The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-04-17

7 FTTER FROM PAST MASTER VIM. MAX
WE'LL, OF TENNESSEE.
Editor Patron. I left home on the 9Th |.
to work for and With the. friends ofaco-
operation, and reached Oxford, Miss. on
the 18th. The history of CO. operation inss
Oxford is interesting and sinstruetiye I'll
hope Maj Gin Or H. Plant of that place,
will write itup for the benefit Of thspeo; i
The int1roduction Of the Grange is the
forerunner of cooperation, as the fntrosl
duction of Masonry and the Christian. re-
ligion were the forerunners of civilization
and respect to woman. Cooperation is |
the golden rule perfected.
When the Grange was introduced at
Oxford, the toiling masses were paying 81
to $Ie per barrel tor meat and -four. AT
such prices, the farmers had no hope that
their. labor would turn them out more
than enough. to pay for their meat and
bread; and this they believed was the re
suit of extortion, and that belief begot de-
termination to test the matter. They raised
means sufficient to pay fortwo car loads
of -four and one of meat The appearance
of this shipment excited a good deal of
curiosity among outsiders. The resolute
S. H. Plant was intrusted with the busi-
ness His plan was to have those who
furnished the money to bring wagons and
receive the goods at the cars, but this ar
rangement was unsatisfactory, SO he quiet
Ily rented vacant house and stored the
meat and -four. While at it, his ear was
often greeted with the remarks: THAT
flour will spoil there, and that bacon will
rot Whose is it, any how? That fellow
don't know what he is doing" He needed
these jeers about as much as Noah did
the people who ridiculed him when
he was building the. ark under the
Masters instructions. When Plant got all
safely housed, he invited customers whose
faith accompanied their works, "Come
and get your meat and flour at 81 and SIS
per barrel This is the fruit of that knowl
edge that hath taken counsel of wisdom.
This is cost and carriage and pay for my
TOLL The wisdom of this venture was
seen in the fact that it left So on the bar
rel in the pocket of every one of those
who had faith in this cooperative effort,
and the result was too satisfactory to be
given up and return to their old task mas
tiers, the money and provision changers,
so Mr.. Plant was solicited to continue
the business He did so, and in one year
his business aggregated 100000
Mai. Gill determined, and when he de-
termines he means business, that store
on the Rochdale plan of CO. operation was
the need of the day and the place, and by
his clear and forcible presentation of the
system he soon had 2,2oo paid min small
payments from large number. He bought
| lot, built a business house, house Tor
Transfers house to repair wagons,
| chicken house and room to cook in, and
| spent all but about $22o of the funds, so
| it left small amount to begin the bust
| ness, which threw such a damper over it
that he could not get any more invested
to begin with. Mr.. Plant came to his
rescue, and proposed to add $4,000 to the
$3.50 and commence operations; that he
would take the general management of
the business; that the stockholders night
have all the gain in the business for twelve
months their 1920, to be distributed to
| he customers on the cooperative plan,
bat that be would claim all the gain on
his 81 900 investment; and at the end of
twelve months if the were satisfied from
| TIE results that cooperation is what they
wanted and would pay him back his
! $4,000 and its gain, he was willing to take
it and 60 in with them and get up capt.
tai sufficient to put the entire business on
! the cooperative plan. At the end OF the
year 1ast December) his 900 had net
ted him over ST 100. They cheerfully paid
/ him his S3,Ioo and little over, and adj
mitted that they were convinced that CO.
operation is the perfected golden rule;
that Plants ST. 100 gain was their loss, and
lost for want of faith; and that henceforth
faith and works would be their motto
When left there on the 18th they had a
dry goods store in full operation, and hun
dred dollar bills were being paid in for
twenty shares of stock; $500 were paid
over to the Treasurer at one time, several
hundred had been paid in before, and
several hundred more ready to hand over
to him. Well, there is simply Gloom
there in CO operation. And that is not all
They have goods of the same brands Of
other merchants, and in many lines they
sell cheaper, and sell cheaper because they
bought cheaper. This statement may be
pooh pooled! but it is fact! s'God
chooses the weak things to confound the
mighty"
From Oxford I dropped down tc
; Duck Hill. Fourteen miles south east Of
here the Patrons of Husbandry have q
cooperative store, three weeks old. They
sent an order to T. ]. Carver-money and
cotton-to the amount of $50. That is
sold, and the wagons have gone to-day to
the depot for another lot of goods; an order
!, has been sent for another turn over; and
enough calls have been made by citizens
to make still another order, and they say
, they will wait till the goods can be brought
: Notwithstanding all this, mel chants said
! to me the day got here, at will fail; il
can't run longs" while others in the coun.
try who are running small business say,
1--WE will undersell them; we will see
what we will see." Time works wonders
No man who understands cooperation
can afford, in justice to himself and family
to buy an article from any other than a
cooperative store, if there become in his
reach, because every article bought at d
cooperative store returns to the customer