INFORMATION RELATING TO CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 29 



A large quantity of wool is marketed through the association and it 

 goes to the manufacturers directly. This year co-operative canneries and 

 co-operative driers are being established in the Pacific coast States for can- 

 ning and drj'ing fruit. The stockholders of these co-operative societies are 

 the organized farmers and 90 per cent, of them are members of the Ameri- 

 can Society of Equity. The total capitalization is $250,000 of which 

 $3,000 has been paid up. 



The Wisconsin vState Union of the American Society of Equity has 

 about 400 local unions and carries on varied work. It buys supplies, 

 and was able last year to secure a profit in spite of the narrow margin on 

 which business is conducted. Coal, flour, fodder, twine, machinery and all 

 kinds of groceries are handled in fiftj'-pound orders. The price of gluten 

 fodder has thus been reduced to members of the union by nearly S9 a ton. 

 The Wisconsin State Union publishes its own paper, Tlie Equity News. 



At present the association is organizing the Industrial Co-operative 

 Union which will, as far as possible, deliver goods directly from the producer 

 to the consumer. A company with a capitalization of half a million is 

 being started, half the stock to be sold to producers and half to consumers 

 in Milwaukee. One or two central receiving plants are being established 

 and a number of distributing centres with rigs are being placed in different 

 parts of the city. A consequent reduction in the cost of living is anti- 

 cipated. 



The activities of the society of Equity vary in different States. In Min- 

 nesota and Wisconsin the live stock shipping associations have had a great 

 development, at least 200 of them being organized by this society alone. 

 At Farmington in Minnesota a wool warehouse has been established ; and 

 not only is a better price being secured for wool, but many excellent garments 

 are being manufactured very cheaply and returned to the wool consigners at 

 far lower prices than those for which they could bviy them elsewhere. In 

 North Dakota the chief business has been in grain, and a fight steadily 

 waged for some time with the Minneapolis Chamber of commerce has fi- 

 nally residted in the establishment of a .separate exchange in St. Paul. 

 Other States have dealt with special phases of the marketing and buj'ing 

 problem. 



