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be a vital part of the organization. Tiiey must take an active 

 part in its development. They must keep posted on the details of 

 the business ; the business methods of the organization must be 

 an open book to them. There can be nothing mysterious about 

 the management of the business. Contracts, salaries, trade or 

 other legitimate rebates, railroad claims, profits, or earnings of 

 every kind — these must be of such a nature that every producer 

 can know about them if a cooperative association is to maintain 

 the loyal support and confidence of its members. It must, of 

 course, win that su])port by the results it accomplishes and these 

 results must be obtained by a business record that keeps free from 

 suspicion regarding the integrity of its methods, and as free as 

 possible from criticism regarding its business efificiency. Every 

 defect of the organization will be kept before the members by its 

 competitors, and imaginary defects created by willful misrepre- 

 sentation by those who aim to break down the membership, will 

 always be prominently featured. 



VOTING POWKR OF MEMBERS. 



In a strictly cooperative organization a fundamental principle 

 should be "one man, one vote." It should be a real industrial 

 democracy in which the members trust each other and lean upon 

 each other's judgment as men. In such an organization neither 

 the capital contributed nor the volume of business transacted 

 should be the basis of the responsibility or influence of the indi- 

 vidual member, because neither can cooperate or be made a basis 

 for lasting cooperation. In the European cooperative associa- 

 tions the "one man, one vote" principle is applied as a test to 

 separate the true cooperative associations from the pseudo co- 

 operative. Since cooperation is founded on man, not on capital 

 nor on products, there is no fundamental difference in principle 

 where capital is eliminated and product is substituted as the basis 

 of voting and control. The control of a cooperative association 

 should be founded on the equality of membershio, whether the 

 member contributes a large or a small volume of business. It is 

 the members who. as men, cooperate in these organizations. The 

 historv of the cooperative movement in Europe and in Californin 

 shows that this fundamental basis is sound. In the latter state, 

 one organization, the California Fruit Growers Exchange, which 

 was formed as a stock corporation, but which operates strictly on 

 cooperative principles, handles a business of twenty million dol- 

 lars, more or less, annually on the "one man. one vote" princirilc 

 of voting. The directors each represent a business that varies 

 widely in volume and in value, but the "one man. one vote" orin- 

 ciple of representation has stood the test of business experience 

 and has been one of the foundation stones on which the success 

 of this organization has been built. The directors reserved the 

 right when they organized to vote pro rata on the shipments rep- 



