MEMBERSHIP RELATIONS OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS 3 
ginia districts. The price of dark tobacco did not advance so much 
prior to 1920 as did the price of some other types, nor did it fall 
so low in the ensuing period of deflation. But the successful han- 
dling of the 1921 crop by the Burley association and the impetus of 
the wave of organization that was sweeping the country carried along 
the movement in this section during the summer and fall of 1922. 
By October 31, 1922, about 56,000 contracts, estimated to cover 
approximately 6624 per cent of the 1922 production, had been ob- 
tained by the organization committee. 
PLAN AND METHOD OF ORGANIZATION 
These cotton and tobacco cooperative marketing associations were 
all organized on the same general plan with only minor changes 
adapted to the commodity handled. The ideas emphasized in pro- 
moting these associations were: (1) Sufficient volume of the product 
under the control of a single association, or cooperating associations, 
to assure systematic marketing and to make the organization a factor 
in price determination; (2) a long-term, irrevocable contract which, 
it was believed, would assure the associations the stability and per- 
manence necessary to cope with the situation. 
Farmers generally believed that prices were unsatisfactory because 
the farmers were not organized. A marketing association control- 
ling a large volume of the crop was regarded favorably as a means 
of overcoming this disadvantage. The irrevocable contract was 
emphasized as a means of holding the farmer whose enthusiasm for 
the organization might wane after he became a member. 
Many farmers joined the association without an adequate knowl- 
edge of the results that may reasonably be expected from a marketing 
organization. Probably some joined because of misconceptions cre- 
ated at the time, but conditions were serious, and it was no small task 
to organize State-wide associations or regional associations extending 
into several States. The service to be rendered by the association 
was relied upon to correct misunderstandings. 
MEMBERSHIP PROBLEMS 
During the first year of operation, most of the large-scale cotton 
and tobacco associations found that the contract did not insure de- 
livery of the crop by all members. Two cotton associations, with 
membership contracts covering more than 300,000 bales, received the 
first year of operation 91,239 and 135,912 bales.* The tobacco asso- 
ciation operating in the Carolinas and Virginia received during the 
first year much less tobacco than the management had counted on. 
The Burley Tobacco Growers’ Cooperative Association had only a 
nominal number of contract violations the first year, but there has 
been a slight increase in violations each succeeding year. The Dark 
Tobacco Growers’ Cooperative Association and the Tobacco Growers’ 
Cooperative Association (the Carolina-Virginia organization) had a 
decided increase in the number of contract violations each succeeding 
year of operation. 
Violations and evasions of the contract have been due to several 
causes. Credit conditions in this area and a common method of 
_ *See footnote 2, 
