AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IK DENMARK. 51 
central association ample security to finance its own business activi- 
ties. 
Local egg -collecting association. — The members of the local egg- 
collecting association are bound to the central association through the 
local organization. The membership may vary from 10 to several 
hundred egg producers. Each member by contract obligates him- 
self to deliver his total egg production, except eggs needed for home 
consumption and hatching. Eggs must be laid by members' own 
hens and gathered from the nest daily in winter and twice or thrice 
a day in summer heat. Eggs must be clean and fresh, and never 
over 7 days old when delivered. 
Each egg delivered to the central association can be traced to the 
producer through the stamping system, which is strictly enforced. 
The central association gives each local egg-collecting association a 
registered number, and each individual member within each local 
association receives a number. Stamps are furnished individual 
members, and when the egg collector gathers the producer's eggs the 
two numbers (producer's and local association's) must be stamped 
on each egg. If bad eggs are discovered, the producer must refund 
the payment for such eggs and pay a fine equivalent at par to $1.34 
per egg for the first and $2.68 for the second offense. This fine is 
divided equally between the central and local associations. 
The capital needed in the local association is provided for by 
the association's own members through a loan, for which the mem- 
bers guarantee and assume joint liability. The local association 
must supply its egg collector with money, so that each member may 
be paid at the time eggs are gathered. 
All Danish eggs are purchased according to weight. The central 
association fixes a weekly egg quotation, which represents a figure 
near the current market value, for the whole country. This quotation 
is the partial payment remitted to the local association at the time of 
delivery. The central association pays transportation from the local 
association collecting station to its nearest warehouse. At the close 
of each fiscal year the net surplus earned by the central association 
is divided among the members according to the weight of eggs 
delivered. The surplus distributed in patronage dividends was ap- 
proximately 2-J cents per pound of eggs in 1919 ; 3^ cents in 1920 ; If 
cents in 1921 ; and 2 cents in 1922. Only half of each member's sur- 
plus is actually paid to the local association; the other half is re- 
tained in the central association's reserve fund to be used as operat- 
ing capital but is credited to each local association. Each local asso- 
ciation is annually paid 4J per cent interest 34 on its share of this 
reserve fund. 
Each local's liability to the central association is limited to its 
share of the reserve fund held by the central association. While 
joint liability is willingly agreed to in the local cooperative units, 
where the members are all acquainted, it has not proved practicable 
in a large central association whose activities extend beyond the 
local unit. 
The egg collector. — The local egg-collecting association must 
gather the members' eggs at a local station, where they are shipped 
3i Andelsbladet No. 28, 1922, p. 744. Interest on reserve fund raised from 41 to 5 per 
cent at general meeting-, 1922. 
