71 



tup: rural problem 



The number* of agricultural co-operative societies abroad 



is 



In 1900, prior to the formation of the Agricultural Organi- 

 sation Society, there were in England and Wales only 

 12 societies, with a membership of 517. In 1907, six years 

 after the Agricultural Organisation Society had commenced 

 its operations, the number of societies had risen to 142, the 

 number of members to 9,000. The last report of the 

 Agricultural Organisation Society gives the total of affi- 

 liated societies on June 30th, 1913, as no less than 478, 

 with a membership of 45,000. The value of the money 

 transactions of the various societies is estimated, for 1912, 

 at nearly £2,000,000. 



These figures, however, are not the sole indication of the 

 capacity for common action possessed by British agricul- 

 turists, since there exists a large number of other societies 

 worked on more or less co-operative lines — e.g., pig and 

 cow insurance clubs, which are unregistered and are con- 

 sequently outside the scope of exact enumerationt ; and a 

 still larger number of associations of one sort and another 

 for promoting common objects, which are not co-operative 

 in the strict sense of the term. But even if the disinclination 

 to co-operate were still stronger in this country than it is 



* Mainly from the International Institute of Agriculture (Rome) 

 monthly bulletins. The figures are not strictly comparable nor 

 accurate, being for different years and calculated on different bases ; 

 but in each case they appear to be the best and latest available. 



f There are only 62 registered cattle insurance societies, but there 

 is a large number of unregistered cow clubs and over 1,000 pig clubs, 

 with probably 50,000 members. 



