COOPERATIVE CITRUS-FRUIT MARKETING AGENCY. 47 
errors of judgment or losses arising therefrom. Many important 
policies are formulated by committees of growers or managers coop- 
erating with the exchange directors. 
Through this control and interest in the business of the exchange 
a clear understanding of the limits of cooperation has developed. The 
organized growers have never been led aside into political controver- 
sies, social reform, or other issues and distractions. The exchange 
has held steadily to its main business of marketing the fruit of its 
members efficiently. 
COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES. 
It has been the policy of the exchange to cooperate with railroad 
officials, jobbers, and retailers in measures to improve the conditions 
under which California oranges and lemons are transported and sold. 
The exchange has never been unmindful of its public responsibiliy. 
The following extract from an address by its former general manager 
makes clear the policy of exchange in this respect: 
A cooperative organization has a distinct responsibility to the public. It can not 
live for itself alone. Through the cooperative handling of farm crops, the farmer 
should receive a fair return for his products; but such cooperation should be an 
important factor in reducing the general cost of living through the economies that 
result from the organized preparation, distribution, and sale of standardized 
products. * * * 
WITHDRAWAL PRIVILEGE. 
The exchange system is based upon contracts between the growers 
and the associations, 21 between the associations and the district 
exchanges, and between the district exchanges and the exchange. 
All contracts run for long periods. The contracts between districts 
and the exchange now in force were executed in 1920 and are effective 
until 1940. All contracts permit a member association or district to 
withdraw during a certain period of any year. The withdrawal pe- 
riod usually comes at the end of the fiscal year and varies from 15 to 
30 days in length. The following quotation fairly expresses the policy 
of the exchange with regard to membership agreements: 
It is in the interest of dependability that a membership agreement should extend 
over a long period of years, if provision is made that any dissatisfied member may 
withdraw at some specified time during its existence. The long-term contract adds 
greater stability to the organization as an institution of business; while the withdrawal 
privilege, when reasonably safeguarded, removes the dangers that are inherent in 
unwilling cooperation. (8) 
Partly because of the withdrawal privilege, breach of contract by 
members has been rare in the history of the exchange system. The 
membership of the associations, especially associations of long stand- 
ing, is quite stable. A few growers withdraw from year to year and 
new members are added to the organization. Occasionally a group 
of members in a particular neighorhood withdraw for the purpose of 
forming a new association. The development of citrus culture has 
been so rapid in southern California that it is not uncommon to find 
that one of the older associations has been the parent of three or 
four organizations formed at later periods. Loss of membership, 
however, is not a common problem of the associations. It is much 
11 There is some indication that a formal contract between growers and their association is becominR 
less common. Some associations require their members only to sign the by-laws; a few are satisfied with 
an acceptance of the by-laws provisions which is implicit in membership in the association. 
