allotments,
and 80 of such societies were formed within nine months
of the passing of the Act.
Cordial support of the action thus taken was given by the
Small Holdings Commissioners of the Board of Agriculture
who, in their annual report for 19 10, said : —
The provision in the Act empowering councils to let land to
associations formed for the purpose of creating or promoting the
creation of small holdings, and so constituted that the division
of profits amongst the members of the association is prohibited or
restricted, has proved one of the most satisfactory and practical
methods of establishing small holdings, and we are strongly of
opinion that Councils would be well advised to encourage such
associations as much as possible, provided they are properly
constituted and are financially sound.
The Commissioners were further able to report that since
the Act came into operation, 4,135 acres had been let to 30
associations by 15 County Councils in England and Wales,
and three Councils of county boroughs, and this land had
been sub-let by the associations to 553 tenants. In his
report for 191 1 the Chief Commissioner states that 4,597
acres had then been let by County Councils to 39 Co-opera-
tive Small Holdings Associations, which had sublet the land
to 732 of their members.
While, however, some of the County Councils have been
thoroughly sympathetic, have made concessions in the cost
of management, and have encouraged the Land Renting
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 235
Societies as far as lay in their power, others have shown
themselves averse to the principle of co-operative action,
and are reluctant to offer any encouragement whatever to
the newly-formed societies. As it happens, too, although
the County Councils are under an obligation to act in the
case of individuals who require land — the Board of Agricul-
ture having authority to call upon them to produce a scheme
should they refrain from so doing — there is no similar obliga-
tion on the Councils to provide land for Co-operative Land
Renting Societies, the power given in respect to the latter
being merely permissive, and not compulsory.
Discouragements and Successes.
As the result of this unwillingness on the part of some
County Councils to take any action at all, and of the tedious
delays due to the prolonged negotiations of others, a number
of the Land Renting Societies lost heart, and either lan-
guished and died, or else survive to-day in a more or less
moribund condition, but still hoping for land.
Notwithstanding these discouragements, many of the
societies have secured land for their members in circum-
stances under which land might otherwise have been
unattainable by them, and they have followed up
co-operation for land renting by combination for a variety
of other purposes besides.
County Council Policy.
That there is scope for a considerable expansion in co-
operative land renting through County Councils will have
been gathered from what has already been said, and there
is, too, a prospect of further action being taken in the
matter.
At a meeting of the Public Health, Housing, and Small
Holdings Committee of the County Councils Association,
held on April 24th, 1912, the following memorandum on
the subject of County Councils and Co-operative Small
236 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Holdings Societies was presented by Mr. Christopher
Turner : —
The question of letting land to Co-operative Societies of Small
Holders has not received the attention it merits, largely owing to
the fact that the advantages of dealing with such societies do not
seem to be fully realised by the majority of County Councils.
These advantages, from the County Council point of view, may
be summed up as follows : —
1. In the case of any Co-operative Society renting land from a
local authority, when the rent is not guaranteed by reliable
persons outside the Society, the members are bound to hold share
capital in the Society equivalent to three years' rent of the land
they occupy, or to pay six months' rent in advance and hold
share capital equal to two years' rent. The amount paid up on
each share is usually small, leaving a heavy uncalled HabiHty
hanging over each member. The Society is managed by a
Committee elected by the members, and this uncalled liabiHty is
the guarantee for the careful management of the Society.
2. The selection of tenants by the Committee of a Society
whose members, one and all, stand to lose financially if unsatis-
factory tenants are admitted is bound to be conducted on careful
lines. No Committee of a local authority can possibly be placed
in so good a position to decide on the merits of prospective tenants
as the members of a society consisting of the applicant's neigh-
bours, who are working side by side with him year in and year
out.
3. The focussing of the demand for land in a locality to one
application from a Co-operative Society is of assistance to the
Council in the acquisition of land. The Committee of the Society,
from its local knowledge, can give valuable assistance in suggest-
ing suitable land to be acquired.
4. A Society is responsible to the County Council as a whole
for rent. If any tenant is in arrears the shortage must be made
good from the funds of the Society, even if a further call on the
share capital is necessary. The County Council is thus relieved
of all trouble in the collection of rent and also of the onus of
applying pressure to tardy individuals.
5. The Committee of a Co-operative Society is responsible for
the management of the holdings, and thus relieves the County
Council of the work of supervision and management.
6. The Committee of a Society has to find new tenants to
replace any who, from one cause or another, should give up their
holdings.
7. The Co-operative Society could undoubtedly in many cases
provide minor equipment more cheaply than can the County
Council.
8. Once having placed the small holders on the land, it is to
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 237
the advantage of the Council, in the interests of the ratepayer,
that they should succeed. If working through a Co-operative
Society the chances of success are greater. Savings can be
effected by purchases in bulk, by the holding of agricultural
machines or teams of horses in common, by combination for
marketing of produce, thereby saving in railway rates and obtain-
ing better prices.
9. Most Councils employ agricultural experts to assist small
holders and others on the technical side of their careers : the
Co-operative Society forms an excellent nucleus for arranging
meetings and visits from technical instructors.
The chief advantages to the small holders are : that they are
assured the greatest possible degree of independence ; that the
principles of mutual aid are fostered ; that in many cases they
would be able to furnish themselves with minor equipments more
cheaply than if these equipments were provided by the County
Council; that their rental would be somewhat lower, and even
where the margin charged to the individual members of the Society
comes out at a considerable increase in the term of rent per acre,
still they have the satisfaction of knowing that any profit the
Society earns will be divided up amongst the members.
From the point of view of the general development of
small holdings Co-operative Land Renting Societies should be
encouraged because they only take land on the colony system,
which has great advantages over the system at present in vogue
of satisfying individuals with separate holdings scattered through-
out a large district, a system which raises the cost of estate
management to a maximum.
After considering this memorandum, the Committee
resolved —
{a) That the Executive Council be recommended to print the
memorandum in the " Official Circular."
{b) That the sum charged by County Councils to Co-operative
Societies for management expenses be at a much lower rate than
in the case of unassociated small holders.
(c) That County Councils might favourably consider the
question of granting longer leases to Co-operative Societies than
to individual small holders.
In respect to the recommendation concerning a reduction
in the amount charged to Co-operative Land Renting
Societies for management expenses, it might be pointed out
that unless some concession is made to the societies by the
County Councils, in consideration of the trouble and expense
they will be saved through dealing with a single body instead
238 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
of with many individual tenants, there is the possibility that
the rents charged to the members of the co-operative society
would be higher than those charged to individual tenants,
by reason of the margin which must needs be left for cover-
ing the society's working expenses. The saving to the
County Councils being considerable, there ought to be an
equivalent allowance made in their management charges.
The question of longer leases is regarded as of the utmost
importance in view of the decision of the Local Government
Board that the period of repayment for loans advanced for
the expenses of adaptation of small holdings cannot be for a
longer period than the term of the lease.
The fact that the Executive Council did print the memo-
randum in their " Official Circular " suggests that the views
expressed were regarded by that body as being at least
deserving of serious consideration by County Councils in
general.
Central Land Renting Societies.
In some cases it has been sought to meet the difficulty
experienced by groups of would-be small holders in obtain-
ing land — owing to the County Council not being satisfied
with the guarantee offered — by the formation of a Central
Land Renting Society for a section of the county, the idea
being that the Central Society should acquire the land from
the County Council, on offering an adequate security, and
re-let to the individual applicants.
Land Societies and Land Owners.
The majority of the Land Renting Societies which have
succeeded in getting land at all have obtained it through
the County Councils, but many have treated direct with
land-owners, who, in turn, have their advantages in deahng
with a group of occupiers acting as a single body instead
of with the same number of persons acting individually.
The Mansfield Woodhouse (Notts) Small Holdings Society
has gone still further than land renting, having bought from
the Duke of Portland 40 acres of land for division among
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 239
eight of its members, each of whom gets five acres and a
house, the payments to extend over a period of 35 years.
The members in question are at present mostly engaged in
mining, and their idea is to cultivate their holdings — ^with
assistance — in their leisure time, raising potatoes, barley,
oats, parsnips and market garden produce generally, together
with poultry and pigs, for sale among the Duke's tenants'
and eventually depending altogether on their holdings for a
livelihood.
