Cooperation 139 



As a rule, a shareholder should have but one vote and 

 not a vote for every share, or, if there is a wide difference 

 in the amount of butter-fat furnished by the members, 

 the voting power may be made proportional to the amount 

 of butter-fat delivered. The dividends should be payable 

 on the amount of butter-fat delivered, whether the cream- 

 ery is formed as a stock or non-stock corporation, though 

 in the former case, a dividend equal to the usual rate of 

 interest may be paid on the capital stock before the net 

 earnings are distributed. 



A group of farmers who contemplate a creamery or- 

 ganization should look carefully into these fundamental 

 questions. There are numberless creamery promoters 

 who endeavor to organize the farmers in order to sell 

 them machinery or other supplies. As a rule, they cause 

 the farmers to spend thousands of dollars more than is 

 necessary in starting an enterprise of this character, be- 

 sides injuring the creamery movement in the community 

 whenever such an enterprise fails. Generally the farmers 

 do not look into these fundamental questions until after 

 they have made a serious mistake, and then they find 

 that their association has been formed in a loose way or 

 along extravagant lines. In many of the states, the Dairy 

 Division of the State Agricultural College or the Dairy 

 Commissioner will cooperate with the farmers, assisting 

 them to organize along lines that have made the coopera- 

 tive movement most successful. 



The data following are taken from a model organiza- 

 tion agreement that is used by the Dairy Division of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture in assisting 

 the dairy farmers to form a creamery or cheese factory 

 as a cooperative enterprise : 



