People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1897 — Farmer’s Exchange Organized. [ARTICLE]

Farmer’s Exchange Organized.

The Product* •/ the Farm to be Handled by an Agent. Kokoma, Ind., March 13.—The Howard county farmers formed an organization today that is already attracting attention. It is known as the “Farmers’ Exchange,” and is in the nature of a trust or combine. The organization contemplates an entirely new method of disposing of the products of the farm. The constitution provides for the appointment of a county agent, whosq duty it shall be to buy and sell for all the members of the combine. The agent will have two large entry books, one of which will contain a list of the articles placed in his hands for sale; the other a record of the commodities the members desire to purchase. Wherever possible an exchange of products will be made, thus avoiding the unnecessary and expensive method of buying and selling and shipping out aud in. The agent is allowed a fee of 10 cents lor each entry and an additional small commission, at the option of the seller. He is required to inform himself on freight rates to all points, receive daily quotations from all available markets; in short, thoroughly equip himself for an economical and business- like handling of the goods placed in his keeping. He will open an office in this city, and a heavy bond is required for faithful performance of duty. The most preeminent farmers in the county are at the head of the movement, and farmers alone are eligible to membership.