Progress and Prospects.
The slowness of the progress thus far made by the Land
Renting Societies of small holders is to be accounted for in
many instances by the delay in procuring land ; but even
after land has been acquired there may be a difficulty in
finding a suitable person to act as secretary or manager.
The class of men from whom small holders are mainly drawn
have generally had little business training, and are unaccus-
tomed to accounts. Then they mostly have to work long
hours in order to earn their own living, and the amount of
time they can devote to secretarial or managerial duties,
performed either voluntarily or in return for a very slight
honorarium, is very limited.
In districts where Branches of the A. O. S. have been
organised, under the devolution scheme already mentioned,
the difficulties here in question have been overcome to a
certain extent, the secretary of the Branch being able to give
to the secretaries of the small holders' societies advice and
personal assistance in regard to business methods, the
keeping of accounts, etc., and saving them the previous
necessity of dealing by means of correspondence with
difficult questions. The presence of an expert " on the
spot " should make a great difference in the spreading and
successful working of the local societies, and it may, there-
fore, be expected that this phase of the movement will
undergo still further expansion.
On the trading side the advantages to be gained by co-
operative purchase have not yet been fully brought home to
240 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
the members of the small holders' societies owing to the
comparatively slight extent of their business hitherto ; but
more is Hkely to be done in these directions as the small
societies are linked up with the large trading societies in
their own neighbourhood.
M.— CO-OPERATIVE INSURANCE.
Many inquiries having reached the Agricultural Organisa-
tion Society as to whether or not it would be likely to
undertake insurance of agricultural risks, on co-operative
principles, the subject was taken into consideration early
in 1906, and a scheme for the formation of a Co-operative
Insurance Society was drawn up by Mr. W. M. Tod, then
chief organiser, and referred alike to a sub-committee and
to an actuary. The latter said in his report : — " I regard
the suggested society as likely to be of very great value
to the members ... I feel confident that the scheme is a
sound one and may be safely undertaken." The objects of
the society were to be to insure its members against loss of
their property by fire, liabihty under the Workmen's
Compensation Act, and loss of live stock by death, and to
take up any other class of insurance that might be thought
expedient ; though it was proposed to proceed in the first
instance in regard to fire insurance only.
The sub-committee's recommendation was that the A. 0. S.
should not itself promote the formation of a co-operative
insurance society, but that, if the affiliated societies them-
selves wished to start one on the lines of Mr. Tod's proposals,
the A. O. S. should let it be understood the scheme had its
approval. The sub-committee also recommended that in
any scheme undertaken the services of a certain number of
gentlemen well versed in insurance business should be
secured, as it could not be expected that the members of
agricultural societies would, as a rule, possess the requisite
technical knowledge.
Through suggestions made to the Post Office Committee
on Employers' Liabihty Insurance, before which Mr. W.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 241
Fitzherbert-Brockholes, a member of the A. O. S. Executive
Committee, gave evidence, and to which Mr. Tod submitted
a memorandum, the Hon. R. D. Denman, Secretary to the
Postmaster-General and a director of the Marine and General
Mutual Life Insurance Society, became interested in the
matter, and was instrumental in obtaining the support of
the Hon. A. L. Stanley, M.P., Mr. C. A. Montague Barlow,
LL.D., L.C.C., Barrister-at-law, and Mr. K. G. R. Vaizey,
chairman of Bevington, Vaizey and Foster, Ltd., insurance
brokers. With the assistance of these gentlemen the scheme
was reconsidered and somewhat modified. Co-operative
and other agricultural societies which had expressed interest
in insurance were invited to send representatives to a meeting
held in London on December nth, 1907, and a considerable
number did so. At this meeting a resolution was passed
authorising the formation of the proposed society, and a
provisional committee was appointed to carry it into effect.
The society was subsequently registered as " The Agricul-
tural and General Co-operative Insurance Society, Ltd."
and was also affihated to the A. O. S. Mr. Yerburgh is
the trustee for the bondholders, the chairman is the Hon.
R. D. Denman, M.P., the deputy chairman Mr. C. A.
Montague Barlow, M.P., and Mr. J. A. Eggar, Mr. Rupert
Elhs, Mr. W. Fitzherbert-Brockholes, Mr. W. H. T.
Hearle, Mr. J. W. Hill, Mr. G. M. Maryon-Wilson, Mr.
A. E. B. Soulby, the Hon. A. L. Stanley, and Mr. K. G. R.
Vaizey are directors, with Mr. K. W. Hopkinson as
manager.
The principal business transacted by the society is fire and
fidelity insurance. The value of the property in respect to
which policies had been taken out in 1911 was over ;f 1,500,000.
Live stock insurance is also arranged in conjunction with
approved agricultural associations and societies. As agent
the society is in a position to effect all kinds of insurances
which it does not undertake itself, and specially reduced terms
have been secured for members' employers' liability risks.
Under a re-insurance contract entered into by directors on
profitable terms the total liability on any one loss is strictly
A.O. R
242 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
limited, and the society can thus issue pohcies for any
amount.
By doing business through the society, pohcy holders
secure the profits on their own insurance, while the local
societies which act as agents receive the same commission,
at the normal figure of 15 per cent., which the ordinary
insurance company pays to its individual agents, the said
local societies being free to dispose of this 15 per cent, by
paying part back to the members who take out policies, by
applying it to their general management expenses, or other-
wise disposing of it as they think fit. At least one of these
local societies receives in commission nearly £250 a year.
The total amount paid out by the society as commission in
1911 was £475. The net premiums rose in 1911 to £3,000, an
increase of nearly 40 per cent, on the previous year. The
losses were somewhat less, and the society was left with a
credit balance of £2,133. The bonus for the year was 25 per
cent., plus an extra 10 per cent, credited to the personal
reserve account of each member entitled to bonus. In
January, 1912, the funds invested, in hand or at call available
to meet claims on policies, amounted to over £30,000.
Live Stock Insurance.
Co-operative insurance of live stock is a subject to which
the attention of the Agricultural Organisation Society was
first called in 1903, and various plans were then projected.
Little, however, has been actually done by the Society in
this direction. It was known that a number of co-operative
cow insurance societies, cow clubs and pig clubs, conducted
on mutual principles, were already in existence, but there
was a lack of definite information concerning them, and it
is only recently that details have become available, mainly
through the researches of Sir James Wilson, of the Board of
Agriculture. The results of the enquiries made were given
in articles published in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture
for May and June, 1912, and from these articles the
following facts have been taken.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 243
Cow Insurance.
Of co-operative societies in England and Wales dealing
exclusively with the insurance of cows and calves there are
two kinds — those registered under the Friendly Societies
Acts and those that are unregistered and are generally
known as " cow clubs." Of the former there were twenty-
two on December 31st, 1910. The number of the latter is
known to be considerable, but statistics in regard to them
have not yet been collected.
In 1910 the 22 registered societies had 1,613 members who
had insured 4,588 cows and calves, and the total sum
realised in premiums and levies for the insurance fund
during the year was £929, an average premium of 4s. o^d.
per animal. Other items increased the total income to
3^1,132. Sixteen societies, insuring 4,017 animals, returned
their cost of management as £95, an average of less than
6d. per animal. For the twenty-two societies the surplus of
assets over liabilities (other than insurance liabilities) was,
at the end of the year, £4,812, as compared with £4,975, the
gross amount at the credit of the insurance fund. This
£4,812 represents " a true surplus accumulated during past
years owing to the expenditure being less than the income."
It not only brings in a considerable sum in interest, but
secures the members against the risk of having to make
special levies on themselves to meet losses in excess of the
available funds.
The members of the societies are mostly small holders and
cottagers. The work of each society is carried on by two or
three trustees, a committee of management, one or more
stewards, a secretary, and a treasurer, all elected at the
annual general meeting. Most of the societies have an
elaborate system of fines for the maintenance of discipline.
Of the 22 societies 10 have been in existence for over 50
years. One, at Mawdesley, Lancashire, was established
in 1807. It still insures 52 cows at a premium of 6s. a year,
pays £10 on each cow that dies from disease or accident, and
has a reserve fund of £46, enough to pay four years' probable
R 2
244 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
average losses. " To judge from the experience of these
societies," says the writer of the article concerning them,
" it is possible for a community of small holders and cottagers,
in any part of the country which is not exceptionally
unhealthy for cattle, to form a co-operative mutual insurance
society, and insure each other from loss of their cows by
disease or accident up to a value of £io per cow, on payment
of charges amounting in all to less than 5s. per cow per
annum."
