90 THE STORY OF THE U.F.O. 



Company in respect to the establishment, 

 financing and control of branch stores, the con- 

 trol of the central Company under conditions 

 then existing that is, with a multitude of 

 individual shareholders, and generally argued 

 for a return to the constitution as at first design- 

 ed. The natural evolution of the Farmers' club 

 on the commercial side was, he said, towards the 

 formation of local co-operative societies, with 

 subscribed capital, warehouse facilities, and a 



* paid staff. Such co-operative societies should, 

 therefore, he thought, form the units of the 

 United Farmers Co-operative Company, just as 

 various farmers' clubs constituted, financed, and 

 controlled the U.F.O. Such a return to the 

 original idea would, he said, solve two serious 



* problems. In the first place it would leave the 

 management of local retail activities in the hands 

 of local societies, which experience had shown to 



* be the only safe plan ; and in the second place it 

 would form a natural basis for representation by 

 delegates at shareholders' meetings. The num- 

 ber of shareholders was then over 10,000, and 

 it was manifestly impossible to hold a share- 

 holders' meeting at which a majority were pre- 

 sent. Some system of representation by dele- 

 gates had become imperative, and the adoption 

 of the policy of corporate instead of individual 

 shareholders provided the basis for such a 



