THE FARMERS' UNION 249 



of all or any specified parts of the agricultural products grown or produced 

 by such members from year to year; 



(5) Of borrowing money from any source and investing its reserve and making 

 advances or lending money to members of the association and others upon 

 adequate security and of taking collateral for any such loans or advances . . . ; 



(6) Of purchasing, leasing, or otherwise acquiring real property, and of build- 

 ing, constructing, purchasing, renting or otherwise acquiring any build- 

 ings, warehouses, store rooms, work shops, elevators, mills, and machinery, 

 and any other kind of property necessary or useful, or that may be deemed 

 profitable or convenient in carrying on the business of this corporation; 



(7) Of purchasing, buying, selling, transferring, owning and utilizing the 

 capital stock or bonds of other corporations; 



(8) Of doing all other acts and things that a natural person may lawfully do 

 in manufacturing, buying, selling and dealing in any agricultural products 

 or any merchandise consumed or used by men engaged in agriculture. 72 



The Farmers' Union Terminal Marketing Association even acquired 

 holding-company status in 1927, when it organized a Delaware corpora- 

 tion known as the Farmers' Union Exchange. The terminal association 

 owned all of the stock of the exchange and its board of directors elected 

 the directors of the exchange. The purpose of the exchange was to con- 

 duct the merchandising activities of the Union in the Northwest, and 

 exchange profits were either devoted to educational and organizational 

 activities or absorbed into the treasury of the terminal association. The 

 merchandising activities of the exchange were confined to staple items 

 used by the farmers in large quantities, such as gasoline, oil, greases, all 

 kinds of feeds, fertilizer, twine, coal, fencing, tires, seed, grain loaders, 

 scales, flour and other food provisions. In 1927, the exchange handled 

 about 600,000 pounds of binder twine; in 1928, over 5,000,000; and in 

 1929, nearly 7,000,000. Such items as coal and binder twine were handled 

 on a brokerage basis by the exchange. From 1927 to 1929, coal was shipped 

 to the exchange by rail from eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and south- 

 ern Illinois. Arrangements were made with an Ohio salt company to 

 pack salt under a Farmers' Union brand and to ship it to points in Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. Similar arrangements 

 were made with the United States Rubber Company to ship tires to Union 

 members at mail-order prices. In 1928 a feed-mixing plant was acquired 



72. Ibid. 