It is further pointed out that insurance companies which
deal in live stock insurance would charge a premium of
15s. per annum, and this would not cover death from fire
or lightning. One reason for the difference is that the large
company must set aside about 40 per cent, of its premium
income to pay for commission, agency fees, veterinary
expenses, clerical and expert staff, interest on capital,
depreciation of buildings and profits to shareholders ; but
there is the further reason that whereas, on an average,
6 per cent, of the dairy cows insured with companies die
every year, the losses among cows insured in village clubs
average only a little over 2 per cent, per annum, mainly
owing to the small holder's cow being generally so well looked
after. " The truth seems to be," the writer of the article
adds, "that no company can be run so cheaply as a village
cow club, managed by themselves on neighbourly lines ;
and that there are few animals in the world so well protected
from disease and accident as the British cottager's cow."
Pig Clubs.
Pig clubs are also of both the registered and the unregis-
tered type. The former number only 33, whereas there are
known to be over 1,000 pig clubs altogether in England and
Wales. The great majority maintain themselves simply as
** private associations of private individuals, without any
legal standing or outside help." In 1905 it was ascertained
that pig clubs were to be found in 26 counties. Lincolnshire
had the largest number, namely, 309 ; Northamptonshire
had 114 and Wiltshire 112.
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 245
Detailed statistics are available in respect only to 31 out
of the 33 registered. Of these 31 clubs, 16 are in Lincolnshire
and five in Gloucestershire. The remainder are in seven
different counties. One of the clubs, the Lang worth,
Lincolnshire, dates from 1859, and there are eight others
which have been at work for over 40 years. At the end of
1910 the 31 clubs had 1,598 members, an average of 52
members, and insured altogether 3,118 pigs, an average of
loi pigs per club and of two pigs per member. The net
result of the working for the year was that the members, by
making payments amounting in all to an average of 2s. 4d.
per pig insured, obtained payment of compensation averaging
£2 los., and in some cases amounting to £5 or over, in respect
to each pig that died from disease or accident during the
year ; though some of the societies have, by good manage-
ment and the building up of a substantial reserve fund,
attained a much more satisfactory position. Two clubs,
one at Kemerton (Gloucestershire) and the other at Bredon
(Worcestershire) have such large reserve funds that their
members of four years' standing now pay only 8d. a year
each, in return for which nominal subscription they are
guaranteed payment of the full value of any pigs that may
die from disease or accident. Contrasting the operation of
the pig clubs with that of ordinary large insurance companies
which deal with the insurance of live stock, the writer of
the article from which these facts are taken says : —
If, instead of insuring co-operatively, the members were to
insure their pigs individually with one of these companies for a
sum which might in any case amount to £^, they would have to
pay a premium of at least 5s. a year, which would not cover so
many risks as are now covered by their average payments of
2s. 4d. per annum. It seems safe to say that no insurance
company would, for less than 8s. per pig, per annum, undertake
the risks successfully undertaken by the Kemerton and Bredon
clubs at a cost to old members of 8d. a year. Such are the
wonderful results of co-operation and care and fair dealing
among neighbours.
Many of the societies, it is further stated, consist largely
of working men, who insure only one pig each.
246 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
Such a man generally buys a young pig about ten weeks old
in early spring, fattens it through the summer, and kills it in
winter for consumption by himself and family. The pig originally
costs him from los. to £i, and its value gradually increases as
it grows fatter, until at the time of slaughtering it may be worth
£5 or more ; and it is a great advantage to him to feel that if
his pig should die from disease or accident he will get its full
value at the time, or a large proportion of it, from his pig club.
The low death-rate amongst pigs of this class is no doubt chiefly
due to the fact that each pig is usually kept in a solitary sty,
away from infection, under the eye of the owner and his wife,
and is slaughtered while still in its lusty youth.
The article concludes by affirming that —
According to the experience of these thirty-one societies in
different counties of England and Wales, it is possible for small
holders and labourers in any healthy part of the country, by
co-operation and mutual trust, to insure themselves against the
loss of their pigs from disease or accident by a total payment
of something like 2s. 6d. a year, which can be much reduced when
the club has built up a substantial reserve fund.
It is a matter of great interest to find that these somewhat
primitive cow and pig insurance societies or clubs, operating
on strictly co-operative lines, have not only already been
carried on so long, but have been the result of a spontaneous
movement among village dwellers who, having a common
need, and acting in complete accordance with " mutual
help " principles, have brought into existence an excellent
organisation, managing it, also, without any extraneous
assistance, and operating so much among themselves that
much trouble appears to have been involved in ascertaining
what they are really doing in their unpretending but
thoroughly practical way.
The whole subject is of the more importance at the
present moment because, with the settlement on the land of
a greater number of small holders, insurance of the live
stock on which they may partly depend for the success of
their efforts may be a matter of material concern. Village
societies and clubs clearly offer to them advantages over
insurance with large commercial undertakings, although it is
no less obvious that they are suitable for villages only.
It is suggested that the matter should be carefully watched
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 247
by the new Board of Governors of the A. O. S., not with any
idea of competing with the established societies and clubs,
but with the view of framing for them a set of model rules,
based on their collective experience, and likely both to
improve the stability of those that already exist and to
encourage the starting of a still greater number of them,
since there are many parts of the country where these
village organisations are at present wholly unknown.
N.— RURAL TELEPHONES.
Another important matter which has received attention is
that of increased use of the telephone in rural districts.
In almost innumerable ways greater use of the telephone
in those districts should be of value. It would, among
other things, facilitate the work of organisation, the obtaining
of agricultural necessaries, and the collection or distribution
of produce ; it would be a ready means of obtaining informa-
tion as to prices and prospects of sale on various markets ;
it would enable farmers to communicate direct with local
railway stations, traders in neighbouring towns, the central
headquarters of their society, the doctor, the veterinary
surgeon, and so on ; while in addition to the services it
would render in business matters the telephone would play
a no less useful part in promoting the social Hfe of rural
districts.
The Post Office authorities have for some time past been
considering how far they are in a position to give facilities
to residents in country districts for availing themselves of
the telephone, and since the transfer of the National Tele-
phone system to the Post Office the final arrangements have
been made with regard to the conditions under which
telephones can be provided in country districts which are
not too far remote from an existing exchange. The Post-
master-General is especially anxious that co-operative
societies and local agricultural associations shall be given
every opportunity to obtain the benefits which can be derived
by them from their being able to make use of the telephone
at a low annual cost.
248 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
In a circular issued by the Postmaster-General it is stated
that—
In the United States there are to-day more telephones in use by
farmers than the whole number in use by the commercial and all
other classes in the United Kingdom, and these telephones are
found to add to the profits and comforts of the farmers to an
extent which makes the cost of telephones seem negligible.
So great in fact is the appreciation of the telephone by
American farmers that, as already mentioned on page 31,
societies of agriculturists are formed in the United States for
the express purpose of providing telephonic systems of their
own on co-operative lines.
Here, of course, such independent action would be
impracticable ; but the scheme which has now been put
forward by the Post Office should be of very great service
indeed to British agriculturists, provided only that the rural
districts are willing to extend to it a sufficient measure of
support.
The scheme is one for the experimental establishment of
a system of " rural party-Hnes," to be used in common by a
number of subscribers, with a minimum total of three
subscribers per line, and an average of two or three sub-
scribers per mile in proportion to the length of the lines from
exchange. ** Such lines," the Postmaster-General explains,
" cannot be used for communication with very distant places,
but they are sufficient for communication with places within
a radius of 100 or 150 miles, and this is all that is usually
required for the purposes of rural and agricultural business.
As they are used in common by the subscribers, complete
secrecy cannot be guaranteed. The conversation of one
subscriber is liable to be overheard by the others, and this
is to some extent a disadvantage. Experience both in this
country and in the United States has, however, shown that
this disadvantage is slight in comparison with the great
advantages which otherwise arise from the possibility of
telephonic communication with all the other telephone
users in adjacent towns and villages." Although, too, the
rural party-line subscribers would not have so good a service
WORK DONE OR PROJECTED 249
— in regard to individual use .and long-distance facilities —
as exclusive-line subscribers, they would pay on a substan-
tially lower scale, and one that, according to the Postmaster-
General, will barely suffice to cover outlay and working
expenses.
