New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-08-15
COOPERATIVE STORES.

) mind IN considering new proposition
to strip it Of all obscurity and reduce
significance to the simplest terms.
The term cooperative" does not, Y
think. entirely present the object whie
the people Of New Orleans have in vie,
The principle Of associated capital ,
combined labor is well understood an
ezempifed in joint stock enterprises
various kinds long in active operate
among US. The cooperative store diAel
IN this. that the customers are the copar
ners. a. B and c are capitalists VIII
unite under style and firm to buy an
sell goods. At the end Of the year the
profits amount 70 neutrality-suspicious.
dollars. which they divide among then
| selves according to the terms of their az
ISOLATION. From and out of whom wa
this twenty-five thousand dollars gained
besides the cost Of purchase an
sale: Out of their customers, VIII
may be represented by the rest Of tn
alphabet. Well, in the cooperative stor
Messrs. A, B. G and others put in thei
capital for the purchase and sale Of goods
the remainder Of the alphabet put in NJ
capital. except their custom. Every on
VINO is registered as a regular stockholde
receives metallic token. or a memoran
dunn Of every item purchased and paid for
and at the end Of the business term eacl
such customer receives a share of the ne,
profits in proportion to the amount o,
purchases so paid 70. and certified. If.
then, the cooperative store makes twenty
five per cent net profit on its business fol
the term, the purchaser Of one hundred
dollars worth of goods. will receive back
twenty-five dollars. thus reducing the
cost Of the goods to seventy five dollars.
The interest on this advance OF twenty.
five dollars has gone to his credit in the
store, and is represented and repaid in
the rebate. profit OF dividend as it may be
called. It will bee seen that the 1925, 900
of Messrs. A, B and C in the first CO.
partpery has been distributed among them.
selves and the rest of the alphabet in the
second. 1t will be seen also that the co.
operative store does not undersell any
other store. 1t may. however. take away
the customers from other stores, or COM
pei the latter to take their customere in as
partners.
Those who have sed to introduce
the cooperative store as an agent of
English or Of free trade, have made, We
think, an unnecessary complication. The
policy of direct trade is no new discovery.
It occupied the South at day when
seetionalism was stronger and the dread of
more potent than at present.
The Mississippi valley was discovered by
La Sale and De Soto. John G. Calhoun
was also aware of il. as may be seen
from his report on its improvement. at
the Memphis convention sometime before
1>50. Direct trade had been founded at
every principal city on the Southern At
!antic coast, nor was there ever any want
Of capital or credit at the South 70 have
imported all the goods needed. The
extent and selection Of goods at New
York was always better: the ability to give
credit and the discount for cash was far
greater in the Eastern markets than at
The South. Direct trade with the South
under the present tariff is not sufficient to
ill ships with cargoes and SO can not con.
'titute basis for supporting special
inc. Indeed. there is empty return ton
aage enough now to bring in all the I
English goods, nor is an additional line
needed for that purpose.
But cooperative stores do not require |!
English goods exclusively. They may be
brought from all the markets Of the world, !
md, indeed, must be. in order to meet the |
Of rival dealers. There will !
,e then, no suc! thing as underselling
he private stores, because the co.opera.
i've customers will know that their divi-
lends depend on the profits; but the CO.
perative stores will undoubtedly result in
living the customers cheaper goods. be-
ause the profit paid to Messrs. A. B and
:, will be divided among themselves.
his will be very important to the poor
onsumers. because they will thereby save
honey which would otherwise have gone
, the profit Of the intermediary or middle.
IAN, whose place they all occupy. This
ill enable the laborer 70 live cheaper. 1t
ill in effect, to some extent. counteract
he tariff. because the consumer now paws
1e importers and retail dealers profits in
EDITION to the cost Of the article laid
own duty paid. Thus Messrs. a. B and
import commodity at one hundred
ollars. They pay forty dollars duty.
nd upon this one hundred and forty dol
rs they place twenty-five per cent profit,
aking cost to the consumer of one
undred and seventy-fve dollars. The
custdher will buy the same
.ticle at cost of ten per cent profit. or
one hundred and forty dollars. making
saving Of twenty-one dollars. Or fifteen
9r cent. This will practically reduce the
lty pro 'anto to the consumer.
It is probable that the cooperative sys- I
N will relieve the poor greatly from the .
,cessive profits alleged to be made by
the corner groceries" as they are called.
hundred customers who deal to the s
ten: of twenty-five dollars each per s
onth make a patronage worth twenty s