68 COOPERATIVE MARKETING 



than a grower who produced large crops of good quality 

 on a few acres. But when proceeds are distributed accord- 

 ing to the quality and quantity of fruit shipped by the asso- 

 ciation while contributions to the equipment and packing 

 house are based on acreage inefficiency is penalized. 



Very properly the articles of incorporation are left some- 

 what vague, and the real body of principles governing the 

 conduct of the association is given over to the by-laws. For 

 the by-laws are formulated and adopted and amended by 

 the members themselves, and with the ready means of en- 

 trance and withdrawal which most associations provide for, 

 one can be certain that a person belonging to an association 

 is there because he believes in the general principles under 

 which the association is governed. In short, a citrus asso- 

 ciation presents a pure form of popular government, an 

 industrial democracy. Associations have the initiative, the 

 referendum, the recall of officeholders and the recall of 

 judicial decisions; they have a kind of combination of the 

 commission and the city manager form of administration. 



Among the most troublesome questions which confront 

 growers when considering the advisability of cooperation 

 are those related to voting power and those devoted to de- 

 vising a plan by which the financial burden of the new 

 enterprise can be equitably distributed. The "one man, one 

 vote" scheme may be satisfactory in organizations in which 

 all the members have approximately equal financial interests. 

 But in a citrus association it is the rule and not the exception 

 that great inequality exists. In the same organization will 

 be found the man with a five acre grove and the man with 

 IOC acres. The latter is not likely to be interested in a 

 cooperative project if his large holdings do not receive pro- 

 portionate recognition. So the difficulty is obviated, both 

 in the ordinary and in the non-profit associations, by basing 

 voting power on the number of bearing acres entered in 