The secretary of the A. O. S. has communicated with the
affiliated trading and other societies, calling attention to the
action which has been taken in this matter, pointing to the
benefits that would follow from the formation in rural
districts of groups of farmers to take advantage of the offer
made by the Postmaster-General, and enclosing copies of
the Post Office memorandum and circulars giving full
details of the scheme.
Party-lines are being constructed in a number of districts,
while negotiations for their installation are well advanced
in many other places. It has been further intimated that
the district telephone managers of the G.P.O. are to be
officially instructed to give all the assistance in their power
to societies wishing to take advantage of the scheme, and
that the local representatives of the Post Office will, as far
as possible, arrange to attend meetings both of the Branch
Committees and of affiliated societies at which the question
is to be discussed.
CHAPTER VIII
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The facts here narrated will, it may be hoped, have
sufficed to prove the following fundamental propositions : —
The need for agricultural organisation was originally
brought about by a combination of causes, including (i) the
greater application of science to production ; (2) the con-
sequent growth of commercial industries for the provision
of fertilisers, concentrated feeding stuffs, machinery, etc.,
which, if the farmer is to produce his crops economically,
he should be able to obtain, at the lowest price and of the
best quality, without having to pay too much for inter-
mediate profits ; (3) the greater influx of food supplies
from abroad following on (a) the development of virgin
soils in new countries, (b) the increased facilities for ocean
transport, and (c) the application of refrigeration to the
carriage of perishable commodities ; (4) the effect of the
telegraph on commercial relations with distant lands; and
(5) the whole tendency of to-day for business matters of
every kind, including therein the business of agriculture,
to get more and more into the hands of powerful combina-
tions against which the isolated producer, and more
especially the isolated farmer, cannot hope to protect
adequately his own particular interests.
The chief aim of the agricultural organisation now being
resorted to by civilised countries large and small throughout
the world is to meet these conditions by the formation of
societies operating mainly on the co-operative principle
for (i) purchase of agricultural requisites ; (2) provision
of greater credit facilities for the cultivator ; (3) the applica-
tion to various forms of agricultural production of that
** factory " principle which has done so much to expand
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 251
urban industries ; (4) the ensuring of an effective distribution
of agricultural produce on the basis of scientific marketing ;
(5) utilisation of surplus supplies in times of over-production,
thus avoiding either waste or an undue fall in prices through
gluts on the market ; (6) reduction of the cost of rail or
road transport by means of combination ; (7) improvement
of live stock ; (8) co-operative tenancy of land ; (9) insur-
ance, and, in fact, for every purpose connected with agri-
culture in regard to which combined action may be of
advantage.
The right of the agriculturist to resort to organisation
on these lines cannot reasonably be disputed since, although
his doing so may, to a certain extent, appear to prejudice
the interests of middlemen now thriving on his past neglect
of his own interests, it has to be remembered (i) that the
farmer, as a manufacturer of agricultural produce (for such
he may claim to be), is, under the recognised customs of
the commercial world, entitled to have direct dealings with
manufacturers of the raw materials, the implements, and
the machinery of his industry without being compelled to
purchase through agents, dealers or local shopkeepers in
the same way as a suburban resident growing vegetables
in his own garden for domestic consumption might be
expected to do ; (2) that by the formation of agricultural
co-operative societies which group the requirements of their
members, orders can be given on a scale well justifying
direct dealings ; (3) that if agriculture, still the greatest
of our national industries, is really to flourish, there must,
whatever other remedies are adopted, be a reduction in
those intermediate commercial profits which, on the one
hand, increase unduly the cost of production, and, on the
other hand, make too great a difference between what the
producer receives and what the consumer pays ; and (4)
that in close alliance with this question of the farmer's
profits are many other matters including those of no less
material concern than the wages and the housing of the
agricultural labourer (who also stands to benefit if the
business of agriculture can be made a more remunerative
252 AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION
one), and the offering of greater inducements for settling
more people on the land under the scheme for the extension
of small holdings.
The wisdom of the principles and practice of agricultural
organisation, as adopted and now being actively promoted
by the central propagandist societies of England and Wales,
of Scotland and of Ireland respectively, is no less beyond
all reasonable doubt since we have abundant evidence of
the fact that the movement in each country is proceeding
along thoroughly practical lines, has already accomplished
good results, and has laid solid foundations for still greater
efforts in the future.
Nor can it be denied that the movement in each country
is well deserving of State recognition and State aid since
what is being done is a national work from which the
nation, through the reorganisation of Agriculture on a
sounder economic basis, has so much to hope.
Each of the three central bodies has undertaken what are
essentially educational and propagandist functions. Not
one of them is itself engaged in " trading for a profit," and,
though the local societies they help to form — societies
which themselves can have no State aid whatever — may
so trade, and are enabled to do so the more successfully by
reason of the guidance and direction they receive, they
occupy, in this respect, a position analagous to that of
individuals whom the State, through its general and its
higher education system, renders better qualified to fight
the battle of life — or, in other words, to " trade " their
abilities and their powers "for a profit " — to their own as
well as to the common advantage.
There is, indeed, great need for a still closer relationship
between agricultural education and agricultural economics.
Training in the actual science of agriculture is beyond the
functions of Organisation Societies, and must needs be left
to Colleges and institutions able to apply themselves
especially thereto ; yet one may hope that the day is not
far distant when such Colleges will have, not alone their
Professors of Agriculture, but, also, their Professors of
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 253
Agricultural Co-operation, who would constitute a connect-
ing link between the Science of Production and the Science
of Distribution, and place Colleges and Organisation
Societies in closer touch one with another, on the lines
more or less of the Training College for Co-operation set
up by the Halle-Wittenberg School of Economics, in
Germany (the object of which is "to supply scientific
training for those acquiring a theoretic or practical know-
ledge of co-operation, especially for persons seeking to
qualify themselves for the post of director or as an official
in a co-operative society,"), of the Berlin Agricultural
High School, where lectures on Co-operation in Rural
Districts are given, and of other colleges or high schools
in different parts of Germany, which now include co-opera-
tion in its various forms among their subjects for special
teaching or practical demonstration.
In addition to all these questions of agricultural economics
there is, also, that problem of the Revival of Country Life
which, propounded by Sir Horace Plunkett in Ireland, and
applied, in turn, to the United States by Mr. Roosevelt, is
of no less direct concern to those rural districts of Great
Britain which are experiencing a steady exodus of population
either to the towns or to other countries.
Thus the subject of Agricultural Organisation, in its many
different phases, may be commended to the attention of the
British Public as a National Question well deserving of
their serious and most sympathetic attention, while they
will see that, although Great Britain has hitherto been behind
certain of the other countries in taking this all-important
work in hand, the right lines have now been adopted, the
difficulties of the pioneering stage have been surmounted,
and a happy combination of voluntary effort and State
aid, each supplementing the policy and the possibilities of
the other, should ensure in the immediate future a greatly-
accelerated rate of progress, to the advantage alike of
agriculture, of agriculturists and of the national well-being
as a whole.
INDEX
Aberystwith University, 114
Acland, Mr. F. D., 127
Agricultural and Horticultural As-
sociation, 88
Agricultural Organisation Society,
The : Formation of, 103 ; early
days, 105 ; principles and pro-
gramme, 106-7 ; finances, 107 ;
methods of operation, 108-9 ;
progress in Wales, 1 09-1 10 ; ad-
vantages, iio-iii ; absorption
of Co-operative Banks Associa-
tion, III ; arrangements with
National Poultry Organisation
Society, iii, 187 ; Joint Boards,
I11-112, 113 ; A. O. S. methods,
1 1 2-1 1 3 ; attitude of public
au thor ities , 1 1 4- 1 2 o ; S mall
Holdings Fund grant, 122-4 ;
reconstitution under Develop-
ment Fund grant, 125-8 ; policy
of Development Commissioners,
129 ; devolution, 131, 136-8 ;
present position, 138-9 ; trans-
port questions, 148-152 ; market-
mg, 163-4 ' milk record societies,
184 ; eggs and poultry, 186-8,
197 ; credit, 214-225, 230.
