122 Cooperation in Agriculture 



ciples that underlie the efforts of the farmers to handle 

 and sell their crops through cooperative associations will 

 be set forth in connection with the grain, dairy, eggs, cot- 

 ton, and horticultural industries (the last subject in Chap- 

 ter VIII). 



THE FARMERS' COOPERATIVE GRAIN ELEVATORS 



In 1911, there were nearly eighteen hundred farmers' 

 grain elevator companies in the United States, distributed 

 approximately as follows : Iowa, three hundred and 

 twenty-seven ; North Dakota, three hundred and fifteen ; 

 South Dakota, two hundred and twenty-two ; Minne- 

 sota, two hundred and sixty-six ; Illinois, two hundred 

 and thirty-five ; Nebraska, one hundred and ninety-three ; 

 Kansas, one hundred and twenty -six ; Wisconsin, thirty- 

 eight ; Oklahoma, thirty-three ; Indiana, twenty-four ; 

 Michigan, twenty; Washington, eighteen; Montana, 

 sixteen ; Ohio, fourteen ; Texas, five ; Colorado, four ; 

 Oregon, three ; Missouri, three ; Arkansas, two ; Idaho, 

 one ; and Kentucky, one. These elevators cost from 

 $3000 to $25,000 each. The membership in an associa- 

 tion averages about seventy to two hundred and twenty- 

 five. 1 The output of the large elevators usually varies 

 from 40,000 to 100,000 bushels of grain, some of the largest 

 handling a million bushels. The smaller elevators, hold- 

 ing from 20,000 to 25,000 bushels, cost from $2600 to 

 $3000. This means that there are not fewer than 225,000 

 farmers connected with the cooperative elevator asso- 

 ciations, that their investment approximates $18,000,000, 

 and that they handle 270,000,000 bushels of grain, or 



1 " Cooperation among Farmers," J. L. Coulter, 1911. 



