26 Cooperation in Agriculture 



ager has organized the growers. An established commis- 

 sion firm has accomplished the same end because it could 

 more readily handle a large business through one channel 

 than with each individual farmer. On the other hand, 

 they are often formed by local business men who have no 

 desire to share in the immediate profits and whose sole 

 desire is to promote the cooperative method in order to 

 bring about a better industrial condition among the rural 

 classes. Organizations that are formed in this way may 

 help a local situation temporarily, but it is unwise for a 

 group of farmers to place themselves in a position in which 

 a marketing, financial, or any other agency can determine 

 its policy or influence or control its management. It has 

 been the experience of the successful farmers' business 

 organizations that its policy and management, the voting 

 power, and the direction of its business operations must 

 rest exclusively in the hands of the producers, otherwise 

 the organization is likely to pass into the control of those 

 whose interest lies in the dividends on the capital stock, 

 rather than hi a desire to improve the farmer's condition 

 by the distribution and sale of crops or the purchase of 

 supplies along cooperative lines. 



It is therefore fundamental that the control of the mem- 

 bership in a farmers' organization should be fixed by rules 

 legally laid down by the directors of the organization 

 rather than rest upon the mood of the individual members 

 or on rules that have no legal basis. Membership in a 

 non-stock organization should be evidenced by a certifi- 

 cate of membership ; in a stock corporation, by a stock 

 certificate. Membership in a non-stock corporation should 

 not be assignable to any other person, nor should the 