Agriculture : As an industry. 53-4 ;
production, 54-5 ; imports, 55-6
Agricultural and General Co-opera-
tive Insurance Society, 122,
241-2
Agricultural Science, 2, 3, 7, 12, 13,
17
Anderson, Mr, R. A., 74, 77, loi,
112
Argentina, 9
Auction marts, co-operative : 14-
15 ; in Holland, 34 ; in England,
164-7, 199
Australia, 9
Austria : Early combinations, 3 ;
bureaucratic government, 20.
Bacon : Factories in Denmark, 12,
30, 31-2 ; imports, 56, 207, 209-
211 ; views of Scottish Agri-
cultural Commission, 133 ; fac-
tories in England, 207-209, 212
" Back to the Land " movement, 71
Baines, Mr. M. T., 124
Barfoot-Saunt, Mr. W. H., 100
Barlow, Mr. C. A. M., 241
Bathurst, Mr. Charles, 127
Bear, Mr., 90
Bee-keepers' Societies, 14
Belgium : Clergy and co-operation,
19 ; statistics, 34-6 ; the Boeren-
bond, 36 ; Agricultural Federa-
tion of East Flanders, 37 ; Agri-
cultural Federation of West
Flanders, 37 ; farm-women's
clubs, 37-8 ; savings bank and
credit societies, 228
Board of Agriculture, 53, 114, 115,
116, 117, 122-5, 128, 218
Board of Education, 117
Board of Trade, 53, 54, 140
Boerenbond, The, 36, 38
Bostock, Mr. S., 127
Boston, Lord, 138
Bovy, M. Collard, 35
Bowen- Jones, Mr. J., 100
Box system of consignment, 94, 147
Brandsby Agricultural Trading As-
sociation, 152, 157-9, 160
Brigstocke, Mr. Augustus, 119
British Agricultural Organisation
Society, 103
British Poultry Federation, 187
British Produce League, 97
British Produce Supply Association,
95, 96-8, 104
Broomhall, Mr. William, 96
Brown, Mr. Edward, 190
Brown, Mr. W. C, 47
Brownlow, Earl, 96
Burtt, Mr. Philip, 127, 137
Butter : Cost of transport of, from
Australia, 9 ; butter factories in
Denmark, 12 ; exports from
Denmark, 31 ; imports, 56 ;
dairy industry, 169-170
Buxton, Mr. C. Roden, 125
California Fruit Growers' Ex-
change, 44
Canada : Women's institutes, 17-
18 ; poultry industry, 189
Carmarthen Farmers' Co-operative
Society, 139
Cattle and tuberculin test, 184-5
Cattle-breeding, 13 : Germany, 25 ;
Denmark, 30 ; Holland, 34 ;
Belgium, 35 ; United States, 45
Cattle, societies for export of, 30
Celleiros, in Portugal, 3
Central Chamber of Agriculture, 88,
89, 90, 100-102, 103
Central Co-operative Agricultural
Bank, 122, 216-7, 223-5
Chamberlain, Mr. E., 48
Charleton, Mr. W. L., 103
INDEX
255
Cheese : Combination for produc-
tion of, in Italy, 12 ; France.
27 ; imports, 56 ; co-operation
in Great Britain, 174-9
Cheney, Mr. E. J., 124, 127
Cheshire Milk Producers' Depots,
179
Cider, 59-60
Clergy and co-operation, 18-19
Clynderwen Farmers' Association,
139
Colleges and agricultural organisa-
tion, 119, 130, 132, 133, 252-3
" Control " of dairy cattle : 13 ; in
Denmark, 30, 32 ; United States,
45 ; Great Britain, 182-4
Co-operative Banks Association,
III, 116
Co-operative Union, 74, 120-1, 128
Co-operative Wholesale Society,
The English, 75, 179
Corbett, Mr. J. S., 127, 173
Corn, Societies for sale of, 25
Cornwall County Farm and Dairy
Co-operative Society, 179-180
Country Life Institute, 86
Country Life, Revival of : United
States, 45 ; Ireland, 86 ; Eng-
land, 253
County councils, 117-9, 123, 128,
130, 189, 229-235
Covent Garden Market, 69, 98
Cow clubs, 243-4
Craigie, Major, loi
Credit, Agricultural : Position of
grower in respect to, 5-6 ; India,
6 ; Germany, 6, 22-3 ; influence
on individual, 16 ; State policy,
20-1 ; France, 27-30 ; Holland,
33 ; Belgium, 36 ; India, 38-40 ;
Japan, 41 ; United States, 43,
46-50 ; needs of Great Britain,
72-3 ; Ireland, 79, 82, 83, 85 ;
registration of credit societies,
116 ; policy of A. O. S., 214-6 ;
Central Co-operative Agricul-
tural Bank, 216 ; societies, 218-
222 ; attitude of joint stock
banks, 223-4 » earlier action,
225-8 ; proposals, 228-231
Croxden Dairy Association, 175
Cucumbers, Classification of, 154
Cyprian- Knollys, Mr., 127
Dairy Farmers' Protectionist
Societies, 173
Dairying, Co-operative : United
States, 12, 44-5 ; Denmark, 12 ;
centrifugal cream separator, 12 ;
cattle-breeding, 13 ; " control "
system, 13 ; Germany, 22, 23 ;
France, 27 ; Denmark, 30-1,
133 ; Holland, 34 ; Belgium, 35 ;
Ireland, 75, 76-7, 79, 80-1, 84 ;
England and Wales, 169-185
Denbigh, The Earl of, 96
Denman, The Hon. R. D., 241
Denmark : Economic conditions
in, II ; resort to combination,
II ; members of societies, 13 ;
bacon trains, 14 ; economic in-
fluences, 20 ; statistics of so-
cieties, 30-2 ; Scottish Agricul-
tural Commission, 133-4 i ^SS
societies, 194 ; bacon factories,
208, 211
Development Fund, 125-6, 128,
129-131
Digby, Mr. J. K. W., 96
Drysdale, Mr. R. M., 112
East Anghan Farmers' Co-opera-
tion, 164, 167
Eastern Counties Dairy Farmers'
Co-operative Society, 176-7
Eastern Counties Farmers' Co-
operative Association, 112, 139,
193, 198, 200, 201, 202, 212, 213
East Sussex Farmers' Co-operative
Society, 201, 202
Eggar, Mr. J. A., 241
Eggs : Co-operative sale of, in Ger-
many, 25 ; Denmark, 30, 32,
113 ; imports, 56, 195-7 '> home
production, 62, 186 ; egg and
poultry demonstration train,
188-9 ; marketing, 190-1 ; so-
cieties and egg-collecting, 191.
