THE FARMERS' UNION 247 



terminal in the country, maintained that there was no need for the Central 

 Cooperative on the South St. Paul market; it charged that the Central 

 was in fact a mere duplication of existing marketing facilities and impeded 

 the solution of the farm problem. 67 To this charge the Central replied 

 that the Union livestock agency was inefficient and bankrupt and was 

 operated by promoters; in contrast, the Central was incorporated under 

 the cooperative laws of Minnesota, and had been organized and managed 

 strictly as a cooperative by producers tributary to the St. Paul market, not 

 by outsiders who were only remotely interested in the marketing problems 

 of the area. Further, the Central claimed that, starting in 1921 with only 

 $27,000 capital, it had handled over a five-year period 1922 to 1927 some 

 99,381 carloads of livestock for 125,000 producers at a saving of over 

 $200,000 annually, whereas the more expensive Union house had handled 

 only 14,361 carloads for a correspondingly smaller number of shippers. 

 The Central was on friendly terms with the other Farmers' Union houses, 

 had established public confidence by having its books audited monthly 

 by public accountants, had not spent its profits on promotion but had 

 returned them to the shippers, and had no interest in joining a general 

 farm organization unless by so doing it could be of additional service to 

 its members. 68 



Grain marketing was high on the list of Union activities in the North- 

 west. The first major effort materialized with the organization of the 

 Farmers' Union Terminal Association, which was built upon the ruins 

 of the old Equity Cooperative Exchange. Originally this institution was 

 known as the Equity Union Marketing Association, but in 1926 the name 

 was changed to the Farmers' Union Terminal Marketing Association. 69 

 Its business in the first year, 1925-26, totaled 1,500,000 bushels; during the 

 second year, 1926-27, 8,000,000 bushels; and during the third year, 

 1927-28, 8,000,000 bushels. The grain of its affiliated members and 

 elevators was distributed through the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Duluth- 

 Superior markets. In 1930, by virtue of its handling more than 15,000,000 

 bushels of grain annually, it claimed that it was the largest cooperative 



67. A. W. Ricker, The Farmers' Union and Its Enemies (n.p., n.d.), pp. 1-4 

 [pamphlet]. 



68. Co-operative Shipper (South St. Paul), May, 1928; January, 1930. 



69. Northwest Division, The Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union of 

 America (St. Paul, [1930]), p. 15 [booklet]. 



