s jars, as it may cause breakage.

11. If jars are to be stored where there is strong light, wrap them
in paper, preferably brown, as light will fade the color of products
canned in glass jars, and sometimes deteriorate the food value.

That's the whole trick.

CHAPTER XXVII

RETAIL COOPERATION

COOPERATION in buying supplies at wholesale, in standardizing and
shipping crops, in keeping grain in elevators, and fruit and some
meats and poultry in cold storage has reached a high development
among the farmers largely in the Northwest, much ahead of us "city
folks."

There are more than five thousand active Farmers' Cooperation
Associations in the United States. Minnesota alone has over six
hundred cooperative creameries, some of which have a laundry annex.
The associations have six hundred and sixty thousand members and do
a business of nearly a thousand dollars a year for each member.
These are the people that we call "hayseeds"; if we could plant some
more such "seeds," it would be a good job. But in cooperative retail
domestic supply we are far behind England and other countries, even
behind Russia. That is partly because our better retail business
methods leave less room for the savings.

A simple and easy but important beginning of cooperation was where
each one took turns in delivering the milk and fetching supplies.
One farmer might do it all every day for a small charge.

The new South is developing a great business in this line. When you
go to New Orleans look up the stores whose letter head reads:

NELSON CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, INC.
_Food Suppliers_
OFFICE, 506 So. PETERS STREET. CREAMERY, ERATO ST.
WAREHOUSE, 511 SO. PETERS ST. BAKERY, ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE.
61 RETAIL STORES
4 MEAT MARKETS

In August, 1917, N. O. Nelson of the above concern writes in answer
to my request:

"It does not take 2500 words to tell all I know about Cooperation. I
trust the inclosed may be serviceable for your book, and shall feel
proud if it is.

"I am doing my job here for two very practical reasons; first, the
immediate service of reducing the cost of living to say 15,000
families, mostly poor; second, to introduce economy in retailing.

"The readers of such a book as yours are well aware of the wasteful
ways of retailing goods. In every town and city there is a
multiplication of stores, advertising clerks, teams, and other
incidentals.

"Likewise there is a lot of middle men and drummers, t