12 COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



made toward an enumeration of the salient features of 

 cooperative marketing. However, it must not be inferred 

 that any of the statements to be made apply indiscrimi- 

 nately to all such organizations. Practically no two are 

 exactly alike, and this is proper. Different local conditions 

 are to be met, different products are to be marketed, dif- 

 ferent types of cooperating individuals are to be combined. 

 A form of organization suitable for marketing wheat might 

 be quite inappropriate for handling strawberries. Some 

 associations deal only with marketing, as such; some add 

 to this function preparation of the product for marketing; 

 some further concern themselves with storage; some even 

 exercise more or less control over the manner in which the 

 crop is produced. 



In agricultural cooperative marketing the crop is pro- 

 duced individually but assembled and sold collectively. 

 Proceeds of sales are apportioned according to some speci- 

 fied agreement. Two chief methods obtain for the division 

 of proceeds: (i ) The selling department keeps the product 

 of each cooperator separate and sells it on individual ac- 

 count. Or at least the proceeds due any cooperator are 

 calculated on the price obtained for his particular shipment, 

 though shipments by other cooperators may be included in 

 the same sale, if one man's shipment is not large enough 

 to supply the demands of the purchaser. (2) Much more 

 common is the method of pooling the products of the sev- 

 eral members and prorating the proceeds. Each plan has 

 advantages and disadvantages. 



Another essential of cooperative marketing is that there 

 shall be democratic control. Whether the "one man, one 

 vote" plan should be unqualifiedly adopted is questionable, 

 but there is little likelihood of success unless each member 

 feels a personal, vital interest in the enterprise. To assure 

 this interest it is essential that no individual or small group 



