50 BULLETIN" 547, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
FINANCING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES. 
Information with regard to financing and business practices was 
secured from some 700 typical farmers' organizations from a special 
survey. A summary of the reports is shown in Table IV. This table 
gives for each kind of organization the amount of paid-up capital 
and members' fees, the value of buildings and equipment, and the 
amount of assets in excess of liabilities. Much material was secured 
also by means of personal visits to, organizations throughout the 
country and by interviews with bankers and others during the years 
1914 and 1915. 
The financing of the business operations is one of the important 
features in a cooperative enterprise and a weakness in this feature 
is the cause of many failures. The methods of conducting the busi- 
ness, products handled, distance from markets, and various other 
elements require that the plan of financing be suited to local condi- 
tions. For this reason no "cut and dried" plan, unless well suited 
to local conditions, should be adopted by new organizations. 
Table V. — Amounts borrowed and sources from vjhich obtained, of 401 farmers and 
cooperative marketing associations, by 
From banks. 
From commercial 
firms. 
From individuals. 
Kind of organization. 
.3 
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o 
a 
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3 
o 
a 
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ft 
£^a 
tea 
bi) 
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o 
ft 
2 
05 
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a 
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a 5 " • 
til 
lis 
1 
ft 
2 
25 
1 
a 
3 
o 
a 
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b£ to 
Si; 
2-ga 
a 3? 
Elevators 
154 
SI, 040, 950 
6,759 
56, 650 
2,177 
1,115,275 
17,703 
65,750 
16 
47 
S722,813 
15,379 
17 
10 
S36, 500 
3,650 
2 
26 
4 
2 
4, 000 
2,000! 

63 
3 

I" 
1 
1,500' 
i 
1,500; 
Cotton warehouses and gins 
10 
2 
1 
500 
500 
2 
85,000 
42,500 
1 
I 
13 
39, 900 
3,069 
1 
5 
125, :66| 3 
25,1401 
Total 
268 
2,403,525 
8,968 
26 
48 
723,313 
15,069 
17 
18 
167, 700 
9,317 
5 
