44 Cooperation in Agriculture 



business of the former organization, since the stockholder, 

 as a general rule, has the right to inspect the books of the 

 corporation, if it is done for a specified and proper purpose. 

 As a result of the withdrawal of members through the 

 sale of the farms or in other ways and the transfer of stock, 

 the control of cooperative associations organized under 

 the general corporation laws in different states has often 

 passed into the hands of rivals in business and of non- 

 producers. In most of the states, there is no legal way 

 in which this result can be avoided when farmers' or- 

 ganizations are formed as stock corporations for pecuniary 

 profit. 



The organization formed for pecuniary profit may, on 

 the other hand, inflict a hardship on the stockholder who 

 is no longer a producer by assessing the stock, which assess- 

 ment he would legally be required to pay, but the benefits 

 of which he could not enjoy, because he would no longer 

 market his product through the organization. 



NEW LEGISLATION NEEDED 



To meet the needs of the farmers' business cooperative 

 organization, new legislation is needed in most of the 

 states which will permit the formation of corporations 

 under which business may be conducted on the cooperative 

 plan. Laws of this kind have already been enacted in 

 several of the states, notably, California, Wisconsin, 

 Nebraska, and Minnesota. In England, the cooperative 

 trading associations are organized under " The Industrial 

 and Provident Societies' Act," and the cooperative credit 

 societies under "The Friendly Societies' Act." 



