The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-07-02
CHI AR L e S T ON.
FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 2, 1862
seif..upplying Cooperation.

Self.supplying Cooperation.
The cooperative system in Great Britain
has assumed q new shape in one importan,
particular, the cooperative principle being
now applied to supplying with goods the
retail co. operative stores.
Originally each store had its own sepsr-
ate buyer, and he went into what market he
could or hsppened to know Of, and often
went to the wrong or bad one, or did not
know how to buy to advantage If he did
get to the right place; or, perhaps, If he
got to the right market; and knew what to
select when there, he carried with him too
little cspitsi to lay out to purchase to
advantage. Then few wise and practical
heads said that cooperation should take
an other step, and could take it; that instead
Of 400 societies employing 400 buyers, the
great majority Of whom being mechanics,
could know nothing Of the business, few
well selected buyers might buy for sll
Then ordinary cooperation arrived at q
point when it was seen that another step was
practical. The Rochdsle oo-operstors were
the first to see this and attempt to realize
what they saw to be possible. Mr.. Abram
Greenwood, Mr.. James Smithies, Mr.. Will
liam Cooper, Mr.. Ashworth, Mr.. Stott, Mr.
Edwards, Mr.. Nuttall and others-whose
names are known in all chronicles Of Eng
lish -operation-worked hard to create
"North Of. England Wholesale Co. operative
"store," which should keep buyers in the
best markets of Europe, and collect in q
central store in Manchester produce sufi-
cient to supply ell the stores Of Lancashire
and Yorkshire, and even oo-operators in yet
more distant counties. They got capital
subscribed, took an empty warehouse in
Dsutxic.street, Manchester, and commenced
business = 1t took, however, much time,
labor and patience to prevail upon the sep
arste stores to join in federation Of self
supply. It took as much education Of the
stores to ensble them to see their true
interest and duty ss to train individual
workmen to become in the first instance CO.
operators. The stores had their collective
jealousies. Their own buyers did not like
to be superseded. Some Of them received
. consideration for buying Of particular
trsdesmen; some who did not do this had
friends whom 1t was in their power to
serve. In other cases, clever travellers
tempted store managers to buy Of them
some articles at fsrthing a ton cheaper
than the wholesale store, which dealt only in
pure goods, could supply them, and such
stores kept out Of the federation. Indeed,
the prophets Of the new federated scheme
found, like other prophets Of good, that
they had no credit or honor in their own
stores. Even Roohdale, the pioneer Of 90
operative progress, did not 90 heartily into
the new plan. However, time is given to
all men, and if they add sense to perse-
veranoe, they come to succeed. The lead
ers Of the federation had patience, and pa.
tienoe gave sense time to mature, and SO
the "right came uppermost," and the
Dantzic street store, opened only five years
ago, has grown too small for the business,
and the society has bought q piece Of land
in Bslloon-street, not far from where the
Manchester warehouse Of "John Bright
"Bros." stands, and have built thereupon
plain but most substantial and oommodious
store Of their own, seven stories high.
The new store has cost $4,000. The stores
federated with it exceed 200. The stores
buying from it exceed 800, and the persons,
members Of these stores, amount to 100000
The Manchester Central Store Supplying
Company began business in March, 1864,
when the capital was G999. By January,
1868. the capital had grown to EGG 313, and
in January last it was $4,000, or more
than $500 900 in United States currency
the amount of goods sold in the half year
ending January 1st, being over $750000
The total expense of conducting the bust
ness, exclusive of interest on capital, is
1 10a. in the pound, and including inter.
est, It'd.
There is progress and power in co-opsra-
ration. The co-operators are about to
create journal Of their own, and have
entered into negotiations to take into their
hands The Social Economist and the Co.
operator, 50 that there may be journalistic
unity in form as well as spirit, and one
accredited paper for one great party. Jour-
nalism, which gives SO much weight and
Inspiration to politics, and advances public
affairs to freedom, will no doubt yet rein
spire cooperation with adventure tenn
pered BY prudence, and put its now pecuni-
ary power to indefinite uses. Industrial
partnerships now legalized in England, by
an act promoted by the late Mr.. Scho!e-
field, Mr.. Bright's colleague in the repre-
sentation of Birmingham, will daily incite
to new enterprise in cooperative directions.