134 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



and facilitate the organization of such coopera- 

 tive associations, care being taken that the work- 

 ing of the laws be not cumbersome. These laws 

 should provide the association with every legal 

 facility for the transaction of the business in 

 which they are to engage. They are as impor- 

 tant to the state as other organizations of capital, 

 and should be fostered with as much care, and 

 their members and patrons be adequately safe- 

 guarded. It is especially important that these 

 organizations be granted all the powers and ad- 

 vantages given to corporations or other aggrega- 

 tions of capital, to the end that they may meet 

 these corporations on equal legal ground when 

 it is necessary to compete with them. Such laws 

 should not only protect the cooperative societies, 

 but should provide means that will allow the 

 societies to regulate themselves, so that they 

 may be safeguarded from becoming merely com- 

 mercial organizations through the purchase or 

 control of the stock by dealers in the products 

 that they handle. It is not unlikely that fed- 

 eral laws may also be needed to encourage co- 

 operation. 



Organized associative effort may take on spe- 



