UNITED STATES a 
DEPARTMENT or AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 407 
| Washington, D. C. January, 1927 | 
MEMBERSHIP RELATIONS 
OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS: 
(COTTON AND TOBACCO) 
J. W. JONES 
Agricultural Economist, Division of Cooperative Marketing, 
Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
and 
O. B. JESNESS 
Head, Department of Markets and Rural Finance, Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station 
CONTENTS 
Page Page 
etre tereg eee) eee 1 | Satisfaction of members with asso- 
Plan and method of organization-_-~_ 3 Clations 2-0 32 FS ren eae 11 
Membership. problems__________-~-- 3 Some sources of dissatisfaction____~ 14 
Source of data and method of col- Field service in centralized coopera- 
RR oe SEE ES re 4 PIV CRD Bees oO ae eS ees 24 
Ideas prevailing among members re- Sources of informatione —= 22 26 
garding marketing associations_~— fir) -Goneclisions 420 r 3s se eee ee 27 
INTRODUCTION 
Organization of the present large-scale cooperative marketing 
associations in the South was begun during the fall of 1920. The 
movement developed rapidly and within three years such organiza- 
tions had been perfected in each of the principal cotton-producing 
States and in the three principal tobacco-producing regions. The 
cotton-marketing associations usually limited membership to a single 
State, but the tobacco associations covered parts of several Southern 
States which produced a similar type of tobacco. 
This cooperative marketing movement was initiated at the first 
meeting of the American Cotton Association held in Montgomery, 
1This circular is based on a study made by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics in 
cooperation with the agricultural experiment station of the University of Kentucky. 
Mr. Jones was an assistant in marketing at the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion when this study was made. Acknowledgment is made of the assistance rendered by 
the departments of agricultural economics of the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical 
College and of the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College. 
25422°—27 1 
