THE U.F. CO-OPERATIVE CO. 85 



sphere of business operations. It is further 

 felt that a provincial organization such as yours 

 should, as the local agricultural co-operative 

 movement develops in Ontario, function as a 

 wholesale for the local organizations, and for 

 which its central location and circumstances are 

 better adapted." 



The matter of the above communication was 

 laid before the Board of the United Farmers 

 Co-operative Company and brought forth con- 

 siderable discussion. However, no decision was 

 reached in regard to the general question raised 

 on the relationship which should exist between 

 local co-operative societies and the Provincial 

 Company. It will be recalled that the original 

 purpose of the United Farmers Co-operative 

 Company was to serve the commercial interests 

 of the various local farmers' organizations affiliat- 

 ed in the U.F.O., and to consolidate and har- 

 monize their work. It will be recalled, too, that 

 at first most of the shareholders in the United 

 Farmers Co-operative Company were Farmers' 

 Clubs and similar local organizations, but that 

 gradually individuals replaced organizations as 

 shareholders. In fact, in the spring of 1917, a 

 general decision was reached, for reasons already 

 outlined, to go after the individual farmers 

 instead of the local organizations. There 

 emerges, therefore, at this point in the history 



