UNITED STATES - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



of which, however it is probable that a few had been closed and a few wer e 

 mentioned in duplicate owing to change of ownership. Terminal elevators 

 were not included. Of the 1,428 concerns 248 were mills and therefore 

 1,180 elevators proper, and almost exactly a fourth of these last were co- 

 operative elevators. 



The elevators are classed as co-operative, line and individual. I^ine 

 elevators are those owned by concerns having headquarters in central mar- 

 kets, while " individual " is the term used to designate the elevators locally 

 owned which are not co-operative, even if, as in a good ma^y cases, they are 

 owned not b}^ individuals but by firms or even corporations. 



The elevators in the 'ji counties of the State were classified as follows : 



Co-operative elevators 296 



Line elevators • . . 625 



Individual elevators 302 



Mills 205 



Total .... 1,428 



m 



While some of the 296 elevators called co-operative do not possess all 

 the characteristics and pursue all the practices generally considered appro- 

 priate to co-operative enterprise, they are all substantially controlled by 

 farmers ; and the large majority possess some, and many all, of the customary 

 characteristics of a co-operative organization. In most of them each stock- 

 holder has one vote, whatever amount of capital stock he may own. In 

 many of them there is a limit to the number of shares of stock one person 

 may own. In a considerable number the dividends on stocks are limited and 

 the remaining profits are distributed on a patronage basis. 



Of the 296 co-operative elevators information as to the year in which 

 they were organized is available for 204 and is given in Table I. In a 

 good many cases the present officers of farmers' elevators do not 

 know when their elevator was organized. The significance of the reports 

 is affected in some other cases by the fact that one or more reorganizations 

 have taken place, and it is not certain whether the date given is that of the 

 first organization or the latest reorganization. Nevertheless the table 

 gives a fair idea of the growth of the co-operative elevator system in the 

 State. The great majority of elevators have been organized since 1900. One 

 dates back to 1876 and another to 1884, btit the total number reported as 

 organized before 1900 is only thirty. Marked activity in the formation of 

 co-operative elevators appears from 1904 to 1906 and again from 1912 to 

 1914, the years 1912 and 1913 showing a greater number organized than 

 any others. Comparatively few seem to have been organized in 1915, but 

 this may be partly due to the absence of reports from the newest concerns 



