c+ C.
ska
editor....Curothy K. bell
advertising.Harriet Z. Bell
Published once a week at Palmer, Alaska for the A_tenuska Vclley Farmers’
’ooperating association for the purpose of giving news of the Associa
ions'v.'ork, problems and accomplishments,*
SUBSCRIPTION RATE £1.75 per year £1.00 for six months 100 a copy
FARMER COOPERA I IVES and 01 HER l ORPORAI IONS
farmers finance
Cooperatives to
provide services
for themselves.
Investors finance
corporations to
provide services •
for anyone.
HOW THEY ARE
financed
HOW THEY ARE CONTROLLED
In a farmer cooperative.control is
in the hands of the farmers who
use the services.
In other corporations
control is in the
hands of those ,(iho
ov/n most of the q
stock.
HOW THEY ARE
ORE RAT ED
~fter paying operating
expenses, farmer cooperative^
return margins to users ^
as ratronage refunds. i ■ •
After paying operatingi
expenses, other
business corporations j'
distribute margins -
among stockholders_
as dividends.
HOW ‘HE)' AR t
LIMITED
IT)' LAW
By law, farmer cooperatives
iuusi operate ior one
mutual benefit of
their members, and
must allow only one.
vote to each member:
i t-ARK (.cWif'.-iinvi
or dividends on stock, if any, not
exceeding 8 percent.
Other business corporations.
are not generally
restricted in accept
ing patronage nor are
they regulated in the
VtNtKAL JU’S’F
u± uiviueiius oo
their individual stockholders.
FARMER COOPERATIVES ARE OFF-THE - FARM BUSINESS A GENCIES
Farrier cooperatives are voluntary business associteions. They are set
up to increase farmers’ profits. They are part and parcel of'the Ameri
can economic system.
Today, about two, out of three farmers belong to one or more of these
off-the-farm business agencies, with total memberships almost equal to
the total number of farms.
As corporate units, farmer cooperatives make no profits. Refunds and
final payments go, on a patronage basis, toward enhancing the individ
ual profits of farmers, after limited dividends have been paid on stock.
Jarrner cooperatives simply serve as the '’agents■' of farmer-members. In
this way they give the farmer opportunities equal to those enjoyed by
o-f-her business men engaged in the production of goods.
All sound farmer cooperatives are built around the principle of communi
ty serviee. They are owned by local people, pay local taxes and assume
oi.*.er local responsibilities• .although farmer cooperatives have grown
to the point where they serve as effective "yardsticks'’ of what it costs
to market farm products and buy farm supplies, farmers still transact
■jQP-_Egrc.gPL-0Oh_elr purchasing and marketing with agencies othar
than cooperatives. *