BULLETIN 110 6, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 
are pooled and are then divided among the members on an equitable 
basis. Many cooperative marketing associations pool the products 
received from their members; that is, they mingle those products 
which are of the same grade and character so that the identity of 
any particular lot is lost. On the sale of the products in a particu- 
lar pool, the association renders a final account to each member, 
based upon the quantity which he contributed to the pool. Some as- 
sociations pool returns without pooling products — that is, the re- 
turns from products of the same grade and quality which are sold 
during a given period, usually at varying prices, are lumped to- 
gether and are then divided among the members on a unit basis. 
Some associations, such as cooperative livestock commission con- 
cerns, act simply as agents for members in the sale of their products ; 
other associations take title to the products received from their mem- 
bers, but otherwise function and account 10 members as though acting 
only as agent. Nearly all marketing associations enter into contracts 
with their members for specified periods, which require the mem- 
bers to deliver their products to the association for marketing. These 
contracts are usually comprehensive and state the undertakings of 
the association and the member with regard to the delivery and 
marketing of the products covered. 
All the States but one 5 have statutes peculiarly adapted to the 
incorporation of cooperative marketing associations. These corpora- 
tions, in many respects, function along lines similar to those followed 
by commercial corporations; that is, each of them has a board of 
directors, officers, and employees through whom the affairs of the 
association are conducted. 
Informed and intelligent management is as necessary in the con- 
duct of a successful cooperative association as it is in any other 
successful corporation. Management has been called the vital factor 
in the success of any cooperative association. " Cooperative mar- 
keting of farm products appears to be a necessity. Its success, 
however, depends upon the business sagacity and honesty of those 
in charge." 6 
INCORPORATED ASSOCIATIONS OR CORPORATIONS 
NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS 
A point to be made clear at the outset is that an incorporated 
cooperative association, whether formed with or without capital 
stock, is a corporation just as much as an incorporated organization 
formed to manufacture automobiles, farm implements, or steel. It 
is true that incorporated cooperative associations are a particular 
type of corporation, just as incorporated commercial concerns or 
charitable organizations are of particular types. As nearly all 
farmers' cooperative associations are incorporated, and as it is highly 
desirable, as a rule, that they should be, the greater part of this 
bulletin will be devoted to a consideration of incorporated associa- 
tions. Whenever the word " association " is used herein, unless 
otherwise specified, an incorporated association is meant. 
B Delaware. 
« Dark Tobacco Growers' Co-op. Ass'n. v. Robertson, S4 Ind. App. 51, 150 N. E. 106, 113. 
