14—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Dec. 6, 1975
A law which is not widely known . . . .
The Capper-Volstead Act
gave birth to farmer co-ops
Ever heard of Capper-Vol
stead? No, they weren’t a
song-and-dance team, but they
were well-known dunng the
vaudeville era—l 922 to be ex
act.
Senator Arthur Capper and
Congressman Andrew Vol
stead were two congiessmen
who sponsored legislation that
resulted in the Capper-Vol
stead Act of 1922. Their cru
sade was simple enough—they
wanted to give fanners the
right to organize their own
marketing companies. Their
basic idea was to try to put
the individual family fanner
m a stronger bargaining posi
tion—if he was willing to
work with others in a special
non-profit, self-help organiza
tion.
Today, after 52 years, rhere
are about 5,000 fanner mar
keting cooperatives (involv
ing over 3 million fanner
memberships in the U.S.)
ranging from small organiza
tions to large food companies.
In some cases, the public
knows co-ops by such well
known brand names as Sun
kist, Land ’O Lakes, Welch’s,
Sun-Maid, Sunsweet, Sue Bee,
Ocean Spray, Diamond Wal
nut and many others.
An important part of Sen
ator Capper’s and Repre
sentative Volstead’s original
idea was granting the farmer
the option of starting his own
cooperative company if he
wanted to. This meant that if
he didn’t like the price offered
by a big processor—or for
that matter, if he felt the
A TTENTION FARMERS . . .
WE CAN POSSIBLY SAVE YOU SOME MONEY ON YOUR FERTILIZER NEEDS.
12-12-12- $ 136
6-24-24- $ 139
16-16-16- $ 161
These prices are delivered to your farm. C.O.D. prices are good till December 20 f 1975. Add *3 a ton from December 20, 1975 to
ROUND BALE FEEDER
Senator Arthur Capper
buyer wasn’t handling his Volstead were in favor of this!
product in the right- way—he In 50 years, few people
could take care of his own outside the - farm community
marketing. ever knew what a co-op was
How important is the
Capper-Volstead Act?
Many Congressmen don t even know.
Also important was the idea —that is until illegal campaign
that a farmer-owned company contributions put a few co
would bring more competi- ops in the news. While there
The vast majority of cooperatives
have a clean hill of health
tion to the market place and were similar violations by nu
hold food prices down Like merous non-co-op companies,
all politicians, Capper and the ones by co-ops gave their
Uses 45%
January 1, 1976. 5% discount on 25 ton orders. Also baler twine *16.50 per bale delivered.
Congressman Andrew Volstead
19-19-19-470
0-26-26-*149
nitrogen ’ISO 50
WE ALSO HAVE AVAILABLE
- These feeders are built of heavy gauge tensil 1”
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'-T
These cabs are of the finest quality available and at a
lower price of competitive brands.
HAROLD E. DICE
special type of business a
black eye. And in today’s
world, that means hearings
and investigations.
So far, all examinations
have given the vast majority
of co-ops a clean bill of health.
And a re-examination of Gap
pev-Volstead has brought to
light the important contribu
tion that fanner cooperatives
make, in terms of added com
petition, improved quality and
reasonable prices.
Of course, co-ops still have
their detractors; some officials
in the Justice Department
want to take away the author
ity ot the Secretary of Agri
culture to supervise price be
havior of co-ops—as Capper
and Volstead specified. Some
powerful food interests which
face co-op competition want
co-op activity curtailed for
obvious reasons. But as the
debate intensifies over the
law that Senator Capper and
Representative Volstead gave
us, one thing is certain: pub
lic apathy over a technical
issue of this nature gives the
bureaucracy more freedom to
do what it wishes without
serious opposition.
And yet, most people (even
government officials) don’t re
alize that “cooperation” (the
way farm people say it) is an
important component of our
agricultural system and is
doubtless one of the major
reasons why Americans en
joy an unrivaled abundance
of food at proportionately
less cost than any other peo
ple in the world.
CALL FOR PRICES
RDI, PA. (Yellow House) 215-689-9896
5-
6-
8-32-16- $ 169
HORSEPOWER. ..Pittsburgh—parking attendant Tony
Intorre is used to parking Pintos and Mustangs but this
palamino threw him for a loss when its owner asked for a
parking space. He solved the problem by backing the four
footer into a space among the four-wheelers.
* LIQUID MANURE PIT
Deodrant Concentrate
* LICE POWDERS
For Dust Bag Kits
* TOXANOX LIQUID
For Back Rubber Units
* SHELL HORSE WORMER
For Internal Grooming
* SP - 250 - SWINE
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* TRAMISOL HOG WORMER
For Lung Worms In Hogs
* CATTLE & HOG MINERALS
w/Vitamins
* HORSE & CATTLE POWDER
A Conditioner
AARON S. GROFF & SON
FARM & DAIRY STORE
R.D.3, Ephrata, Pa. 175221 HinkletownJ Phone 354-0744
Store Hours 7 A.M. to 9 P.M.
Closed Tues. & Sat. at 5:00 P.M.
12-24-24- $ 169
10-20-20- $ 151-*
nitrate 33% - ’169
CUSTOM BUILT CABS
FOR YOUR TRACTOR
OR COMBINE
B^B
Your business will be greatly
Appreciated