FARMERS: Ready-Made Marketing

Bernard Mannes Baruch is not a farmer. He was for years a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He has served in many governmental capacities. He wrote the economic sections of the Versailles Treaty. Lately he has been studying the problems of the farmer.

The product of his studies, a plan for helping grain farmers to market their product, was surprised out of him by newspapers. The Journal of Commerce (Chicago) published an account of Mr. Baruch’s plan; so Mr. Baruch decided to give a full and correct account of it himself. The proposal is simple:

Farmers by subscription would purchase an interest in the Armour Grain Company (one of the large grain marketing concerns of the country). The remaining ownership of the company would be acquired later by subscription or by application of the profits to paying off the present owners. Meanwhile the company, controlled by a joint board of directors, would act as a cooperative marketing agency for the farmers. Mr. George Marcy, President of the Company and expert in grain marketing, would continue to direct the Company’s operations for five years.

Mr. Baruch hastened to add that the proposal had not gone beyond the stage of discussion and that he had merely discussed its general feasibility with J. Ogden Armour and Mr. Marcy. Mr. Armour was at first opposed to the plan, but later changed his mind when Mr. Baruch pointed out that if the farmers should take over the Armour Grain Co. it would be a monument to Mr. Armour and his father.

The advantages of cooperative marketing under good management are generally appreciated by the farmers. Mr. Baruch’s real contribution is a plan by which the farmers would take over an organization thoroughly experienced in the marketing of grain.

Opposition to Mr. Baruch’s plan sprang up at once, however. J. M. Mehl, who is secretary of the U. S. Grain Growers, Inc., declared there was no possibility of their buying the Armour Grain Co. for two good reasons. First, the farmers lack the money, and, second, the farmers are determined to set up their own grower-owned and controlled agencies. The American Farm Bureau Federation issued a similar statement. Mr. Baruch declined further comment.