394 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECORD. 



future federation the cooperative organizations stiould have as much uniformity 

 as possible in their rules and regulations. It is considered essential that the 

 association should select and determine the character of its own membership, 

 that it should limit the amount of stock any member may hold, that no mem- 

 ber should have more than one vote, and that the profits, if any, should be 

 distributed to the members on the basis of the amount of business transacted 

 by each with the organization or should be held as a reserve fund against the 

 possibility of future losses. 



The second step is the protection of the farmers against usurious conditions ; 

 the third, the granting by the State of long-time loans to farmers on first 

 mortgages at reasonable rates of interes.t and on the amortization plan of 

 repayment ; the fourth, the adoption of a more rational and less expensive sys- 

 tem of land registration; and the fifth, an educational propaganda by the 

 national government on the principles of cooperation and on the proper use of 

 credit. 



Agricultural organizations in European countries, R. A. Pearson (N. Y. 

 Dept. Agr. Bui. 66 (1914), pp. 451-636, pis. ^7).— The author, in describing those 

 features of agricultural organization which are adaptable to American condi- 

 tions, points out that the success of cooperative efforts is in proportion to the 

 need of them as well as to the efficiency with which they ta-e carried out. An 

 examination of foreign cooperative organizations shows that the effort is 

 constantly made to prove by reasoning and by practice that cooperative buying 

 and selling by farmers is not detrimental to legitimate business interests, but 

 no effort is made to conceal the fact that those societies are distinctly 

 injurious which thrive on unreasonable profits. He considers the importance of 

 putting the responsibility directly upon the individuals who compose the society, 

 as this insures the personal interest and activity which are necessary to success. 

 Any effort made by the nation or State to assist in cooperation must carefully 

 avoid the removal of this important personal incentive. 



[Cooperation in Switzerland] (Pubs. Sec. Suisse Paysans, No. 49 (1913), pp. 

 87). — This is the seventh annual report relating to cooperative organizations, 

 and indicates the membership by types of societies and principal activities 

 during the year 1913. 



The social anatomy of an agricultural community, C. J. Galpin ( Wisconsin 

 8ta. Research Bui. 34 {1915), pp. 34, pi. 1, figs. 10). — This bulletin outlines 

 the methods used by the author in making a social survey of Walworth County, 

 Wis., describes and discusses conditions as found by him, and gives a number 

 of maps indicating the extent of the various influences in the villages and cities 

 upon the surrounding rural districts. The author concludes from his studies 

 of these maps that the farm people on the land are situated upon the slopes of 

 social watersheds draining into one specific village or small city ; that these 

 social watersheds ignore township and county lines; therefore it is difficult to 

 get people who belong to different social basins, whose paths constantly lead 

 over different roads toward different civic centers to work together aggressively 

 under a township plan in regard to matters which belong naturally only to the 

 homes that move together in the larger affairs of ordinary life. This maladjust- 

 ment of local government is deemed perhaps the fundamental handicap of the 

 farm home. The readjustment of rural populations into communities, steps 

 in replanning a comprehensive community, and evidences of an alliance between 

 town and farm are discussetl with a view to alleviating such conditions. 



[The dwellings of agricultural workers], R. Durand and J. Sanchez {Bol. 

 Mens. Museo Soc. Argentino, 4 (1915), No. 37-38, pp. 75-103. figs. 17).— The 

 articles written by the above authors relate to housing conditions as fovmd 

 among different types of agricultural people in Argentina. 



