COOPERATIVE GRAIN MARKETING. 11 



THE UNITED GRAIN GROWERS, LTD. 



The Grain Growers' Grain Co., organized in 1906, first operated 

 under a Manitoba provincial charter. In 1911 it applied for and 

 received a charter from the Dominion Government. The Alberta 

 Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Co., organized in 1913, operated under 

 a charter of the Alberta provincial government until 1917, when it 

 amalgamated with the Grain Growers' Grain Co. and the two com- 

 panies became the United Grain Growers, Ltd., by amendment to 

 the Grain Growers' Grain Co.'s Dominion charter. At the time of 

 the amalgamation the Grain Growers' Grain Co. had a paid-up capital 

 stock of .$1,357,382.46 and a surplus of $1,118,351.51, while the Al- 

 berta Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Co. had a paid-up capital stock 

 of $563,689 and a surplus of $541,004.38. On August 31, 1919, the 

 paid-up capital stock of the new company, the United Grain Growers, 

 Ltd., was $2,415,185.58 and the surplus $1,756,429.78. The author- 

 ized capital stock of the new company was placed at $5,000,000, 

 divided into 200,000 shares at $25 each. Because of the accumulation 

 of a large surplus, tending to increase the real value of the shares, 

 the selling price is fixed at $30 per share. Each member may own 

 not more than 100 shares, and membership is limited to the owners 

 or lessees of farm land or their wives, unless, by special resolutions of 

 the members, others are admitted. Over 35,000 shareholders com- 

 pose the present membership of the United Grain Growers, Ltd., 

 and these are divided into locals as in the case of the Saskatchewan 

 Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Co. To form a local 40 members 

 are required, holding at least 267 shares. Each local elects a local 

 board of 5 members, who act mainly in an advisory capacity to the 

 general board of directors. The local also elects one delegate to rep- 

 resent the supporting shareholders at the general meetings of the 

 company. Each delegate has only 1 vote, regardless of the number 

 of shareholders belonging to a single local, but in case a local has 

 188 or more members it is entitled to have 2 delegates. In the meet- 

 ings of the locals each shareholder has only 1 vote, and voting by 

 proxy is not allowed either in the general meetings or in the local 

 meetings. The affairs of the company are administered by a board 

 of 12 directors, 4 of whom are elected each year to serve for a period 

 of three years. 



A by-law provision gives full authority to the board of directors 

 to determine the basis of the distribution of earnings. No patronage 

 dividends have been paid. 



In the operation of its country elevators much the same methods 

 are used by the United Grain Growers as are used by the Saskatche- 

 wan Cooperative Elevator Co. Management is centralized in the 

 office at Winnipeg, but the office organization of the old Alberta 