Electricity, co-operative societies
for supply of, 25
Elliott, C.B., Sir T. H., loi, 116
Ellis, Mr. Rupert, 127, 241
Emlyn, Viscount, 142-3
Fairfax-Cholmeley, Mr. H. C,
127
Falmouth, Viscountess, 180
Farm-women's clubs in Belgium,
37-8
Fawkes, Mr. Algernon, loi
Federated Growers, Ltd., 164, 167
Feeding stuffs, 65-6
Fellowes, Right Hon. Ailwyn, 115
Fertilisers : Increased use of, 8 ;
operation of trusts, 23 ; French
syndicates, 26 ; Belgium, 37 ;
manufacture of, by co-operative
societies, 50-1 ; output in Great
Britain, 65 ; advantages of co-
operative sale, 109 ; conference
256
INDEX
with Fertiliser Manufacturers As-
sociation, 112
Fitzherbert-Brockholes, Mr. W.,
127, 241
Flax preparation, co-operative, 27
Flowers, 58-9
Framlingham and District Farmers'
Co-operative Association, 139,
193
France : Early combinations, 3 ;
fruit and vegetable trains, 14 ;
agricultural teaching for women,
18 ; economic influences, 20 ;
agricultural associations, 26 ; syn-
dicates, 26 ; federations, 27 ;
societies for production and sale,
27 ; credit, 27-30 ; insurance,
30 ; live stock improvement, 30
Friskney Credit Society, 222
Frozen meat, 9
Fruit : Cost of transport of, from
Australia, 9 ; fruit preserving
societies in France, 27 ; co-opera-
tive sale of, in United States,
43-4 ; imports, 56, 63 ; home
production, 59, 63 ; advantages
of combination, 108-9 ; sale,
164-5
Germany : Rural credit in, 6, 12,
22-23 ; " test " stations, 7 ; pur-
chase of necessaries, 7-8 ; statis-
tics concerning co-operative so-
cieties, 22-5 ; Imperial Federa-
tion, 24, 25
Gilbey, Sir Walter, 93
Glass, crops under, 60
Goats : Improvement in breeding,
14 ; societies in Belgium, 35
Grading, advantages of, 109
Grain, co-operative sale of, 200-1
Gray, Mr. J. C, 120, 125
Great Eastern Rly., 93, 94, 140, 147
Great Western Rly., 142-3, 146,
147, 152, 188
Greening, Mr., 88
Grist milling, 212-4
Guildford and Mid-Surrey Farmers'
Agricultural Co-operative Asso-
ciation, 139
Gull, Sir W. Cameron, 142
Hall, Mr. W. H., 96
Hamilton, Lord Claud, 93, 94, 140
Hanbury, Mr. R. W., 114, 115, 120,
144. 185
Hare, T., Mr., 93
Harris, Mr. J. Nugent, 105, 123, 134
Hart-Synnot, Mr. R., 120
Hawarden Farmers' Society, 213
Hay, co-operative sale of, 200-1
Hearle, Mr. W. H. T., 241
Hedge End Credit Society, 222
Henderson, Sir Alexander, 96
Herrick, Mr. Myron T., 48-50
Herries, Lord, 96
Hertford, the Marquis of. 96
Highland and Agricultural Society,
3, 132,
Hill, Mr. J. W.. 241
Holland : Co-operative auction
marts, 14-15 ; clergy and co-op-
eration, 19 ; rise of co-operative
movement, 32-3 ; statistics, 33-4
Holyoake, George, 74
Home Office, the, 116
Hoofl, Sir A. F. Acland, 142
Hopkinson, Mr. K. W., 241
Hops : Conditions of industry,
204-5 ; possibilities of organi-
sation, 206
Horses, improvements in breeding,
14.30
Housing, rural, 72
Hughes, Tom, 74
Hungary : Clergy and co-operation,
19 ; moral influences on peasan-
try, 19
Huntley, The Marquis of, 96
Imports of agricultural produce,
55-6
India, co-operative credit societies
in, 38-40
Insurance, co-operative : 15 ; in
Germany, 25 ; France, 39 ; Hol-
land, 34 ; Belgium, 36 ; United
States, 45 ; England and Wales,
122, 240-7
International Association of Poultry
Instructors and Investigators,
190
International Confederation of
Agricultural Co-operative Socie-
ties, 50-1
International Co-operative Alliance,
50
International Institute of Agri-
culture, 22, 51-2
Ireland : Early beginnings of agri-
cultural co-operation in, 74-5 ;
formation of Irish Agricultural
Organisation Society, 75 ; diffi-
culties encountered, 76-8 ; Re-
cess Committee, 78 ; Department
of Agriculture, 79 ; statistics of
societies, 79-80 ; creameries,
80-1 ; Irish Co-operative Agency
Society, 81 ; Agricultural Whole-
sale Society, 81-2 ; credit socie-
INDEX
257
ties, 82 ; moral results, 83 ;.
experiences of societies, 83-6 ;
the Plunkett House, 86 ; Country
Life Institute, 86 ; the United
Irishwomen, 87 ; Development
Fund grant, 130-1 ; Roscrea
bacon factory, 209
Irish Agricultural Organisation
Society, 75-87, 102, 116, 118,
1 30-1
Irish Agricultural Wholesale So-
ciety, 81-2, 112
Japan, co-operative societies in,
40-1
Jersey, The Earl of, 96, 142, 143
Jones-Davies, Mr. H., 118, 127
Kekewich, Sir George, 117
Land Renting, Co-operative : In
Roumania, 15 ; England, 231-3
Lehfeld, 12
Lett, Mrs. Harold, 87
Liability, limited and unlimited, in
Germany, 25
Libraries, village, 17
Light railways, 156-9
Lincolnshire, The Marquis of, 115
Lipscombe, Mr. W., 88, loo
Live Stock : Improvement in breed-
ing, 13 ; Germany, 25 ; France,
30 ; sales ofiE farms, 61 ; Wales,
109 : co-operative sale, 197-200 ;
insurance, 242-7
London and North Western Rail-
way, 143-4, 146
London and South Western Rail-
way, 153-4
London, Brighton and South Coast
Railway, 154
London Retail Dairymen's Mutual,
179, 1 8 1-2
Long, Professor, 100
Lowther, Mr. James, 96
M'Calmont, Mr., 93
Machinery, co-operative ownership
of agricultural, 25, 27
Mclnnes, Mr. D., 125, 127
Mallaerts, The Abbe, 36
Mansfield Woodhouse Small Hold-
ings Society, 238
Margesson, Mr. M. R., loi
Market garden produce, 57-8, 161-9
Marketing, 67-70, 109, 161-9, 190-1
Maryon- Wilson, Mr. G. M., 241
Matthews, Mr. A. T., 105
Meat, Imports of, 56, 63
A.O.
Midland Farmers' Co-operative As-
sociation, 139, 200, 201
Milk : Production, 61 ; imports,
61 ; sale, 169-174 ; milk traffic
on railways, 170-2 ; middlemen,
172-3 ; co-operation, 173-182
Milk records, 133, 182-4
Milton Small Holders' Co-operative
Society, 213
Milling, co-operative : Germany,
25 ; France, 27 ; England and
Wales, 109, 212-4
Miscricordia, in Portugal, 3
Molyneux, Mr. W. More, 96 j
Monteagle, Lord, 74
Montgomery, Mr. J. K., 52
Motor services, 152, 156, 159-160
Mountsorrel Credit Society, 222
Mutual help, 16
Nantwich Wholesale Produce Mar-
ket, Ltd., 166
National Agricultural Conference,
(1892), 89-92, 104
National Agricultural Union, 89,
91, 92, 103, 104
National Poultry Institute, 190
National Poultry Organisation So-
ciety, III, 124, 125, 186-9
Neale, Vansittart, 74
Newport (Salop) Agricultural Tra-
ding Society, 139, 143, 150, 200-1
New Zealand, 9
Nitrate of soda. World's consump-
tion of, 65
North-Eastern Agricultural Co-op-
erative Society, 112
North-Eastern Rly., 152, 157, 158,
177
Oil-mills, Co-operative, 27
Onslow, The Earl of, 115
Paget, Sir R. H., 142
Pain, Mr. George L., 127
Peacock, Mr. W. D., 69
Peninsular Products Exchange, 44
Perry, 59-60
Pershore Co-operative Fruit Market
Ltd., 165
Phizackerley, Mr. G. T., 155
Pigs : Improvement in breeding,
13 ; in Denmark, 30 ; Belgium,
35-6 ; co-operative sale, 198-9 ;
supply for bacon factories, 207-
8 ; pig clubs, 244-7
Plunkett, Sir Horace, 74-8, 86-7,
100, 104, III, 120, 253
Portland, The Duke of, 96, 258
Portnell, Mr. John, 112
S
258
INDEX
Portugal, early combinations in, 3
Post Office Savings Banks and
Agricultural Credit Societies, 228
Potatoes : Co-operative societies for
sale of, 25 ; imports, 56 ; advan-
tage of grading, 161
Poultry : In Germany, 25 ; im-
provement societies, 36 ; im-
ports, 56, 63 ; home production,
62, 63 ; Ireland, 80 ; Denmark,
133 ; Scotland, 133 ; National
Poultry Organisation Society,
186-9 ; demonstration train,
188 ; poultry industry instruc-
tion, 189-190; marketing, 190-1;
National Poultry Institute, 190 ;
International Society of Poultry
Instructors, 190
Preston and District Farmers'
Trading Society, 213
Pretyman, Captain, 93
Protection and agriculture, 91
Purchase, Co-operative : In Ger-
many, 22-4 ; Denmark, 30, 31,
32 ; Holland, 33-4 ; Belgium,
35. 37 > India, 40 ; Japan, 41 ;
United States, 43 ; purchase
societies the simplest form of
combination, 99 ; Great Britain,
109-112, 138, 193
RABBiT-improvement societies, 36
Raiffeisen system, 6, 7, 16, 22-3,
27.36
Railway rates, 141-152, 154, 171
Railway station dep6ts, 153
Railways, The, and agriculture, 93,
94, 99, 104, 140-159, 170-2
Rankin, Mr. James, 96
Read, Mr. Clare Sewell, 100
Reading rooms, 17
Recess Committee, The, 78
Ree, Mr. Frank, 143, 144, 150
Refrigeration, 9
Rew,Mr. R.H.,62,88,90,96, 100, 142
" Rings," 8, 81, 109
Ritchie, Mr., 140, 141
Roosevelt, Mr., and country life,
45-6, 253
Royal Agricultural College, Ciren-
cester, no [note)
Royal Agricultural Society of Eng-
land, 3
Royal Dublin Society, 3
Russell, Sir George, 141
Sale, Co-operation for : 14 ; in
United States, 43-4 ; Ireland,
82 ; market garden produce,
161-9 ; dairy industry, 173-182 ;
eggs and poultry, 190-4 ; live
stock, 197-200 ; grain, hay,
seeds, 200-2 ; wool, 202-4 ; hops
204-7
Salisbury, The Marchioness of, 125
Scalford Dairy Society, 177-8
Scawby Agricultural Credit So-
ciety, 220-2
Scotland, Agricultural organisa-
tion in, 105, III, 1 3 1-4 {See also
" Scottish A. O.-S.")
