240 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



trolled by the entire membership, and was capitalized from the fees and 

 dues that the members had paid into the state Union. The state exchange 

 handled groceries, clothing, machinery, engines, cream separators, twine, 

 oil, salt, coal, lumber, cement, posts, fencing, flour, feed, hay, produce, 

 and numerous other items, and supplied goods to the cooperative stores, 

 elevators, buying and shipping associations, and Union locals, as well as 

 to members directly. In 1915 the exchange claimed to have done a busi- 

 ness of $319,882; the following year it reported almost a million dollars' 

 worth of business, and by 1928 it was operating ten branch retail stores. 

 Besides making purchases for members at a saving, the exchange forced 

 competitors to hold down their prices. 48 



Grain marketing became another concern of the Nebraska Union. 

 Associations organized by it adhered more strictly to the cooperative 

 principle than did the older farmer companies. The National Grain Com- 

 mission Company, which was formed by the Union, obtained a seat on 

 the Omaha Grain Exchange. 49 



The Nebraska Union sought to organize only creamery stations in the 

 beginning, but discrimination by the old-line creameries soon forced it 

 to establish a cooperative creamery. Local creameries had never been 

 successful in Nebraska because they failed to obtain a sufficient quantity 

 of cream. This accounts for the decision to set up a regional cooperative 

 creamery covering a territory large enough to supply the necessary vol- 

 ume. The first such creamery was established in Fremont, and later others 

 were organized in Superior, Aurora, and Fairbury. It was claimed that 

 these creameries increased the price for butterfat paid to farmers from 

 three to four cents a pound, while patronage dividends ran the profits of 

 patrons up an additional two or three cents a pound. 50 



Cooperative gasoline stations began to appear in 1925, and three years 

 later there were forty-five of them in Nebraska. The earliest of these 

 associations were said to have brought savings of as much as eight cents 

 a gallon. This forced the old-line distributors in the state to bring down 

 their prices from four to six cents per gallon. In May, 1927, the Nebraska 

 Farmers' Union Cooperative Oil Association was organized, which in 

 turn made the Farmers' Union state exchange its buying agent. 



48. Ibid.; F.E.C.U. Nebraska, The farmers Union, pp. 11-12. 



49. Ibid., p. 5. 50. Ibid., pp. 8-9. 



