CHAPTER IX 



COOPERATION IN THE PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES 



ONE of the most important functions of a cooperative 

 association is to purchase the supplies used on the farm 

 and in the handling and marketing of the crops. The 

 association may act as a merchant by buying the supplies 

 and selling them to the members, or as a clearing house 

 through which to secure favorable quotations from manu- 

 facturers and wholesale dealers, acting for the members 

 in placing the orders with the dealers who supply the dif- 

 ferent kinds of materials and in collecting the money from 

 the members for the same. It may also become a manu- 

 facturer of such supplies as box material and other kinds 

 of finished lumber, or it may operate a plant for the mix- 

 ing of fertilizers. Under either method a well-managed 

 supply company should be able to furnish fertilizers, coal, 

 lumber, nails, twine, spraying materials, tools, and ma- 

 chinery at a lower cost than the farmer pays when he buys 

 them from the local merchant at the prevailing retail 

 prices. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF A SUPPLY COMPANY 



The supply company may be formed as a department 

 of a cooperative association already organized to distrib- 

 ute and sell the farm crops, as is often done in connection 

 with cooperative creameries, grain elevators, and fruit- 



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