COOPERATIVE MARKETING OF COTTON 7 
The plan of the proposed centralized association and the contract 
which had been prepared were explained to the growers and the 
public at three general meetings in the delta in the summer of 1920. 
An organization committee of 3 men, with authority to increase the 
number to 18, was formed in July. This committee of 18 later be- 
came the organizing directors, and eventually the elected directors 
of the permanent association. 
Beginning in the summer of 1920, the membership campaign con- 
tinued over a year, until September 1, 1921. At its close 1,800 con- 
tracts had been signed, representing 216,000 bales of cotton based 
on the average of production for the years 1916 to 1919, inclusive. 
The minimum quantity specified in the contract was 200,000 bales. 
The association was incorporated under the laws of Tennessee on 
May 23, 1921, several months prior to the close of the campaign. 
It established an office at Greenwood, Miss., in July, and was in 
operation in August, 1921. 
Twenty-one men compose the board of directors, 18 of these being 
erower-members elected by the membership, and 3 being bankers 
nominated by organized banking groups in the staple-cotton dis- 
tricts of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee to represent the in- 
terest of the general public. Five men of this group compose the 
executive committee. 
The membership is composed largely of growers of long-staplé 
cotton in Mississippi, but includes some members in the delta sec- 
tions of Tennessee and Arkansas. There are six voting districts. 
Local offices are maintained at 13 receiving points in the delta, 
each in charge of a local manager. The association has sales rep- 
resentatives in the Carolinas, New England, Liverpool, and on the 
continent. : 
The Staple Cotton Cooperative Association is not a member of the 
American Cotton Growers’ Exchange and is not affiliated in any way 
with any other organization. It was not promoted by any organized 
farm group and did not seek the aid of such groups during the cam- 
paign. The leaders of the movement and the present directors of the 
association have maintained that their association is a delta organi- 
zation, controlled exclusively by delta men, and for the promotion 
of delta interests. They have taken the position that because of the 
association’s peculiarly local character it should not be closely con- 
nected with outside organizations. 
In its four years of operation the association has handled a total 
of over 550,000 bales of cotton, with an actual value of over 
$80,000,000. 
ARIZONA PIMA COTTON GROWERS 
Following the severe decline in cotton prices in the 1920-21 season, 
the Arizona American Egyptian Cotton Association sponsored the 
movement which resulted in the formation of the Arizona Pima 
Cotton Growers. 
There were 86 men on the organization committee, which was 
formed at Phoenix after a series of group meetings at different 
points in the Salt River Valley. The membership campaign began 
in the spring of 1921 and ended July 18, 1921. No minimum number 
of bales was established as a goal, but the committee planned to 
obtain contracts covering 26,345 of the 54,690 acres planted in cotton 
