110 



CIRCULAR 10 0, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



warehousing corporations. 48 The members retained equities in these 

 reserve funds, which must therefore be regarded in the nature of an 

 investment of members' funds. But members were in urgent need 

 of ready cash and the net amount remitted to them is thus o£ im- 

 portance. These amounts are shown in Table 46. Members were 

 paid only one advance in 1925 equal to 65 per cent of the bankers' 

 valuation. Figure 20 shows the average calculated price per 100 

 pounds remitted to the tobacco growers, by crops and pool areas, 

 through the auction-floor sale method and through the association. 

 The fact that the net prices per 100 pounds remitted to farmers 

 under the auction-floor system were much higher than those under 

 the association's system was an important factor in increasing the 

 dissatisfaction among members during the last three years. 



Table 47. — Comparison of net amounts per 100 pounds available through auction 

 floor and association after deducting selling charges 





1922 crop 



1923 



crop 



1924 



crop 



1925 



crop 



Area, or pool, and price 



Associ- 

 ation 



Auction 

 floor 



Associ- 

 ation 



Auction 

 floor 



Associ- 

 ation 



Auction 

 floor 



Associ- 

 ation 



Auction 

 floor 



Sun-cured: 



Dollars 

 12.33 

 2.14 



Dollars 



14.27 



.83 



Dollars 

 12.83 

 1.57 



Dollars 



13.22 



.80 



Dollars 

 14.02 

 1.50 



Dollars 

 14.63 



.84 



Dollars 

 16.32 

 1.77 



Dollars 

 16.39 





.89 









10.19 



13.44 



11.26 



12.42 



12.52 



13.79 



14.55 



15.50 







Dark-fired: 



17.29 

 2.05 



15.24 



19.77 



.74 



18.61 

 2.68 



18.09 

 .70 



19.02 

 4.98 



19.43 

 .74 



16.65 

 1.82 



16.24 





.66 









19.03 



15.93 



17.39 



14.04 



18.69 



14.83 



15.58 







Old belt: 



26.25 

 2.54 



30.25 

 1.01 



20.88 

 3.75 



21.49 

 .79 



23.71 

 4.63 



21.69 

 .79 



22.90 

 2.34 



17.33 





.68 







Net price -.. 



23.71 



29.24 



17.13 



20.70 



19.08 



20.90 



20.56 



16.65 



Eastern Carolina (new belt): 



22.89 

 2.70 



29.70 

 .99 



21.33 

 3.45 



24.00 



.85 



25.01 

 6.26 



25.50 

 .89 



22.42 

 4.86 



25.40 





.89 









20.19 



28.71 



17.88 



23.15 



18.75 



24.61 



17.56 



24.51 







South Carolina: 



19.24 

 2.98 



23.00 

 .83 



22.06 

 4.18 



19.00 

 .73 



20.48 

 4.98 



17.00 

 .69 



20.52 

 4.56 



16.70 





.67 









16.26 



22.17 



17.88 



18.27 



15.50 



16.31 



15.96 



16.03 







Sun-cured and dark-fired auction-floor prices from Virginia Farm Statistics 1926 (8, p. 

 prices for other areas from Department of Agriculture Yearbooks, 1923-1926. 



auction-floor 



Although it is not possible to compare accurately the gross prices 

 per 100 pounds obtained through the association and through the 

 auction floor, it is clear that the costs of operation were much greater 

 under the cooperative system, partly because the two systems do not 

 render comparable services. A cooperative marketing association 

 that pools its sales, performs such services as grading, redrying, 

 storing, financing, bargaining, training the members as to type and 

 quality of production, prizing, transporting, and assembling in large 

 lots. The auction-floor warehouse merely offers a sales service in 

 the form of one kind of sale at a specific time (£, p. 288). It is not 



48 See Table 26, p. 63. 



