168 



COOPERATION 



organized, under a Manitoba charter, shareholding was limited 

 to 4 shares to one person. Under the present Dominion charter, 

 the limit is 80 shares to one person. 



The one-man-one-vote rule prevails. No proxy voting is 

 allowed. No patronage dividends have thus far been paid, surplus 

 earnings going into reserves and into developing collateral activi- 

 ties. Patronage dividends on purchases are now under considera- 

 tion. Patronage dividends on grain sold are forbidden by the 

 anti-rebate rule of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, of which this 



Company is a member. 



The United Grain Growers is 

 an amalgamation of two central- 

 ized farmers' companies, the Grain 

 Growers Grain Company (organ- 

 ized in 1906 and operating chiefly 

 in Manitoba and Saskatchewan), 

 and the Alberta Farmers' Co- 

 operative Elevator Company 

 (organized in 1914, and operating 

 in Alberta). The amalgamation 

 was effected in 1917. A Board 

 of 12 directors, all farmers, man- 

 age this huge enterprise. The 

 same president, T. A. Crerar, has 

 been kept in power since 1901 

 (Fig. 30) . The annual meeting of 

 stockholders is a delegate body, 

 the locals being represented by 

 duly chosen delegates. The 

 company pays the expenses of the delegates to insure democracy 

 in representation. 



The reader will bear in mind that many farmers in the province 

 of Saskatchewan are members of the Saskatchewan' Cooperative 

 Elevator Company a company competing with the United Grain 

 Growers having a business very similar to that of the Winnipeg 

 company, and having seats in both the Winnipeg and Minne- 

 apolis grain exchanges. These two companies have given the 

 farmers a powerful voice in controlling the grain trade of the three 

 prairie provinces. 



Success of Cooperation. The friends of cooperation are satis- 

 fied that the movement is slowly winning success. In comparison 

 with Europe, this success, to be sure, is small. But Europe presents 



FIG. 30. President T. A. Crerar, United 

 Grain Growers, Ltd., Winnipeg. 



