132 OKGANISATION 



There were eight dairy societies, fourteen societies 

 for the breeding of cattle, four for cattle insurance 

 and eighteen for the sale of cotton and other agri- 

 cultural produce. It is not proposed to insist on the 

 obvious advantages to be derived from such agencies, 

 or to go into the details of the working of existing 

 societies; but a short account of the marketing of 

 cotton may give some idea of the difficulties and loss 

 which the cultivator experiences in dealing with 

 a badly organised and insensitive market, and of the 

 vast field of action which lies open to co-operative 

 effort. The case of cotton is selected because it is 

 the article of the greatest importance that is marketed 

 in western India, and the cotton trade is more fully 

 organised than any other trade which deals with raw 

 material. 



In some parts the cultivators bring their cotton 

 to the market and give it to a broker to sell for them, 

 in other parts the custom is for the dealers to go to 

 the villages and buy up the cotton, but in either 

 case a number of small lots will be lumped together 

 and sold in bulk to some purchaser. In grading the 

 cotton there are three main points for considera- 

 tion, viz. : class (cleanliness), ginning percentage and 

 staple. The grading done is extremely rough and 

 rudimentary. A casual glance will show whether 

 the cotton is unusually dirty and leafy, and, if it is, a 

 slight deduction in price is made on this account. 

 Some indication of the ginning percentage is obtain- 

 able by the feel of the cotton, and the dealers will give 



