AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IX DENMARK. H 
ciation and the central association are. settled by a board of arbitra- 
tion formed by the association and can not be taken into the courts 
of the country, but claims by third persons against an association 
may be settled in the courts. 
The constitution and by-laws which are signed by the individual 
members in the cooperative bacon-factory associations and coopera- 
tive purchasing associations for buying feeding stuffs and fertilizers 
specify that all disputes, disagreements, and differences, except debts, 
that may arise between the individual members and the locah asso- 
ciation and between the local and the central association will be 
settled by a board of arbitration and can not be taken to the courts. 
The constitution and by-laws which the individual members of 
each cooperative creamery association sign, as a rule provide that 
any member who fails to deliver his milk may be required by the 
courts to pay the creamery association the amount which it suffers 
by his failure to deliver his milk. It is presumed that this will be at 
least 50 ore (13.4: cents at par) per day for each cow, but a larger 
amount may be recovered if incurred. 
FINANCING METHOD. 
As a general rule, the Danish cooperative marketing and purchas- 
ing associations are nonstock associations. The necessary fixed and 
operating capital for carrying on the business is created by loan, 
which is guaranteed by the members. With the local association, 
individual members pledge their guarantee jointly against all ob- 
ligations incurred by it ; but, with the central association, each local 
association pledges its guarantee for a definite amount. In the latter 
case the individual members either sign themselves or authorize 
the local board of directors (provided for in the constitution and by- 
laws) to sign the guarantee pledge certificate, which is then for- 
warded to the central association to be used by it for providing 
necessary funds to carry on its operations. 
As regards the creditors, the individual members are jointly lia- 
ble, but within the local association the liability is apportioned ac- 
cording to the members' patronage. The Danes have found that a 
group of farmers within a neighborhood, where there is a degree of 
personal acquaintance, agree to the joint liability feature: but when 
the activities of a cooperative organization extend beyond the local 
community unit, the farmers in the respective local associations are 
unwilling to assume joint liability with associations in other sec- 
tions of the country unless the guarantee assumed by each local as- 
sociation is limited to a definite amount. This method appears to be 
well adapted to the Danish credit system. 
COMMODITY SELLING AND BUYING. 
In the whole field of Danish agricultural cooperation the trend 
of development has been to apply the principle of specialization. 
The common practice in both the selling of agricultural products 
and the buying of farm supplies, such as fertilizers, feeding stuffs, 
cement, and coal, is to form special associations for special pur- 
poses. In other words, the farmers organize and operate along com- 
modity lines. 
