Cooperation 131 



liberal annual interest, unless the corporation is operated 

 primarily on cooperative principles. 



As a general movement, the farmers' cooperative grain 

 elevators have been successful. The grain-growers have 

 not yet developed a comprehensive marketing sys- 

 tem, but their companies have protected the producer 

 against the tyranny of a distributing system that held 

 this product in its grasp. They have maintained a fair 

 price for the farmers ; they have caused the grain dealers 

 at each shipping point to grade the grain according to its 

 actual quality ; they have increased the purchasing power 

 of the communities in which they have been organized 

 by keeping the profit at home rather than by paying it 

 to the foreign elevator companies; they have created 

 competition at the shipping points and have benefited 

 the railroads by increased traffic. 



Ultimately, the success of the farmers' cooperative ele- 

 vators will depend on the federation of many of them into 

 central organizations, that will act as a clearing house in 

 handling the grain of each local elevator, as a part of a 

 comprehensive distributing and marketing system. The 

 central agencies will build terminal elevators at the primary 

 markets where the grain of the local associations can be 

 assembled, scoured, blended, shipped, and distributed. 

 Up to this time, the attempts to organize these companies 

 into central agencies have not been successful because 

 the farmers have been unable to organize effectively enough 

 to compete with the experienced grain dealers. The larger 

 form of organization is a matter of evolution, and as the 

 necessity arises, the farmers' cooperative elevator com- 

 panies may be expected to overcome the obstacles which 



