AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN DENMARK. 45 
scheme won the confidence of the Danish producers, and by 1906 
eight cooperative plants had joined the agency. This sales organiza- 
tion has since been reorganized and now is known as the Danish Co- 
operative Bacon Trading Co. (Ltd.), London, incorporated under 
the English laws. It is owned cooperatively by 18 Danish coopera- 
tive bacon factories which are under contract for the mem- 
bership period to consign their weekly export bacon output to this 
sales company, which executes the trading service for its members' 
products in the British markets. It owns and operates its own 
offices, warehouses, and trucks in the principal markets and is equipped 
to smoke the bacon before it is distributed to the retailers. 
The English provision wholesalers handle a wide range of food 
supplies, including groceries, dairy products, and American lard, as 
well as Irish, Canadian, American, and Danish bacon. The Danish 
Cooperative Bacon Trading Co., selling only Danish bacon, soon 
experienced some difficulty in disposing of all its bacon direct to 
retail shops. The nature of the retail trade demands forced the 
retailer to seek trade connections with wholesale houses that could 
supply him with other bacon brands, American lard, etc. The 
Danish Cooperative Bacon Trading Co. thus broadened its field of 
activities and now trades in- other provisions. The company is not 
always able to dispose of its entire bacon supply to the retail trade, 
but often sells the remainder to other wholesale houses. In this kind 
of transaction the wholesale company in reality performs only the 
services of the agent, passing the bacon on through the English 
wholesaler. 
A just criticism in the Danish cooperative bacon factory industry 
is the lack of cooperation among the plants to provide business 
statistics for conducting scientific research investigations in the 
management of each plant and the different types of selling. In 
fact, each cooperative plant uses a different bookkeeping system to 
avoid chance for comparison. Even among the leaders of the cooper- 
ative plants no> material is available which might be used to deter- 
mine whether the plant selling through the cooperative wholesale 
enterprise or the plant selling independently brings the greater re- 
turns to the producer. 
The cooperative wholesale selling agency in England is a most 
influential factor in the Danish bacon trade, although it handles a 
little less than one-third of the Danish bacon export trade. It has in- 
troduced new marketing practices and trade principles; created a 
healthier brand of competition, which has effected greater efficiency 
in the market channels of the private enterprises; and lowered the 
rate of commission formerly charged by British agents for their 
services. The portion of the products handled by the producers' 
cooperative selling association in the trade is sufficient to prevent 
any market monopoly which might tend to restrain the natural trade 
conditions fixed by supply and demand. The influential position of 
the Danish Cooperative Bacon Trading Co. in the trade prevents 
any chance for monopolized price-fixing by speculative sources. This 
healthy state of trade and greater marketing efficiency are the con- 
tributions of cooperative selling effort to the whole Danish bacon 
trade. 