Scottish Agricultural Commission
to Denmark, 132-4
Scottish Agricultural Organisation
Society, 112, 122, 130, 134-5
Scottish Chamber of Agriculture,
132
Seeds, 81, no, 200-1
Shaftesbury, The Earl of, 127, 138
Sheep breeding. Societies for, 30
Sinclair, Captain John, 132
Small holders and co-operation,
123-4, 168-9
Small Holdings Act, 123-4, ^^8, 231
Small Holdings Commissioners, 234
Small Holdings Fund grant, 122-4
Smith, Mr. Albert H., 127
Smith, Mr. Clement, 127
Smith, Mr. F. C, 112
Smithfield Club, 3
Social aspects, 16-18, 83
Soulby, Mr. A. E. B., 241
South-Eastern Railway, 14 1-2, 144
Southern Counties Agricultural
Trading Society, 139, 199, 200
Spark, Mr. W. T., 215
Stalbridge, Lord, 141
Stanhope, Earl, 96
Stanley, The Hon. A. L., 241
Starch factories, co-operative, 25, 27
State policy : 2, 20-1 ; France,
28 ; Holland, 33 ; India, 38, 40 ;
shortcomings of, 71 ; United
Kingdom, 114-8, 122-131, 230 ;
Denmark, 133
Steam and transport, 9
Steel, Mr. Alec, loi
Strachie, Lord, 127
Strutt, The Hon. Edward, 127
Stuart- Wortley, R.N., Captain, 100
Sugar manufacture societies, 27
Surplus stocks, utilisation of, 70
Sutherland, The Duke of, 143
Syndicates, agricultural, in France,
26
Telegraphy, 9
Telephones, co-operation and :
United States, 45 ; England and
Wales, 247-9
INDEX
259
Tisserand, M,, 78
Tod, Mr. W. M., 123, 240, 241
Tomatoes, 60
Transition in agriculture, 10
Transport : Wheat, 9 ; application
of steam to, 9 ; collective trans-
port in France, 27 ; United
States, 43 ; combination for
transport in Great Britain, 66-7,
142-6, 161 ; lower rates and
increased facilities, 146-8 ; policy
of A. O. S., 148-150 ; possible
savings, 150-2 ; motor services,
152 ; railway station depots,
153 ; road transport, 156 ; light
railways, 156 ; position of small
holders, 168-9 ; milk, 170-2
Treasury, The, 116, 124, 125, 127
Turner, Mr. C, 236
United Irishwomen, The, 87
United States, The : Number of
societies, 42 ; early type of, 42 ;
Grange movement, 42-3, 45 ;
co-operative sale of fruit, 43-4 ;
dairies, 44-5 ; grain elevators,
45 ; telephones, 45 ; revival of
country life, 45-6 ; agricultural
credit, 47-50
University College, North Wales,
120
University College, Reading, 120
Urban conditions, lo-ii
Vaizey, Mr. K. G. R., 241
Vegetables : Preserving societies in
France, 27 ; home production
and imports, 63 ; utilisation of
surplus stocks, 70 ; co-operative
sale, 1 6 1-9
Village halls, 17, 86
Village industries 17
Viticulturists, co-operative societies
of, 15, 25, 27
Vuyst, M. de, 37
Wages, agricultural labourers', 72,
251-2
Wales, agricultural organisation in,
109-110, 1 1 7-8
Walker, Mr. F. E., loi
Wantage, Lord, 96
Water Orton Dairy Society, 176
Watkins, Mr. C. G., 117
Wenlock, Lord, 100
Wensleydale Pure Milk Society,
177, 184-5
West Midland Farmers' Associa-
tion, 139
Wharton, Mr. J. L., 100
Wheat : Imports, 8-9, 56 ; home
production, 57, 63
Whitehead, Mr., 121, 127
Whiteparish Agricultural Trading
Society, 213
Wiggenhall Agricultural Credit
Society, 222
Wilkins, Mrs. Roland, 125, 127
Wilkinson, Sir Joseph, 144-5
WilUams, Colonel R., 125, 127
Williams, Professor D. D., 119
Wilson, Mr. W., 198
Wilson, Sir James, 127, 242
Wiltshire Farmers, 178-9, 182
Winchcombe Co-operative Auction
Mart, 199
Winchester Agricultural Trading
Society, 199
Winchilsea, Lord, 91, 92, 95, 96, 99,
103, 104, 140, 146
Wolff. Mr. Henry W., 39
Women's Institutes : United States
and Canada, 17-18 ; Belgium,
18, 37-8 ; Ireland, 87
Wool : Production in Great Britain
61 ; imports, 202 ; trade con-
ditions, 203 ; proposed organisa-
tion, 203
Worthing and District Market
Growers' Association, 154
Wyville, Mr. M. D'Arcy, 96, 100
Yerburgh, Mr. R. A., 90, 96, 100,
103, 115, 117, 120, 123, 127, 241
Yorkshire Union of Agricultural
Clubs, 121
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See also ^^0%. 107-110, 127, 128, 210.
Rating of Land Yalues. See Nos. 63, 102, 103.
Referendum. See Nos. 104, 116, 201.
Representation. See No. 123.
Rural Districts. ^^^Nos. 1-4A, 71, 79, 80, 189-191, 198.
185 Sanitary Inspector's Guide. A Practical Treatise on
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26 p. S. KING & SON'S CATALOGUE
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186 Sewage Works Analyses. By Gilbert J. Powler, F.I.C.
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p. S. KING & SON'S CATALOGUE 31
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230 Transport Facilities in the Mining and Industrial
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241 Politics and Disease. By A. Goff and J. H. Levy.
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p. S. KING & SON'S CATALOGUE 33
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Women — continued.
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ton. Crown 8vo. is. (Inland Postage i^d).
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INDEX
35
The numbers following the Authors' names in this Index refer to the
consecutive order of the publications in the Catalogue, and not the page on
which the titles are to be found.
INDEX TO AUTHORS
Adams, Thomas, 226
Adams, William, 50
Adshead, S. D., 226
Alden, Percy, 238
Alderson, A. W., 171, 248
Andreades, A., 9
Arias, Harmodio, 134
Arnold, J. C. 74
Ashley, W. J., 209
Aston, E. A., 95
Austin, Edwin, 184
Baker, C. Ashmore, 183
Balfour of Burleigh, Lord, 143
Baty, A. M., 123
Baty, T., 123
Beale, S. W. P., 106
Beresford, Lord Charles, 129
Berkeley, G. F.-H., 74
Best, R. H., 14
" Birmingham, George A.," 74
Bisschop, W. R., 125
Blagg, Helen M., 86
Bode, Mabel, 66 .
