than one cooperative at a single station, although there may be two, three, or even more houses of either one or more of the other types operating at the same point. In other words, although the number of the cooperatives is relatively small as compared, for example, with the commercial line and independent types, the former probably operate at a disproportionately large number of stations as compared with either of the latter,20

As elsewhere discussed in this volume (Ch. IV), the cooperative house came into existence, in large measure, in order to remedy the situation created by the lack of competition in country grain buying and the practices employed by the various other types of elevators and warehouses. As a rule one cooperative elevator in a locality was all that was necessary in order to secure the economic relief desired by the farmers, although two, three, four, and even more houses of another or other types might be in operation at the point in question. In consequence there was little duplication of cooperatives at individual stations, and, as a result, in spite of their numerical weakness as compared with the commercial lines or independents, their influence in the country market is generally as great if not greater than that of any other type.

VOLUME OF GRAIN HANDLED.-The number and proportions of cooperative houses also fail as an index of the importance of this type by reason of the extensiveness of the business of the average cooperative house. Though this subject is discussed in detail in a later chapter (see Ch. V), it may be pointed out here that the average cooperative handles a considerably larger volume of grain than does any other type of country house, a fact which greatly increases the significance of its operations.

RECENT INCREASES IN COOPERATIVES.-Thirdly, as indicated above, the importance of the cooperative house is greater than that indicated by the number of houses by reason of the fact that the number of houses of this type has been and is increasing much more rapidly at present than is the case with any other type. This appears from the figures of reported construction by type of house discussed in the

next section.

Section 11. Growth and decline of different types of elevators and warehouses.

PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION OF ALL HOUSES.-The following table shows the percentage distribution of all reporting elevators and warehouses according to the period of construction:

TABLE 8.-Proportions of all reporting elevators and warehouses constructed in specified periods.

20 Although roughly there are about twice as many commercial line elevators as cooperatives in the four Northwestern States of Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Montana, it was admitted by several Minneapolis grain men thoroughly familiar with the country grain business and including two or three large line operators, that roughly, and, of course, with frequent exceptions, there was a cooperative elevator located at almost every point where there was a line house.

Only 133 reporting elevators and warehouses now in operation, or 2.87 per cent, were constructed prior to 1880, and in fact only about 15 per cent were built before 1895. Considerably over 75 per cent of them were erected since 1899.

The foregoing figures should not be taken as indicative of the rate of growth from period to period in the total number of elevators, because many of the older elevators have ceased to operate and have been dismantled, while others have been destroyed. Although nearly 10,000 elevators and warehouses replied to the Commission's schedule, only about one-half of these answered the inquiry as to the date of construction. It is logical to assume that a large proportion of those failing to report are elevators which were built during the earlier periods under discussion, since, other things being equal, the older the elevator the greater the number of changes in the management and the less the likelihood that the date of construction can be fixed. Furthermore, many of the older elevators and warehouses have been destroyed by fire, tornado, or otherwise, and have been rebuilt. Many of the older elevators and warehouses have also been driven out of business by the competition of other elevators which may have been constructed at a later date. For example, in the northwest territory many of the line elevators, which were as a rule old houses, have been closed for competitive or other reasons.

AGE OF DIFFERENT TYPES.-Table 9 presents the results of tabulating the period of elevator and warehouse construction (Appendix 2, inquiry 10) by type of house.

The figures in Table 9 do not reflect with absolute correctness the facts with reference to the growth and decline of different types, because a considerable percentage of houses have doubtless passed from one type to another since they were originally built. Outside of this factor, however, there would seem to be no good reason for assuming that the differences in the amount of construction of one type as compared with another in a particular period would be caused by other considerations than actual differences in the extent of construction by different types within the period. This of course assumes that the number of houses involved is large enough to be fairly representative. As over 4,500 houses reported, which is about one-seventh of the probable number in the United States, it is thought that the sample is of sufficient size to reflect approximately actual conditions of development as between types in spite of such shifts and changes in control as have unquestionably taken place and the relatively small amounts of construction reported for the earlier years.

ANALYSIS OF AGE DISTRIBUTION.-Table 10 presents a summary of the percentages in Table 9 and is designed to show the age distribution of the existing construction in the case of each of the five principal types of country houses.

TABLE 10.-Percentages of different types of existing elevators and warehouses constructed in specified periods.

Of the 4,634 elevators and warehouses reporting the period of construction, 23.52 per cent were built prior to 1900 and 76.48 per cent subsequently. The percentage of commercial and mill line construction in each of these two periods is approximately the same, but the proportions of the other types built prior to 1900 and subsequently reveal considerable variations from the figures for all elevators and warehouses and the mill and commercial line types. According to these figures, nearly 35 per cent of the total number of individual mill houses reporting were built prior to 1900 and only a little over 65 per cent subsequently. Independent elevators also show a somewhat higher proportion of construction prior to 1900 than the total construction reported and a somewhat lower proportion subse

quent to that date. In the case of the individual cooperatives, however, the reverse of the last situation obtains. Only about 13.5 per cent of the houses of this type operating in 1917 were built before 1900, while about 86.5 per cent were erected subsequently. As compared with the total elevator construction or with the construction of any other of the five important types, therefore, a very much lower proportion of the individual cooperatives were built prior to 1900 and a very much higher proportion subsequent to that period.

RELATIVE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF TYPES.-Table 11 indicates the relative importance of different types of houses at different dates from 1880 to 1917 as shown by the ratio of houses of each type to total of all types constructed prior to such dates.