higher than that at which the group had borrowed money from outside
sources; nevertheless, it is lower than the rate members would have to
pay if they individually sought loans at a bank. This is the aim of
coöperation in credit: to enable persons of small means to secure
loans without paying the high rates which as individuals they would
ordinarily have to meet, if, indeed, they as individuals could secure
loans under any conditions.

Credit coöperation has been most successful in Germany, particularly
among artisans and small farmers. It has also attained considerable
success among the small tradesmen and artisans of Italy. In the United
States coöperation in credit is less highly developed, but recently
its influence has been slowly increasing. In many cases it supplies
the principle underlying building and loan associations in this
country.

116. COÖPERATION IN MARKETING.--The coöperative principle has also
been applied to the marketing of agricultural products. In Denmark,
for example, it has been found that farmers can market their dairy
products coöperatively, and thus save for themselves much of the
profit that would otherwise go to commission agents and other
middlemen. A similar saving has been effected in Holland, Belgium,
and, to some extent, in France. Of recent years, coöperation in
marketing has become important in the United States, finding
particular favor among the farmers of the Middle and Far West. At the
present time there are in this country more than two thousand
coöperative cheese factories, and more than three thousand coöperative
creameries. There are also more than a thousand societies for the
coöperative marketing of fruit, as well as numerous live-stock selling
agencies.