COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AND MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS. 27 



Table III. — Estimated volume of business and membership by kinds of organizations. 





Number 

 of organi- 

 zations. 



Annua] volume of 

 business. 



Membership. 



Kind of organization. 



Estimated 

 total. 



Average 

 of organi- 

 zations 

 reporting. 



Estimated 

 total. 



Average 

 of organi- 

 zations 

 reporting. 





1,637 



1,708 



871 



213 



275 



43 



96 



581 



5234,529,716 

 83, 360, 648 

 140,629,-918 

 34,392,258 

 14, 552, 725 

 6, 746, 270 

 9, 482, 592 

 48,214,866 



$143,268 

 48, 806 

 161,458 

 161.465 

 52, 919 

 156, 890 

 98, 777 

 82, 986 



160, 974 



141,786 



108,004 



18,531 



60, 5C0 



14, 448 



13, 440 



134,211 



102 





83 





124 





87 





220 





336 





140 





231 







Total 



5,424 



i 625, 940, 448 



115,402 



1661,728 



122 







i Total volume of business and total membership obtained by multiplying average reported by total 

 number. 



FARMERS* GRAIN ELEVATORS AND WAREHOUSES. 



Number and location. — The 1,637 grain elevators and warehouses 

 that reported are distributed among 23 States, as shown in Table I. 

 North Dakota reports 264, Minnesota 241, Iowa 228, Illinois 192, 

 Nebraska 183, Kansas 153, and South Dakota 135. (See also 

 Chart 9.) In other words, over 85 per cent of the elevators reporting 

 are located in these seven States of the grain belt. In Oregon, 

 Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado practically all of the grain 

 has been handled in sacks until recently; consequently the farmers 

 in these States have operated warehouses instead of elevators. 

 Terminal facilities are now being completed in the Pacific coast 

 grain centers for handling grain in bulk, and many of the warehouse 

 companies are preparing to construct elevators. When the practice 

 of handling grain in bulk at the terminal markets becomes general 

 the warehouses gradually will be replaced by elevators. One of the 

 chief reasons for bringing about this change has been the high cost 

 of grain sacks, the price of which has increased rapidly during the 

 last two years. 



It is estimated that there are a few hundred farmers' grain market- 

 ing organizations Irom which no reports have been received, but as 

 the larger and more successful concerns appear to have been the 

 most prompt in replying to the request for information, it is believed 

 that the majority of those not replying are smaller organizations. 



Plan of organization. — One thousand and seventy-four elevators 

 and warehouses report being organized as capital stock companies, 

 and 496 as cooperative companies. It must be borne in mind that 

 those in the latter group are also for the most part organized with 

 capital stock. The first class consists of those concerns which manage 

 their business and distribute their profits according to the method 

 commonly followed by stock companies. Companies which had 



