The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-12-04
COOPERATION.
Letter from Past Master WIN.
maxwell. of the Tennessee state

fully revived there, after somewhat
prolonged Sleep. The members
there have caught the spirit of CO.
operation, and it has reused them
from their slumbers. They promise
a large subscription for THE Pa
IRON at their December meeting
They want co operative business
with Salem and the surrounding
Oranges, and to locate at a common
centre.
NV route next was through Val
obusha and Grenada'counties. Co
operation has not been impressed
upon the people along that route,
therefore the Oranges are sleeping,
and they will continue to sleep until
Bro. Darden. THE Patron, or some
other powerful advocate of our
cause can be with them long enough
to awaken them. They are sleeping
sleep of unconscious damage to
themselves.
Nv next trip included Elliott,
Duck Hill. Winona, Walden, West
Station, a part of Carroll county,
Inere are individual members of
the Grange on that route who sare
good and true and we'll informed
and who heartily approve of the
purposes of the Grange, but because
of their isolated condition they are
left wholly to individual depend
ence, and are as powerless as the
densely populated neighborhood
with sleeping Grange that neither
renders ''self help nor mutual help. :"
The one regrets their inability; the
other neglects their ability.
There is a revival spirit near Wi
mona on one side, and on one side of
Walden the revival is in progress,
and already $1,000 have been raised
for a cooperative business, and
mole coming.
The work is progressing in and
around Durant. Browling Green
and Central Oranges each have 7
petitions to be acted upon at their
December meetings. They have an
established business in Durant, I'M
der the management of an earnest
Manager, who has met opposition
and Overcome much of it. The op-
| position comes up in many and Gu
rious ways. One is, a merchant
will say to drummer, where there
IS a cooperative store, eff you sell to
that store, I will countermand the
order | have given you" That
threat has in some instances DELAYED
IN order to the co operative store a
little, but it was only temporary.
Ask the average merchant why
he opposes cooperative store any
more than any other store or firm,
and he will answer: at has too ma
ny friends, and is likely to get too
| onuch custom, and loaI,o M o Nth u t
profits. 1t is the profits l want; il
IS not my business to look after the
peoples business. Why, | have a
custom of 100000 year, or did
have before that cooperative store
was started, and | calculate on $Io.-
900 profit from it every year.
want that profit. And though the
people can save that $4,000 by ira
ding at the cooperative store, il is nv
business to get it if | can; therefore
! will keep them from trading there
if | can, and l will keep the store
from getting goods if | can"
The same reason prompts them TO
give more than the market value for
cotton: it is to get the trade of
those from whom the cotton is
bought. In many places they say
fatty 1--WE don't buy cash cotton; if
you want a bill of goods, we will
make you a bill"
One man accepted a bid of zoe. a
bale more than the cash price; he
then bought s25 worth of what was
| proposed to be the moderate rates of
Is per cent. In that trade the mer-
chant made $6.25 on the goods. AT
ter the trade was made, the farmer
found that he could have bought the
same amount of goods at a co-ope-
fative store and had the profit on
them returned to him at the end of
the quarter. He saw that he had
better sell his cotton at 81 less on
the bale for cash and have $5.25 re-
turned to him in dividends. He said
that 1t was like all schooling, it had
TO be paid for, and now he had paid
for it he would reap the benefit of
it in the future. He now ships his
Gotten to the Southwestern Coop
crative Association at New Orleans
or sells it to cash buyer who does
ship to Bro. Carver.
Many others are beginning to re
alize the benefit of that mans expe-
rience. Only two farmers have al
lowed themselves to be deceived in
that way at this place. They are
shipping to Bro. Carver in the face
Of bids above the market price, get
their money, trade at their CO ope
ratlye store, and save the merchants
profits.
The members of one cooperative
store that have visited have money.
which they loan to their neighbors
who have to buy on credit. at 10
per cent interest; they deposit the
loan in the store to the credit of the
borrower, and as he needs goods
through the year he takes it up.
This increases the business, and is a
mutual benefit to borrower and
lender. Fraternally,
W. MAXWELL.