154 



organization all at once on the plan of an organization that has 

 taken years to develop. The plan may be sonnd bnt a cooperative 

 organization can only succeed when given the unflinching support 

 of the members who through years of experience have acquired 

 an appreciation of the fundamentals that underlie a successful 

 association of this kind. The success of any organization depends 

 on its members, not on its form. 



THE MEMlSERSHIl' IN" A COOPKK.\Tl\E ( )Rc;.\XlZATI0N. 



The membership in a cor)i)erative organization should be con- 

 fined exclusively to those who are producers and who, as pro- 

 ducers, use its facilities. The members should be acquainted and 

 have confidence in each other. It should never include those who 

 contribute capital alone to it. Alany organizations are formed by 

 bankers, fruit dealers, or others who promote an organization for 

 the purj)ose of making a profit from it. They may be formed in 

 good faith by business men who realize the value of the coopera- 

 tive movement and who are willing, as a service, and not for 

 profit, to furnish the capital for its organization. The need for 

 such an organization must spring from within, from the neces- 

 sity of the industry, and not from a desire of a commission mer- 

 chant, a broker, or of an ambitious manager who sees an oppor- 

 tunitv of capitalizing the cooperative movement for his per.sonal 

 benefit. There are many organizations of the latter type that 

 masquerade under the cooperative banner, but which are formed, 

 managed, and controlled either directly or indirectly by those 

 who make a profit on the packing organizations, on the sale of 

 fruit, on the purchase of supi)lies. on railroad claims or trade re^ 

 bates, or in other indirect ways. Such organizations are always 

 kept prominently before the growers as cofiperative. a situation 

 which, when it exists, is almost prima facie evidence that the 

 cooperative features are for the l)enefit of a few. rather than for 

 all the members. 



Membership in a coiij^erative organization >hould carry with it 

 a responsibility on the part of the member strong enough \.o carry 

 it through adversity of every kind. To feel this res]K>nsil)ility, 

 the member must of course feel the necessity for ihc organiza 

 tion ; he must feel that he is a i)art of it: that the organization is 

 his, developed and managed to ])roinotc and ])rotect his interest.^. 

 If the association is formed by the members to meet their econo- 

 mic needs, this feeling of responsibility pervades the membership, 

 but if the association is formed to promote the welfare of the 

 officers or any other class of peo])le, or if financed by well mean 

 ing peo])le who really desire its success, an as.sociation cannot 

 depend on the lf)yalty of its members in time of adversity. 



r)ne of the i)roblcms that ;i roitperatixc association always has 

 before it is keeping alive the interest of its members. Tliey must 



