The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-01-04

- cunning NHen u VIII De tremendous, and
from TINS power the country may sooner or
'a'ef iaI'' GATH.
ScoTcH THRIFr-How COOPERATION WoRKs
L. CAREFUL llANDs.-[Glasgow letter to the
chicago 1r'dune.] -Ahout eighteen months
ago few residents in this city undertook
ccOYcratire scheme. lis great success has
proved lis perfect practicability. | shall
ai.clch ITS salient points, IN the hope that
aoiHG Lilicasoan may he led thereby to intro
,ttir1 3omething Of the sort in the Garden
Gay. A capital Of Gl0,000, divided into G10
sih,!eS, was subscribed. The company was
Thea. organized, and incorporated under the
lt.,a Oh Great Britain ~ the :" General Sup
ply Association [imitcdl." BY the articles
III Incorporation its management is vested
in i committee of five. This committee
Is elected by the shareholders. 1t con-
s!sla al present Of II Goa master, mer-
Giant, 4 manufacturer, builder, and a
drySaltcr. T.c details of the business are
co.uucscu hy manager" who is appoint
ed by the i've directors. The cOn,panv
opened large grocery store. 1t has since
opened 4Gother. At these houses goods are
SOLD only 10 three classes of persons. The
stockholders, the people who have pl1de
themselves "liic members" by the pay
mcnt Of se2l, and those who have made
themselves" yearly members by paying IS.
Cd TO the two latter classes non-tranSlcra-
lie tickets are issued. These may be re-
qliii'cd TO be shown whenever purchase is
made. Cash on delivery is The inyaliable
rule. TO obyate the Inconvenience OF al
ways sending money with IN order, the
Association receives deposits of not
pf finn t,,.st
which II allows its customers TO draw.
These deposit accounts must never be
overdrawn Il iarthiuS. They may be with
drawn at any moacni. The advantages OF
this system are Obvious. The association, by
its goods chcaply. Its members, therefore,
save in all their purchases, and make
sure of lmadl!lterated articles besides.
All this, however, is but small part of this
admirable scheme. Arrangements have been
made with twenty-five Of the first firms in
Glasgow, by means of which the members of
the supply company can buy from the firms
in question at Il reduction of from five to
twenty per cent. from regular prices. The
list ofthe leading articles sold ut these twcn-
ty-two places covers four cloSely-printed
pages Of pamphlet of about the size of Our
Young Folks. Ii is almost needless TO say
that this list comprises nearly everything
that man ran wish to have in, on, or around
him. TO get the reduction for its members
the Association pays nothing. 1t does not
even bind It's members To trade ut these
houses. 1t does, however. ask them to do
so, and selfintercst makes them heed the re-
quest. The merchants are Unidentified in
two ways: They secure a constant increase
M
largely cash one. As / have said, the
saving to holders of supply-company tickets
ranges from j to 90 per cent. Meat which
sells here from I'D. to 1Gd. pound they get
for a penny a pound less. The reduction on
iron is II! per cent, Oh fancy goods Ii per
cent, and on jewc.ry and groceries 20 per
cent. After securing all these advantages to
its members the General Supply Company"
finds itself at the end of each halfyeur with
4 surplus of profits. Half Of this surplus is
used as Il dividend TO the share-L holders. In
the eighteen months since they put in their
money they have Received three dividends Of
) per cent. each, Of the other half, part
goes in salaries, expenses Of management,
etc, and the remainder is divided among
the life members 81. e., those who have
paid in cpl. The division is made accord
itS w 'iiN vi ljuiSHttStS HlttC DN
each during the half-year. 1t has, so far,
been nearly 10 per cent. year. Thus life
member not only saves 20 per cent. on what
ever lie gets from the Associations two
grocery stores, and from to 20 per
cent. on all his purchases from twenty-five
other stores, hut he gets dividend be-
sides. Suppose that he buys, during the
year, goo worth of goods, half from the
company and half from the other firm. On
the former he saves EGO. Oh the latter at least
G10. His two dividends will amount to sIO.
The result is that his Investment of 81 has
saved him 900 and netted him GlO besides.
Such statement would be incredible were it
not matter of proof, The Association now
has about 1000 members, who represent
nearly that number of families. As the en-
penses of management by no means increase
in proportion with the enlargement Of bust
ness, the prices Of groceries, etc, are being
constantly reduced rs the membership eX-
tends. The extension has been the more
rapid because it is for the interest of every
member to get his friends to join. All in all,
the "General Supply Company" of Glasgow,
is most robust proof of tue fact that CO.
operation Is both practicable and profitable.