Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1930-06-26

er belongs to host OF buying organ1-
cations, too. Through one he gets his
Insurance; through another his feed
ing stuffs. Fertilizers, Goals, cements
and seeds all come from clubs spe-
cializing in the purchase of each.
But most important Of all is mem
bership in the cooperative wholesale
society, with its 1900 groups and 321,-
| 500 members. For this body is the
farmers department and mail order
store combined, From it he can get
anything he needs for his family or
| housekeeping only autos, airplanes,
| and pianos. When one considers that
| there are fewer than 100000 farms
in the whole country, the number
of memberships in some of these Co
operative groups seem astounding.
1.-The reason is simple" explains
Johannes Larsen, an executive of the
wholesale co-ops. THE members are
able to buy almost everything they
need, either by mail, or in many con-
venient shops near their farms, at
prices below the market. In addition
they share in the profits every year."
The turnover in these coop whole
sale stores in 1928 exceeded $35, 00O,
900. And the dividend yield, passed
on to the members, ranges between
{ and per cent annually. So sue
| cessful has this phase of the coop
erative movement become, the organi-
cation is developing special factories
| of its own to produce the merchandise
| sold.
Fruits From California.
But, of course" adds Larsen,
there is much that we can not pro-
| duce here. We then have to strike
the best bargains in the open mar
kets, believe that we last year i'm
ported more dried fruits from Califor-
mia than any other northern European
agency"
The purchasing of this coop has
become. so great it is effecting a
larger grouping with neighboring
countries co-operatives, so that it
may exert an International buying
power.
At present this Danish society OPP
crates its own coffee-roastery. choco-
late factory, tobacco plant; owns valu-
able real estate and operates its own
shoe, hosiery and ready-made clothes
manufactures. Its largest business
is done in margarine. plant "a
strange sidelight on country where
most of the worlds butter is pro-
duced).
In addition to the buying and sell
ing co-ops, there are many others, to
which most farmers belong, for edu-
cational urpoSes-libraries, horse
breeding societies, bull clubs, cow
testing groups and pig breeding CEN
| tiers.
1.-THE cooperative system" says DR..
s. Sorensen, agriculture advisor to
the Danish government. has proved
tc be of the greatest Importance in
bringing the Danish dairy to it's pres
ent high level. AS members of the
societies and owners Of the creamer-
ested in producing the very best
| quality of dairy products. Efforts are
made to deliver clean and fresh milk.
| and i'm most cases the societies keep
the creameries well equipped with
modern machinery. Last, but not
| least, they understand it is necessary
to have able and well trained cream
cry managers and buttermakers in or
der to obtain the best results"
Each member binds himself to de-
| liver for a certain period, usually 10
years, all milk produced in excess of
that-used in his home. The proceeds
are then divided in proportion to the
amount of milk delivered. The cream
cry managers have the power to re
fuse sour and impure milk. Com
plants of any nature are passed on
to a general assembly lin which each
member has but one vote, no matter
how large his farm). This assembly
is the supreme authority in the so
ciety's affairs.
The other commercial selling Co
ops operate along similar lines.
THE different cooperative associa-
tions," says Sorensen, have united
nearly 100000 land properties into
one great industrial enterprise, and
this cooperative movement has been
one of the main factors in the REL
markable development of agricultural
|