The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-10-19
Co-operative Stores.
History Of Cooperative ssorr. An England.

How the Pioneers Of RochdAle have
worked up cooperation in the course Of
twenty years, may be CLEANED from the fol-
lowing figures.
In the year 1874 the number Of members
was % holding properly to the amount of
f2S. In the year 1854 the number Of mem
beers had risen to 900, owning property to
the amount Of 81 l72 los I'd their sales
amounted to e33, 364, with profit of 81
SGS lis y. Whilst in 1864, with 4, $50
members, holding property to the amount
Of f55, $40 their sales augmented to f274, :
2UO IS. 4d., with profit Of E22, l63 " Sd.
With this great cooperative store, how
ever, the Pioneers did not rest contented.
Though not under the same name, the same
[ individuals established, in 1851, the Roch-
dale Corn Mill Society, which, IN 1864, was
running fifteen stones, with a capital Of
| over 949 900 and business Of fl4l, al.
! During 1865, the Cooperative steam Corn
Mill, with a capital Of over EJS, OOG. had =
/ business Of fl4S, 533, with a profit II fl2.-
/ oil.
Yet more In 1865 the Pioneers estsb
lished cotton factory which employs 5OO
/ hands and 25O looms. The capital tof over
/ sos 900 during 1868 and 1864, gave M
| dividend. in consequence OF the cotton
panic, but the Looms were never wholly
! stopped, working at least half the time
/ At the present time their capital Is about
| EYl, 900. and they received cash for goods
during the year 1860 to the amount # tlSS, :
4 s95 Since the year 1863, Building As
/ ISOLATION has also arisen, employing a cap
| ital of over f52, 800, which furnishes its
members with good houses at a reasonable
cost A Life Insurance and Burial Society
! has a capital of over 9l5, 760. So that the
entire working capital, which has arisen
| from the original E28, now amounts 20
more than f2l5, 900.
1t could not fail TO happen that the results
Of the Roachdsle Pioneer soon became
known IN the neighborhood, and thence
spread through constantly wider circles.
Everywhere men emulated their example,
It'll net work If similar societies spread,
one after another, all over England. The
greater number of them are cooperative
stores. some having in addition tiou7-mills
and factories All Of them are prosperous
and steadily increasing.
Prof Huber. who has travelled through
ont England, and given much study 70
these organizations, estimates their present
number at 900 The number uf mem
beers Of cooperative stores amounts Of over
POO, 900, with a capital Of over ala, 90, OOO,
and an annual business of about "a. 500.
600
From an official report W.ich Mas laid
before the British Parliament, It appears
that III 1868 there were already 400 such
associations at work in England. whose
men bership amounted t. nearly 100, 600
| Their sales were over 5000 100, their
own property was $500, OO0, while the
/ profits shared among the members for the
| year 1863 amounted to more than tAW.
/ 900 Ia lS65 the eight societies alone Of
! Rochdale, Bacup, Halifax. Bury, Oldham
and Manchester numbered 24,4l4 mem
| bers, with property Il over f2UO, 600, and
a business Of over f7OD.OOO
| OF the whole Aga societies, nnly about
an eighth part was commenced before The
| year 1860, and scarcely 81 before the year
! 1858. while the great majority # them had
to struggle with the inevitable difficulty Of
! starting. Considering these facts, II may
/ be deemed certain that IN !. short time their
business and property will have increased
many fold
/ In 1861 the members Of these associa-
tons had already established and brought
into partial operation three large factories.
| Their capital exceeded 81 900, 900, Of which
| $500, 900 was invested by shareholders
/ the remainder WAS raised from bonds and
mortgages.
The Cooperative Store Association Of
the North Of England have created cell,
trail ASSOCIATION for the purchase and sale
D u 4 n
aged BY the Rochdale Pioneers, and II
1864 disposed Of goods q the amount Of
f142, 90 to l65 Cooperative stores, (f55,
/ 900 more than in 1863.
This method of association has at last
found its way into the English Col
onies, where it is applied in the cultivation
of the very cotton which is woven W the
cooperative factories at home.