TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 2G7 



ciations of farmers living in the northern counties, 

 the potato belt of the Lower Peninsula, and was ex- 

 tended to the potato territory of the Upper Penin- 

 sula. Its name is somewhat misleading, for, although 

 its main reason for existence is the sale of potatoes 

 through a cooperative arrangement, it also handles 

 other bulk farm products, such as hay, beans, grain, 

 apples, and vegetables; and it purchases on account 

 of its members supplies for the farm, including 

 feeds, fuel, poison and implements, amounting in 

 1920 to nearly $1,000,000. At the outset, twenty- 

 eight local cooperative organizations were federated 

 under a plan which involved the exclusive handling 

 of certain farm products on a contractual basis of 

 payment for the service rendered, guaranteed with 

 a promissory note, so familiar a feature of present- 

 day cooperative agreements of this character. Simi- 

 larly, the individual member of each local pays his 

 membership fee of ten dollars and signs a binding 

 contract, likewise made more effective by giving his 

 promissory note, in no case as yet forfeited, as. an 

 assurance of good faith and loyalty to the associa- 

 tion. Xotes c.nd fees afford working capital, the 

 unused surplus of which is returned to members at 

 the end of the year. The by-laws contemplate vari- 

 ous associated activities for the central association, 

 such as the grading and standardization of product, 

 collection of information in regard to outside market 

 conditions, adjustment of traffic difficulties and 

 settlement of transportation problems. At the end 

 of the first nine months of its existence, the Michi- 



