The Osceola times., 1879-03-22
COOPERATION.
what the Hey. Joseph Cook Says I'm n
Lecture GU iSe Subject.


Lecture GU ise subject.
Go to the town of Rochdale near Man
chester, England, and you will find an
immense establishment called a CO.
operative store. You are an American
traveller, and do not understand what
this institntion has done; and here is s
poor English lsborer who is ignorant as
to the results Of corporation among the
poor. You take him as your mpsni0u,
and step into the establishment; and be
looks about, and asks you in a whisper :;
'Was all this done by poor folks like
me ?" A clerk comes forward and an
swers the question by saying: All
that YOU see here belongs entirely to
working>men. The store which you
come TO visit originated with the poor,
and with the poorest Of the poor"
We walk with the clerk from room TO
room, and he points out the stragetic
quarters of the establishment. Here
comes q poor widow, and she buys S
worth OF -four and meat and cloth.
"Yes," says the poor English laborer,
but ] see that she has to 'ay for
every thing in cash" $50 she does," !"
says the clerk; nothing is sold here
except for ready money, but wait and
watch the whole operation" The widow
gets tin certificate, showing that she
has paid 50, or fl, ior goods at this
store. She puts that into her porte
monnsie, and goes away. The clerk
calls attention to the fact that there is
no credit given here. "That may be q
good thing" says the poor man; "there
is not much encouragement here to get
into debt" NO" ssys the clerk
"and we have no bad debts because
there is ne credit. We can do large
business ON a small capital, for we turn
the money over often" The laborei
asks: "Does that widow yonder, pur
chasing her goods, obtain them at a les,
cost than she could get them at the ordi
nary shops?' The clerk replies awe
save all that we should have to pay
middle-men to manage this business
We save bad debts we save an immense
amount in advertising, because our Gus
toners, especially il they are share
holders, are sure to come here we save
all the profits tha. in ordinary manage
ment OF business would go to the retail
trader"
Our poor man wants to know how ht
can become member of this institution
and whether he can at once have tn,
benefit OF this new arrangement of trade
and the clerk tells him that by payin,
small sum be can be organized as !
shareholder, can have a part in the man
akement of the business, or that if h,
saves his tin tickets, representing th,
amount of his purchase, and there is |
profit on the business, then, even if h,
is not shareholder, he will get part o
the profit proportioned to the amount o
his purchases "This poor widow,
says the clerk, buys in the course o
the quarter twenty-five dollars worth o
goods, and there comes time wher
profits are divided. She brings in he
tin tickets as proof of the amount of hel
purchases, and she gets part of thu
dividend even If she is not shareholder
II she is a shareholder she has the choic,
to take her dividend and put it in he
pocket, or leave il in the establishment
as so much new stock to draw iurthel
dividend in time TO come"
The clerk informs us that the Roch
dale cooperative store began with few
wesvers in 1874 The Rochdale pioneer
were merely wesvers, who III distressed
period OF the flannel trade thought II
possible to club their means together
twenty.eight OF them, and 10 buy tea
and sugar At Wholesale prices, and they
sell to each other at retail prices and un
adulterated LApplause Thank Goo
that the topic OF a1ulteration of food hai
lately been scientifically discussed il
Boston [spplsuae], and that now We
know that when poisoners take theil
places behind counters they poison the
poor in preference to the rich, but by nc
means wholly spare the latter. AL
aduiterations, ] believe, injure the pool
more than the rich, and that is not only
because the poor are obliged 10 buy in
small parcels, and can not be particular
about the quality OF their purchase, but
because they have less power to make
themselves heard in complaint.
This cooperative society, the clerk
tells us, had in 1857 q capital of Sl2, 900, :
q n
department, aud this has q business
worth more than $40 900 900 per annum
This department trsnsacts business with
500 subsidiary cooperative stores, and
10 expeuding mere than $40 000 600 per
annum loses less than 5000 by bad debts.
The cost Of management, the clerk saws
is only one per cent on the returns
He asks us to notice that the number oi
CO operative societies in England snd
Wales is 40 and the number of mem
bers more than 100000. At the end OF
1872 The share capital amounted to more
than $1,000 coo. During that year
$55 600, 600 were received and $50 000,.
600 expended for goods. The net profit
from all these sources was more than
"a 600, 900. Compare Brassey, Lectures
on the Labor Question, London, 1878,
p 1l3, with Fswcett, Manual of Political
Economy, chap X
Will You give me document con.
cerning this establishment says the
poor lsborer, 81 wish to tel! my friend,
of the results OF the Rochdale enterprise
ana its imitation in England" And I,
as an American traveller ask for the
same documents, | gay, "Americs i.
inventive, but co operative stores have
not had great prominence with us q:
yet; perhaps there will be some use fol
these documents even in Massachusetts,. u
The visit OF the poor workingmsn aud o.
the American traveller to the Rochdalt
cooperative store, has thus resulted in
our both going away with pile OF docu,
our hearts--s star of hope or the poor
so Tar as cooperative distribution is con.
cerned.
Cooperative produ ction has not stoo
very well In England, but, rs an Amer.
inan trarelar [ lnnk acrnaa tho nhanrol