26 BULLETIN 547, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Requests for information were sent out at various times as new 

 names were added to the list, and in the case of a number of asso- 

 ciations several requests were made before any reply was received, 

 This work extended over the years 1914 and 1915; consequently the 

 volume of business reported by the organizations is distributed over 

 a number of years. A few reported their business for 1912 and a 

 few for 1915, but most of the reports cover the j^ears 1913 and 1914. 

 Many of the associations reported the volume of business for more 

 than one year, therefore there are some duplications. In order to 

 get the average volume of business, the reports for the four years 

 have all been taken into consideration. The total shown for each 

 year must not be taken as the total volume of all associations for 

 that year. A total of 889 associations reported their volume of 

 business for 1912; 3,099 reported for 1913; 2,877 reported for 1914; 

 and 534 reported for 1915. The average volume shown for the years 

 1912 and 1915 can not be taken as representative of the true average 

 in every case because of the small proportions of the total number 

 reporting for those years. 



The last three columns of Table II show the number of each class 

 of organization and the total number of organizations reporting their 

 membership; the total membership and the average membership per 

 association also is shown. (See also chart 4.) The average mem- 

 bership of all the organizations reporting is 122. Tobacco associa- 

 tions show the largest average, having 336; the miscellaneous asso- 

 ciations, 231; stores, 220; live stock, 140; fruit and produce, 124; 

 elevators, 102; cotton, 87; and creameries and cheese factories, 83. 

 (See also chart 5.) 



All of the organizations did not report on every point concerning 

 which information was requested, but using the average of those 

 reporting as a basis, estimates have been made of the annual volume 

 of business and the membership of all organizations reporting. These 

 estimates are shown in Table III, and are presented graphically in 

 charts 6 and 7. It is estimated that the 5,424 organizations reporting 

 have an annual volume of business of $625,940,448 and a total mem- 

 bership of 661 ,728. In the matter of volume of business the elevators 

 take the lead with an estimated total of $234,529,716; next come 

 fruit and produce associations with a total of $140,629,918; cream- 

 eries and cheese factories are third with $83,360,648; then the miscel- 

 laneous marketing associations, $48,214,866; cotton associations, 

 $34,392,258; stores, $14,552,725; live stock shipping associations, 

 $9,482,592; and tobacco associations, $6,746,270. (See also chart 8.) 



