l8 C.VXADA - CO-OPEEATIOX AND ASSOCIATION 



This considerable sum returned in part to the producers themselves, 

 as shareholders in the companies, in the form of dividends. Tn part it 

 went to swell the reserve funds of the companies, thus allowing them to 

 midtiply and intensify their future activities on behalf of the farming class. 

 A balance amounting to $620,000 entered the coffers of the .State in the 

 form of a tax on profits. 



The three companies now own or work more than five hundred local 

 elevators. Including the buildings now in course of construction they dis- 

 pose, or will do so shortly, of a storage capacity of more than five million 

 bushels. 



It is fair to note that the development of agricultural organization in 

 the Prairie provinces is largely due to the perseverance and the sane com- 

 mercial and financial methods shown in the management of the Manitoba 

 Grain Growers' Grain Company. These were the best means of advancing 

 the cause of union and co-operation among the farmers. 



It is also apposite to recall that these companies enjoy no sj^ecial pri- 

 vileges. They compete with the purely commercial companies, and the 

 tariffs they appty to the handling of grain are fixed either by the Canadian 

 Grain Commission or by the Winnipeg Corn Exchange, which control them. 

 Their activity and their success are therefore the more remarkable and are 

 proof of the excellency of their methods.. 



The figures representing profits which we have given are far from affording 

 an accurate idea of the advantages which farmers derive from this organi- 

 zation. The departments for co-operative provision, which allow a farmer 

 to procure the products and other foods he needs almost at cost price with- 

 out the intervention of middlemen , mean an enormous economy to farms. 

 Wood, wire, coal, rope, agricultural machines and tools are thus provided 

 to their members by the companies in increasing quantities. The Manitoba 

 Company has even bought vast extents of forest land in order to command 

 the timber needed b}' its members, which it cuts dowm and markets itself. 

 The sale of agricidtural products other than grain by these companies is 

 becoming increasingly important. 



It is therefore not surprising that the report of the Manitoba Company 

 concludes with a very promising forecast : 



" If the shareholders and those whom they have placed in charge of 

 the respective compaines' business remain true to the principle and ideal 

 which brought them into existence, they cannot fail to increase in the right 

 direction their power and influence in the commercial life of Western Ca- 

 nada. While it is always dangerous to enter the realm of prophecy, it 

 is not too much to expect that within the next ten years the farmers of 

 Western Canada will be operating their own sawmills and their own flourmills, 

 possibly their own coalmines and meat packing plants, and may be caring for 

 their own fidelity and fire insurance ". 



The decision taken at the respective general meetings of the Manitoba 

 Grain Growers' Grain Company and the Alberta Fanners' Co-operative Ele- 

 vator Company to merge themselves into a single company which will be 

 known as the United Grain Growers represents a fresh step towards the uni- 



