COOPERATIVES, 1920-32 3 X 7 



position had something to do with the success of the pool. Another fact 

 of some account was that there were more companies manufacturing 

 cigars than there were producing most other tobacco products, hence 

 greater competition and better sales opportunities. 



By 1934 membership in the association had dropped to 7,700. By that 

 time tobacco production had also dwindled in the state. Simultaneously 

 the demand for cigar leaf had fallen off and the stocks of the association 

 had grown. 61 



Of greater significance were the activities of the Missouri Farmers* 

 Association in the field of cooperative marketing. The M.F.A. differed 

 from the average cooperative in that it was involved in the entire gamut 

 of marketing the handling of grain, livestock, poultry, dairy products 

 and in making purchases of farmers' needs. The M.F.A., the state body, 

 served as the coordinating, integrating, and educational force, with hun- 

 dreds of affiliated associations. 



Beginning with the organization of the first farm club in 1914 in 

 Chariton County, Missouri, there were organized hundreds of local clubs, 

 scores of county associations, and finally the M.F.A., the central body. 

 William A. Hirth, the founder and head of the state body, advised the 

 farmers to enlist from 200 to 300 members at each selling point in order 

 to insure the success of the local association. The pooling of purchases 

 seems to have accompanied the formation of a local farm club. As soon 

 as 1,000 or 1,200 farmers were organized around different points, the 

 farmers set up a county association and maintained an exchange that was 

 intended to bring buyers and sellers together. 



By 1920 hundreds of business associations were sponsored by the M.F.A. 

 In June of that year the association controlled about 75 grain elevators, 

 some 125 producer exchanges, and about 100 livestock-shipping associa- 

 tions. By 1924 the array of business agencies appeared even more formid- 

 able, and this despite the fact that the farmers were undergoing hard 

 times. There was the Farmers' Livestock Commission Company at the 

 National Stockyards in East St. Louis, which was organized in 1921 and 

 received thousands of cars of livestock annually from the 300 or 400 local 

 shipping associations and from private shippers as well, scattered through- 



61. Ibid., p. 200; Chris L. Christcnsen, Farmers' Cooperative Associations in the 

 United States, 7929, U. S. Dept. Agri., Circular 94 (Washington, 1929), p. 43. 



