The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1876-12-28
international Cooperation Through the Grange.

| state Orange, or National Orange, than
successful business cooperation. In
superficial way, it is easy to picture
the benefits of cooperation, but as a
matter of fact, there have been so few
instances of pecuniarily successful CO.
operative enterprises when extended
beyond a few individuals, that think
ing men, whether Patrons or not, will
do well to consider the subject with
some respect for past failures and the
limited number of successes. There
are no patent methods of overturning
business and securing great profits;
there are no cooperative enterprises
that can avoid transportation, tariffs,
insurance, cost of handling and selling
grain and produce, whether done by
The agents of the cooperative scheme,
,r those outside, the cost will not very
materially differ. In every branch of
business throughout the civilized
world, keen, sagacious. business men,
stand ready to place in any channel,
capital and experience if it promises
fair return upon the money invested.
Another common sense proposition
that human experience has proved, is,
that an individual cannot, as rule, do
more than one thing at time success
| fully. The lawyer vino undertakes to
conduct store, in addition to his pro-
fessional work, or the merchant who
imagines that he can successfully farm,
finds one or the other interest neglect
ed. The farmer who undertakes to do
the business of merchant, will find
that theory and practice do not work
out large profits. We are led to make
these remarks by observing the at
tempt of the National Grange to faith
er some grand, international, cooper
alive scheme. We should like to ask
those who champion this piece of
grand nonsense, to show in how many
counties in the United States the sub
ordinate Oranges have been able to CO.
operate with each other; or with ten
years of existence, how many States
have business success worthy the
name? Is it not exposing the organI-
zation to ridicule, to talk about inter-
national cooperation. while the first
essons of cooperating by townships
md counties are yet to be learned? A
superficial blatherskite who has never
studied the first principles of business,
and to whom the difficulties of all past
experience in practical business are as
nothing, while making harangue on
international cooperation few days
since, told his hearers, that millions of
money were waiting in Europe to come
10 this country to be loaned at four and
| dive per cent. interest, and that all the
| Patrons of Kansas wanted was to
chip in" $20,000as their share towards
securing the capital necessary for an
international cooperative scheme, and
that the farmers Of the State could
then lift their ten, fifteen and twenty
| per cent. mortgages; because millions
of idle capital in Europe could be got
through this international scheme at
four per cent. interest per year. Upon
this flippant pretext-sophistry as shall
low as it is false-the farmers, who are
Patrons, are to be asked to subscribe
stock to create capital for this grand
piece Of humbuggery, which is called
by the high-sounding name of "Inter-
national Cooperative Association"
Whatever course other journals
identified with Grange interests and
the interests of the farmers, may take,
the Kansas Farmer will be found
speaking with no uncertain sonnd
against wild schemes of this kind, hav-
ing neither business reasons, nor a SUBJ
stantial, responsible base for its sup
port.
1t is easy enough to wildly declaim
against millions of unemployed capital
in Europe wanting investment in this
C0uutlk, Dut loi nuCH WIN udNC 'HS III
telligence to accumulate these millions
of dollars, being willing TO loan it
through any cooperative ASSOCIATION,
however safe. to be loaned at four or
five per centinterest, while many class
es of our securities, just as safe as any
farm mortgage, can be had bearing
from six to ten per cent, makes too
great demand upon our credulity.
European capital, or money for any
country, will seek investment where it
will receive the highest price. If peo-
pie are in debt and mortgaged, none
but demagogues of the most dangerous
character will advise them that there
is some other method, some short cut
out of the trouble, besides the old
fashioned one : of selling more than
they buy. The ultimate result Of this
utopian scheme viii be failure and a
corresponding loss of confidence in the
work to do in building up the subor-
dinate organizations, in making them
useful in every neighborhood, without
raising great expectations ofprotit that
can never be realized From the very
beginning of the organization, this ex-
pectation of receiving great pecuniary
benefits, has done the Order more harm
than all other causes combined. Thou
sands who joined the Oranges, believed
it would enable them TO buy every
thing at or below the cost to ordinary
dealers, have been disappointed, and
the result is, very many subordinate
Oranges throughout the west are dead
and dying because Of too great expec-
tations. This new scheme is the wild
est and most delusive ever attempted
by the organization.
In one short article we do not ex-
pcct to attempt TO discuss the posi-
bilities of cooperation. We believe
communities, when bound together in
q Joint Stock Association, may, wheth-
Ell farmers or mechanics, secure direct
benefits of buying and selling together
but the feasibility of extending the
system to a State or undertaking the
still greater problem of cooperating
with other nations are questions |
4 4 4 IA.