THE STRUGGLES OF COOPERATION 103 



The law did not seek to set up a specific form 

 of organization for farmers since it is not the 

 purpose of a cooperative enterprise to build up 

 an institution which must make profit for itself. 

 A cooperative association, if it renders effective 

 service, keeps nothing for itself as does the cor- 

 poration, but distributes its benefits to the con- 

 sumer on the one hand, in the form of better 

 distribution, better products at a more reason- 

 able price, and to the producer on the other 

 hand, better service in marketing his product 

 at a reasonable cost. 



The bill also gave the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture the authority to observe the development 

 and methods of cooperative enterprises in order 

 to determine their legitimate fields and thereby 

 present a record of successful cooperation. 



The present Secretary of Agriculture has de- 

 clared that his policy will be to observe the law 

 in a manner to encourage legitimate enterprise. 

 Efforts will be made to assemble the facts con- 

 cerning cooperation in a thorough manner not 

 heretofore possible and this in itself will fully 

 justify the law in that managers may be warned 

 of possible dangers and pitfalls. The history 

 of cooperation is crowded with stories of un- 

 fortunate experiences due to the fact that one 



