COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AND MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS. 5 



tions in the United States will be excluded from the cooperative class 

 because they fail to live up to cooperative rules in every detail. 

 After all, the main point to be considered is the extent to which the 

 organization works for the benefit of the farmer. An organization 

 may never declare a patronage dividend and still be of profit to all 

 its patrons. A number of the grain elevators, organized on the 

 capital-stock plan, may be cited as examples. They have paid 

 out the profits in the form of stock dividends, yet in many cases 

 have been of benefit to all the patrons because they have paid a 

 higher price for the grain than the farmers had previously received. 

 The farmers of the United States have engaged in business along a 

 number of different lines. Although the underlying reasons for or- 

 ganizing have been quite similar for the various lines of organiza- 

 tion, the histories of their growth are different and present some 

 very instructive facts. 



ELEVATORS. 



The growth of the farmers' elevator movement was very slow at 

 first but it gradually gained in stability and prominence and began 

 to attract more attention and to receive more favorable treatment 

 from the commission men and railroads. Since 1900 a number of 

 very successful farmers' elevators have been established in the 

 grain-growing States of the Middle West. As they became firmly 

 established they began to assume a wider range of activity than that 

 of handling grain. In some sections it is usual for elevators to ship 

 live stock as well as grain, making a separate live-stock shipping 

 association unnecessary. 



Marked success also has been achieved by many farmers' elevators 

 in handling such commodities as coal, lumber, brick, flour, feed, 

 salt, twine, oils, and similar supplies needed by the farmers. 



The cooperative elevators have frequently met with opposition 

 from other dealers in these products. Nevertheless they have been 

 able to carry these side lines with a resultant saving to the farmer. 



Various estimates have been made of the amount saved by farm- 

 ers' elevators, but it is difficult to arrive at any definite results be- 

 cause of the far-reaching effects of this form of organization. In 

 many instances the farmers' elevators have increased the price paid 

 the farmer for his grain; when side lines are carried there has often 

 been an additional direct saving; and the dividends paid to the 

 farmers by many of the elevators should also be considered. The 

 increase in returns on products of the farm through the operation' 

 of these elevators has had a direct tendency to increase the value 

 of the land in sections where such elevators are located. 



Practically all of the important Middle West grain States now have 

 State associations of farmers' elevators. These State associations 

 make it possible for the local companies to keep in touch with one 



