116 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

 In 1909 Florida passed her first cooperative market-
ing act. It was for the incorporation of non-stock asso-
ciations which restricted their membership to producers
of agricultural commodities, and required that they be
controlled on the basis of one member one vote. If the
property rights and interests of the members were not
equal the articles of incorporation must provide a rule
or rules whereby they could be determined. In 1917 a
second cooperative marketing act was passed which per-
mitted the use of capital stock but had no provision for
non-stock organizations Through its articles of incor-
poration or its by-laws an association incorporated under
this Act may specify its basis of control, limit the amount
of stock to be owned by one person and make provision
for distributing its profits or savings which must be
done either in part or wholly upon a patronage basis.
 Florida passed a third Act in 1923 which provided
for the incorporation of either capital stock or non-stock
associations. This Act was repealed by "The Agricultural
Cooperative Act" of 1931. The 1931 Act, like the 1923
Act, has provisions for the incorporation of either capital
stock or non-stock associations. It is similar in many
other respects and in some instances is copied verbatim,
but in general it is somewhat broader than the 1923 Act.
The 1923 Act confined its business to members only,
required one member one vote as the basis of control
and limited contracts between association and members
to a period of not more than ten years. The 1931 Act
permits busmess with non-members to an amount of 50
percent of the total business, provides that capital stock
associations may control their business on either a "pa-
tronage" or "one member one vote" basis, and does not
limit contracts between association and members to any
period of years
 Since "The Agricultural Cooperative Act" of 1931
limits dividends on capital stock to not more than 8 per-
cent and restricts its business with non-members to not
more than 50 percent of the total business it meets the