6 BULLETIN 1106, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



quirements of the statute under which it is proposed to incorporate. 

 Such statutes generally require that a certain number of individuals, 

 usually three or more, must unite in articles of association. The 

 term, articles of association, .describes the paper or instrument 

 in which those desirous of forming a corporation set forth the 

 various facts required by the law under which they propose to in- 

 corporate. Those whose names appear in the articles of associa- 

 tion, or, as they are sometimes called, articles of incorporation, are 

 known as the incorporators. The statutes require that the objects 

 and purposes for which the corporation or association is formed 

 shall be clearly stated in the articles of association or incorporation. 

 They usuall}^ require that the name by which the cooperative asso- 

 ciation or corporation is to be known shall be given and that the 

 amount of capital stock, if the association is to have capital stock, 

 shall be stated. Some of the other usual statutory requirements 

 are the length of time the association is to exist and the place where 

 its principal business is to be transacted. 



Application to be incorporated or for a charter is usually made 

 to an officer of the State, generally the secretary of state. The 

 articles of association or incorporation which constitute such appli- 

 cation are submitted to this officer and, if he finds that the statute 

 under which the incorporators are seeking to incorporate has been 

 complied with and that the purpose of the association is one pro- 

 vided for in the statute, he issues a certificate of incorporation. 



The amount of discretion which the secretary of state or like 

 officer has with respect to the acceptance or rejection of an applica- 

 tion for a charter is not the same in all the States.^^ Upon the 

 issuance of the certificate of incorporation, the corporation in most 

 States comes into existence. The procedure in the different States 

 is not uniform, but the above gives a general idea of the steps in- 

 volved. In Georgia and some other States, application for a charter 

 must be made to a court. In some States the charter or the articles 

 of association, or both, must be recorded in the county where the 

 association is to have its principal place of business. In certain 

 States it is necessary to advertise for a given length of time that an 

 application for a charter is being made. The exact moment when a 

 corporation comes into existence varies in the different States and de- 

 pends upon their statutes. It is believed that all States require the 

 payment of certain fees as an incident to incorporation. 



It is highly important that due consideration should be given by 

 those interested in forming a cooperative association, prior to its 

 incorporation, to the matter of determining the particular statute 

 under which to incorporate. The Capper-Volstead Act, which is 



"Lloyd V. Ramsay, (Iowa) 183 N. W. 333. 



