130 Cooperation in Agriculture 



to conduct the business at the beginning of the following 

 year. 



The farmers' cooperative grain elevator association 

 usually buys grain from non-members. It then becomes 

 a dealer in products which it handles for its own members. 

 It may also be a purchasing agent for supplies, such as 

 coal, lumber, and fertilizer, enormous quantities of these 

 supplies being handled by the elevators of the Central 

 West and the Northwest. These supplies are sold to both 

 the members and non-members at the prevailing prices, 

 and the profit is divided among the members at the end 

 of the year. 



There have been many failures among the farmers' 

 elevator companies. Their management has often been 

 attempted by men who could not handle the business 

 successfully in competition with the experienced managers 

 of the line companies or of the local grain dealers. Many 

 of the associations have been loosely organized, and when 

 reverses have been encountered, the cooperative spirit 

 among the members has waned. Many have been over- 

 ambitious and have branched out into other activities, 

 such as stock-feeding and other speculative ventures. 

 As a rule, few of the companies have succeeded unless they 

 have confined their efforts to the distribution and sale of 

 grain, and unless they have been managed by men who 

 are familiar with the intricacies of the grain trade. Many 

 of them have failed when they ceased to pay a large 

 dividend at the end of the season. The farmer who puts 

 his money into a joint-stock company, the form under 

 which most of these companies are organized, usually 

 becomes dissatisfied when his capital does not earn a 