Bourne, H. R. Fox, 59, 188
Bowley, A. L., 195, 196, 207
Brabrook, Sir Edward, 15, 224,
225
Bradshaw, F., 16
Bray, F. E., 51
Bright, Charles, 126, 211
British Constitution Association,
39,42,115,143
British Institute of Social Service,
165, 166
Brunton, Sir Lauder, 70, 120
Bulstrode, W., 23, 49
Bund, J. W. Willis, 226
Burton, A. R. E., 19
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 57
Buxton, C. Roden, 74
Cannan, Edwin, 164, 182
Catholic Social Guild, 146, 200
Cecil, Lord Hugh, 72)^ ^43
Central (Unemployed) Body for
London, 231-235
Chamberlain, J. Austen, 206
Chance, Sir William, 156, 158,
237, 243, 244
Chapman, Sydney, J., 82
Childers, Erskine, 74
Chinese Imperial Maritime Cus-
toms, 22
Chiozza Money, L. G., 64
Chomley, C. H., 167
Churton, Annette, 75, 79
Clark, W. Smith, 227
Collet, Clara E., 250
Columbia University, New York,
25, 57, 58
Cornford, L. Cope, 97, 114
County Councils' Association, 107,
145
Culpin, Ewart G., 226
Davidge, W. R., 226
Davis, W. J., 14
Dawson, W. H., 68, 169, 246
Denbigh, Earl of, 4
36
INDEX
Dendy, Mary, 62
Deploige, Simon, 201
Devas, Bertrand W., 200
Dodd, J. Theodore, 144, 157
" Doul, Martin," 74
Downes, Sir Arthur, 153
Diickershoff, Ernst, 253
Edgeworth, F. Y., 252
Edinburgh Charity Organisation
Society, 141
Edwards, G. Z., 245
Fabian Society, 249
Fay, C. R., 45
Festival of the Empire, 191
Fox, Arthur Wilson, 103
Fox well, H. S., 9, 125
Fowler, Gilbert J., 186
Frere, Margaret, 20
Fry, Sir Edward, 62
Galton, Sir Francis, 62
Galton, F. W., 228
Garden Cities and Town Planning
Association, 226
Geddes, Patrick, 226
Gibbon, I. G., 90
Glynn, J. A., 74
Gooch, G. P., 74, 117
Good, T., 206
Goflf, A., 241
Gorst, Sir John, 238
(iraham, J. C, 210
Gray, B. Kirkman, 139, 140
Gray, Eleanor Kirkman, 140
Greenwood, Arthur, 100
Grice, J. Watson, 128
Haldane, Viscount, 74
Hall, Hubert, 133
Halle, Ernst von, 67
Hannay, J. O., 74
Harley, J. H., 117, 192
Harris, G. Montagu, 107
Harris, J. Theodore, 40
Harrison, A., 61
Hasbach, W., 2
Hayward, Edward E., ']']
Heath, Francis Geo., 3
Heath, H. Llewellyn, 87
Herbert, Bron, 17
Herbert, Edward G., 130, 131
Herdman, J. O., 117
Hereford, Bishop of, 11
Heuvel, M. J. van den, 201
Hewins, W. A. S., 94
Higgs, Mary, ^-j, 78, 242
Hill, Alf. P., 118
Hill, Octavia, 154
Hirst, H., 203
Hinckes, Ralph T., 198
Hobhouse, L. T., 90
Hobson, J. A., 104
Hopkins, Ellice, 12
Howells, Clarence S., 230
Humberstone, T. LI., 56
Hutchins, B. L., 61, 140
India Office and Government of
India, 81
Inge, W. R., 62
International Association for
Labour Legislation, 98, 99
International Congress for the
Welfare and Protection of
Children, 21
International Co-operative Alli-
ance, 43, 44
International Opium Commission,
132
International Railway Congress
Association, 178, 179
Jack, A. Fingland, 6
Jackson, Congreve, 205A
Jebb, L., 190
Jellinek, George, 123
Jenner-Fust, H., 161, 162
Jevons, H. Stanley, 24, 230, 240
Johnson, A. H., 223
Joint Committee on Employment
of Barmaids, 251
Judge, Mark H., 71, 143, 229
Keeling, Frederick, loi
INDEX
37
Kelly, Edmond, 237
Kelynack, T. N., 120
King, T. G., 200
Knoop, Douglas, 82
Lanchester, H. V., 226
Landa, M. J., 5
Lange, M. E., no
Lauder, A. E., 127
Lemmoin-Cannon, H., 185
Leppington, C. H., d'E, 253
Levy, J. H., 241
Lincolnshire, Marquis of, 190, 191
Lissenden, Geo. B., 176, 177
Lloyd, John, 112
Lodge, Sir Oliver, 159, 159A
London County Council, iiiA
Lonsdale, Sophia 148
Love, C. H., Ill
Low, A. Maurice, II 70
Lucas, Lord, 17
McCleary, G. F,, 83
MacDermot, Frank, 74
Macdonald, J. A. Murray, 117
MacDonald, J. Ramsay, 117, 252
Macllwaine, Sydney W., 121
Mackay, Thomas, 151, 152
McLachlan, J. M., 108
Manchester Corporation Rivers
Department, 119
Matheson, F. James, 117
Meredith, H. O., 168
Mills, J. Saxon, 4
Money, L. G. Chiozza, 64
Morgan, J. H., 74
Montagu, Hon. Edwin S., 17
Moon, Arthur R., 63
Muirhead, John H., 159, 159A
Murray, Alice Effie, 94
Myers, Gustavus, 202
National Association for Women's
Lodging Homes, 76, 'j'j^ 78
National Conference on Infantile
Mortality, 84, 85
National Conference on the Pre-
vention of Destitution, 147
National League for Physical
Education and Improvement,
69, 70, 165, 166
National Union of Women
Workers, 223
Nationalities and Subject Races
Committee, 197
Nelson, Charles Alexander, 58
Nicholls, Sir George, 150, 152
Nightingale, Florence, 70
O'Donnell, F. Hugh, 96, 142
Osborne, W. V., 229
Oxley, J. Stewart, 105, 106
Paine, William, 187
Parkinson, Mgr. Henry, 146
Parsons, Ambrose, 117
Pease, Edw. R., 54
Peel, Sir Robert, 124
Penfold, G. S., loiA
Perks, C., 14
Perris, G. H., 117
Phillimore, R. C, 74
Phillips, Marion, 8
Pigou, A. C, 62
Pite, Beresford, 226
Poor Law Conferences, 160
Powell, EUis T., 60, 113
Pratt, Edwin A., 4A, 18, 173, 174,
175, 180, 189
Radford, George, i, 10
Rainbow Circle, 117
Reich, Emil, 72
Richards, H. Meredith, 91
Richardson, A. W., 222
Robertson, John M., 52, 59, ^j^
74, 117
Rosebery, Earl of, 17
Rural Housing Association, 75, 79
Russell, Alys, 65
Russell, Hon. Bertrand, 65
Russell, Hon. Rollo, 102
Ryan, W. P., 74
Sargent, A. J., 55
Sauerbeck, Augustus, 163
38
INDEX
Schloesser, Henry H., 227
Schloss, David F., 89
Sellers, Edith, 149
Smith, Charles Wi!
Smith, Thomas, 88
Sodor and Man, Bishop of, 245
Spiller, Gustav, 92, 93
Stanuell, Charles A., 41
Stenning, A. R., 226
Stratton, John, 200
Sykes, John F. J., 80
Tariff Commission, 208
Taylor, F. Isabel, 239
Temperance Legislation League,
212-221
Thompson, Denton, 245
Thompson, W., 109
Tillett, A. W., 193
Toke, Leslie A., 200
Tomn, Lilian, 201
Trevelyan, C. P., 201
Triggs, H. Inigo, 226
Trinity College (Oxford) Settle-
ment, London, 236
Truelove, Maurice Hawtrey, 7
Universal Race Congress, 92, 93
Unwin, Raymond, 226
Verney, Frederick, 70
Vincent, Ralph, 122
Walker, H. de R., 74, 117
Walter, Stephen, 205
Warmington, M. D., 210
Waterhouse, Paul, 226
Webb, Sidney, 2, 40, 61, 100,
228, 239
Wehberg, Hans, 52
Welby, Lord, 1 1 o
Wells, H. C, 187
Whitehouse, J. H., 11, 13
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