PLUNKETT POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 522, 1 June 1909, Page 7

PLUNKETT POLICY.

ROOSEVELT'S PRAISE. Old TH£ LIBERALS- SUPPRESS IT? iftlSH QUESTION. {bt tittmrn-rntias issutiAtioN-entintatiif.l : (Rec. May 31 t 10.10 p.m.) London, May 31. In a letter to the British Minister at Washington (Mr. das. Bryeo) President Roosevelt paid a gencwus tribute to Sir Horace Pluhkett fer' his initiation' and successful conduct of tho 00-operative movement ii' Irish agriculture, which—the letter adds— had inspired President R<raefcvelti tifld his follow workers in the task,bf attacking solute what similar problems in American . rural t life. ~ "The Times" states that in"view of the special character of a representative national i message with which President RcoSGvelt, oil the eve. tof quitting ofßce,' inveeted A the communication, it wuld perhaps have been more courteous of the British Government' to accord it publicity here ,on their own initiative,' instead of perpiitting'its existence to become known through the American press months after/the Utter was written. The paper adds that considering the: oiicnastawses under which Sir Horaco -Plurtkett ceased to be Vice* President, of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for. Ireland, tie' Resident's 'encomium of his, work in Ireland would no. doubt he likely to em-. baWws who were respfiaible lor tlie sacrifice of the country to Nationalist antipathies. *: \ '

SIR, H. PLUNRETTS WORK IN IRELAND, j ' Sir H. Plunkett, who in'earlier life -was a rancher in America,' retired some little time 1 ago fromtho Vice-Presidency of , the Irish Department .of Agriculture . under, it' is allegedi Liberal pressure. It is claimed that he has tarried out a successful policy quite above patty and (class, and his retirtmfefit has been a subjeefc, lor Unionist criticism of tile, Govern-, ine'nt. ' | Organisation of Farmerj. 1 Hardly any popular movement in Ireland has attracted more attention in recent years, w rites G. W.Kussell, than the rapidly growing movement for , the ,organisation of farmer's in cooperative assooi&tionß. •, i'lio co-operative movwncut in Ireland was started by Sir Horace Plunkett,-who reversed the ouatom usual in other countries by doing his work first and' writing its propaganda literature in later, years ■as ,an afterthought. He returned from America 1 in 1889, and began a solitary campaign among tlie Irish farmers, He has left it on record that he addressed utty meetings before he started his first co-operative dairy sooiety. When ho could point to one. sueoossful. association the', hardest part'of his work was over, for the conservative'farmer always asks if, there is anything, of the kind forking elsewhere, and if there .is nothing to point to, the farmer refuses to lead a. forlorn; hope, 'fho proud consciousness'of "beiug in tho foremost files of time is no lure to his spirit. Sir Horaoe Plnnkett soon attracted helpers., 1 There were a few freoplft in Ireland at that time who were sick of the class. w*r, and who ivere not verv ardent politicians, and-who sawolearly that whether : the Irish farmer owned his land or paid rent for it, whether Ireland governed itself or was governed, a complete revolution would 'have to be made in rural 1 business methods. . , . • ••, , . ! In, IKII was formed the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society,: Which was formed to carry on the work of organising the farmers for business purposes, which had by that tjme grown too heavy for'one volunteer to cope with. Tho 1.A.0.8. has - two classes of members-society-Members'-oM -members—tto latter class composed of people who sympathise with it»'Jsfr#rk and;>pay. aUt'aniUal tion. The sooiety t,members eleot three-quarters of the committee of manage nent, and practic-i ally >controls .its - p01i0y.... Tho of the 1.A.0.5. ate toijorganise; into co-opera-tive associations wherever jtho conditions Of their Industry aro such that production would be ■ inoreased ot an economy effected by ex- ! changing' individnal action for, associated effort in production, ; Bale,' or purchase. ' , The movement has grown life the, proverbial mustard-tree from the small seed sown in 18S9, when the first society was formed, and now its ramifications extend into every county in Ireland. The societies, at the beginning of October, 1908, numbered OCt; of these 305 were dairy socioties,, 56 were unregistered, auxiliary creameries, 175 Iwere agricultural societies, 273 wort credit' associations, 34 were; poultry societies. 15 were flax, and 103 were home industries, or for miscellaneous purposas. Thaw were also three federations. 1 ' ; Dairy Co-operation. .-■•. The societies" which bulk largest in membership and trado' are the eo-opcrative dairy societies. A revolution was effeoted in buttermaking by tho introduction, about a quartet, of a century ago, of tho steam ssparator, which separates the cream from the milk, by centrifugal action. Under tho old System of home buttermaking it. took, on an average, three gallons of milk to make a pound of butter. By employing the steam separator, with its cleaner skimming, two and a half gallons or less sufficed. / . , : ■ : . ""The use of ■ tho now invention necessitated the entrance of tho capitalist, or else a-large combination of the farmers who Could afford to ereot. buildings and pUrchaSo. hte expensive oreot buildings and purchase the expensive when the private capitalist owned the creamery that he took care to reserve the largest portion of the profits for himself, and after a little time when'the farmers, , seduced by initial good prices had dropped their old methods, lost i their local markets, when their churns were rotting or growing, geraniums in tho garden, ■ they were. at the mercy of .the creamery proprietor,. who ■ paid , for milk just what he thought lit.! i'- . . ' ■ ;. Under, tho co-operative system, whioh speedily became popular, the, farmers becamo themselves the ownerS of: tho creamery and ' appointed their own manager, and through a committee elected' by themselves Controlled the undertaking, working it with the energy, of self-interest.. In Irish co-operative dalty v societies cioh farmer •takes, as a rule, as many one-pound shares as' he has iniloh cows. He is paid interest on his' shares/ and besides, the payments for. milk, which are made monthly, he is entitled, at the close of the season, to his share of'the profits on the'sale of the butter, whioh are divisible proportionately to the | value of tho milk BUpplied. by each farmer. Tho turnover Of the eo-operativ'6 dairy socio--1 ties In 1000 ws» i11,507,C00. Agricultural Banks. 'iOne of : the' most popular forms agricultural co-operation in Ireland takes is in the establishment of. credit societies, or agricultural banks. These are very slmplo in their-con-stitution. A number of farmers join together in a ; society' which is registered under the Friendly Societies Act without shares and with unlimited; liability. The members are made jointly and severally liable for the debt of _ the association. They got deposits from privato individuals or .borrow money frota a large bank, or. from-a Government department, on the strength of tho' unlimited guarantee of all the members; for its safe keeping, lhis is lent out to membsrs require loans by a committee: elected by themselves.' 1 It his generally boon found possible to borrow money, at frem;3 to iiper eent.-] and to lend it at the popular rato of OnO penny per pound per month. Sfortey is only lent for profitable and productive' 1 purposes or to effect some economy, and tho. sureties of the borrower avo bound to seo that the man who receives' a loan applies it to the purpose for which it was approved. The Congested Districts Board and'the Department of Agriculture have shown thoir approval of this class ot society'by advancing'loans to them at 8 per cent' tho amounts so lent varying from &0 to v£loo. These societies are most numorous in congested -districts, ..and indeed tlioy Becm to flourish most and to, bo best managed in the , poorest 'parishes..-.' They, have Bavod manv farmers _ from ,tho t c utches of the "gombeeh man,' the typical Irish usuror, who is not bv any means an . extinct species yet, thoogh the advance of im organised rural civilisation is unsuitable to his habits.