398 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRLVTION BILL, 1924. 



STUDY OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS. 



In connection with this project we are making; for the first time 

 in the history of the (k-partiiienl wliat luij^ht be termed an asso- 

 ciative statistical and historical study of cooperative associations. 

 Emphasizing what Doctor Taylor said in the beginning by taking 

 advantage of the consolidation, we use the crop estimate people in 

 collecting these data. Through this organization we have people in 

 practically every town in the United States who have sent us the 

 names of every agricultural cooperative association in their district. 

 We got about 3o. 000 names from these reporters. Then we circu- 

 larized those, and we reduced the number to approximately 10,000 

 by elimination, where we found any duplication — where locals are 

 branches of centrals, and so forth— so that at the present .time, we 

 have a list of approximately 10,000 associations in the United States. 

 That work is not completed, and we do not feel that that is necessa- 

 rily the total number. And then we are getting more information 

 regarding the amount of business that these associations are doing, 

 and other information of that character. 



The third project that is also economic, under cooperative market- 

 ing, is the study of cooperation abroad. We have had a man for six 

 months in Denmark studying the big developments of cooperative 

 marketing in Denmark. 



Mr. Anderson. That is about the eighteenth time that has been 

 done. 



Mr. Tenny. It has never been done by the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



Mr. Anderson. It has been done by a lot of other people. 



Mr. Tenny. The changes in Europe especially in connection with 

 cooperative marketing have been very rapid since the war. That 

 would apply more particularly to the other powei-s in Europe than to 

 Denmark, but it applies also to Denmark. 



This economist is now in England finishing his studies of the rela- 

 tion of the English market to the Danish cooperative movement. 



Mr. Anderson. Is he studying the cooperative buying organiza- 

 tions in the labor unions ? 



Mr. Tenny. No; simply studying the distribution of Danish 

 agric ultural products in England. 



We have also had a man working on information available regardmg 

 cooperatives in Russia. He speaks and reads Russian fluently, and 

 has been able to get a great deal of valuable information tluough so 

 that we are actually getting a very up-to-date picture of the coopera- 

 tive movement in Russia. 



Mr. BrcHANAN. Do you think that you can get any information 

 from Russia^ 



Mr. 'I'enny. Russia has some of the very largest cooperative move- 

 ments in the world, and it is the concensus of opinion now, even 

 among Russians, tliat the cooperative movement nas been the one 

 thing that has held Russia together even to the e\tt>nt that it has 

 been h(»ld together. 'I'iu' Russian cooperative movement has func- 

 tiour-d during practically the entire time of the Russian dilliculties. 



Mr. Ih (iiA.NAN. it must !)(> a good one, then. 



Mr. Tknny. I tiiink that will bo sullicient for those projects unless 

 llu^rc arc souu^ (piestions. 





