The Osceola times., 1879-03-22

profits are divided among customers in
proportion 10 the amount OF their pur-
chasss.
8. Two and one half per cent. of the
profits is devoted TO education. very
valuable library belongs to the Rochdale
establishment.
What are the advantages of CO.
operative store2
1t iii becomes me to follow the king
We are this morning honored by the
presence of the patriot and statesman,
Mr. Quincy, who is founding Il cooper
alive store in Boston. Loud applause.
| remember what his ancestors did for
New Engl nd and for the United States.
Applause. But we are all agreed in
thinking that in founding institutions
here for cooperative purchase and sale,
and for co operative loans and banking,
he is acting quite as significantly as ever
his ancestors did, or as he ever did when
standing in the breach and teaching the
nation its duty concerning slavery. Ap-
plause. In cooperation is the opening
! believe. or certainly wicket gate into
the path, toward the promised land for
honest labor. / am no Socialist, but /
am labor reformer. | am in favor of
co cooperation and when grave men with
the weight OF mighty careers upon them
come forward, and in this city, not given
to running after floating bubbles, advo
cate these schemes that have had 80
much success in England and France
and Germany, hope | shall be able TO
defend them without being subject to the
charge of opening way to socialistic
errors.
A cooperative store, arranged on the
Rochdale plan, has these advantages:
/. 1t has no bad debts.
g AS all the goods are paid for acros:
the counter, maximum OF business can
BE carried on with minimum of capital
g. No credit Is given, and none need
be received. Under a system Of credit
the poorest are usually taxed fifteen OF
twenty per cent. to compensate the
trsdesman for losses incurred through
the dishonest. Credit leads to improvi-
dence. The expense of solicitation O.
payment is saved by the abolition of the
credit system.
4. The stock bought is sure to be taker
by purchasers, and so waste and loss arc
reduced.
5. Frauds in weight, measure and
adulteration are provided against, and il
is from these that the poorest consumer,
in ordinary trade suffer more than the
rich.
6. Efficiency and economy of time in
securing customers are secured.
Z. Fair prices are the only ones posi-
bic.
s. All the larger expenses of advertis
ing, bill posting, and of costly she W
windows, elaborate lighting appsratu,
and high rents, are greatly diminished
9, A spirit of self-help is promoted
among working men.
10. There is divided among the co.
operators the ordinary net profits of the
retail trade.
The protective union stores, which
were in vogue ir parts of this country s
few years ago, are an altogether different
affair from the Rochdale association. The
method of conducting the former very
often led to disaster. But believe that
there will be, within few monyhs, CO.
operative store in Boston, avoiding all
the errors OF the earlier establishment;
called union stores, and gathering up all
the wisdom of the thirty years experience
OF Great Britain in these establishments
and putting on foot here in New England
soil this young giant, who may have q
career before him all The way from the
Atlantic TO the Pacific.