INFORMATION RELATING TO CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



35 



UNITED STATES. 



THE ACTIVITY OF THE JEWISH AGRICUIvTURAI, AND INDUSTRIAI, AID SOCIETY 

 IN 1916 (i). — From the society's annual report for 1916. 



The activity' of this society in 1916 was facilitated by the excellent 

 economic situation of the United States and the high prices of agricultural 

 products. 



Credit operations extended into thirty-six States ; 386 loans were 

 made in the year for a total amount of $229,827, as against 396 in 1915 

 for a total amount of $190,036. Since the number of loans diminished 

 while their total sum increased it follows that the average individual loan 

 was larger : it rose from $480 in 1915 to $595 in 1916. This business 

 brought the total number of loans made by the society since its foundation 

 up to 4,100, and the total sum lent up to $ 2,330,091. At the close of 1916 

 loans which had not been repaid numbered 1,713 and amounted to $ 977,423. 



The following table shows the chief objects for which loans were made : 



Non-recoverable credit entered in 1916 in the profit and loss account 

 amounted to § 7,227. The total sum which the society has lost under this 

 head is $ 64,217 or 3. 11 per cent, of the total sum lent. 



All the others sections of the society have continued to work with 

 the same success as in previous years. The office of agricultural labour 

 placed last year, 1,446 persons or 449 more than in 1915. 



The office for co-operative purchase, founded in 191 0, not only enabled 

 Jewish farmers to obtain the products they needed at cost price, but also 

 accomplished an educative work, teaching them to use improved machinery 

 and new kinds of seeds, to mix manures, etc. Thanks to the efforts of this 

 section some hundred silos have been installed in recent years. In the 

 seven years for which it has existed the office for co-operative purchase has 

 done business for more than $200,000. 



(i) International Review of Agricultural Economics, September 1916, page i. 



