AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN DENMARK. 73 
small to supply the demands. Arrangements for a loan of $263,400 
were made with the Danish Cooperative Bank (established, 1914) for 
expansion. Legal proceedings, which also involved the Cooperative 
Wholesale Society, necessitated the closing of the plant in 1915 and 
1916. During this period the plant was rebuilt and its capacity 
increased to 650,000 barrels of Portland cement per year. In 1922, 
its membership comprised 818 local associations and 172 individual 
members, with a subscribed share capital of 463,000 kroner. The 
association operates branch warehouses in 25 towns and cities. 
The members are first supplied with cement for their current 
needs. Next the factory may sell to outside buyers, including those 
from foreign countries. The factory has a large export business to 
Norway, Sweden, Germany, the West Indies, Brazil, Africa, and 
the Far East colonies. At present about one-sixth to one-fifth of 
the cement used in Denmark is produced by the cooperative factory. 
Aside from supplying its own members at cost, the cooperative fac- 
tory has brought down the cement prices and the cement users 
in Denmark are buying their cement at fair prices. Onwers of the 
old private plants have been forced to reorganize and modernize 
their factories and reduce the cost of production and distribution 
in order to compete successfully with the modern cooperative cement 
factory. Even though the cooperative plant should supply only a 
small part of the cement used in Denmark, this production will serve 
the entire social organization as a check on efficient production and 
fair prices. 
COAL SUPPLY ASSOCIATION. 
In 1913, the Danish cooperators formed the Danish Cooperative 
Coal Supply Association (Dansk ATidels-Kulforretning, Aarhus) for 
the purchase of good coal and distribution to members at reasonable 
prices. The bulk of the coal is delivered to associations where coal 
is required to operate their enterprise, rather than to the individuals. 
Consequently its membership consists of local coal-purchasing asso- 
ciations, cooperative creameries, bacon factories, consumers' stores, 
etc., which are regular users of coal. During the first fiscal year the 
central association had a membership of 500 local associations. 
World War conditions made it necessary to suspend its activities at 
times ; but, with approaching normal trade conditions, the association 
is resuming its operations. It now has 700 members and handles 
70,000 tons of coal annually. 49 
Coal is imported chiefly from Great Britain, where the association 
buys direct from the shippers. The central association maintains 
storage houses, but a large part of the coal is delivered direct from 
ship by rail to the local association. The central association dis- 
tributes the coal at prevailing prices. The membership obligation in- 
volves a 5-year agreement for the purchase of its coal consumption 
and a guarantee sum equivalent to $2.68 per ton for the approximate 
amount of coal needed. This provides the necessary bank credit for 
financing the central association's purchases. 
« Andelsbladet No. 22, 1923, p. 430-47. 
