The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-10-02
The Ascendanoy Of Cooperation.

grand advances. It is getting upon a
substantial basis. The failures in 90.
operation are what the public hears oil,
together with the pretentious schemes
50 loudly advocated by enthusiasts who
arc usually as impractical and inexper-
fenced as they are well meaning.
Successful co operators are mostly
too busy attending to their own BUSH
ness to advertise their success. Indeed,
the established cooperative enterprises
Of today let their work speak for itself,
in marked contrast to the magnificent
claims put forth by less sensible and
more wildly jealous would be co-opera.
tors The latter are of the class who
always hinder the practical progress Of
genuine reforms.
The great point thus far established
by cooperative success in America is
this: That co. operation is not new
method of transacting business, but
simply different way of dividing the
profits of industry-to labor rather than
TO capital. Cooperation hires capital,
pays fair price for it, and divides the
profits pro rata among the workers or
those who have contributed to its sue
cess. Capital, on the contrary, hires
labor as cheaply as possible, and takes
all profits to itself. The same prin-
ciples Of good management govern sue j
cess in either system, fact that has
been overlooked quite generally by
those who wish to leap the benfts OF
cooperation without sharing its respon
sibilities.
Past failures in associated effort have
been due to the idea that cooperation
was departure that did not require
attention to business principles. The
public had imbibed this conception
from the teachings of the earlier advo-
Gates, who enlarged upon the POSSIBLE
tiles Of cooperation, but whose want Of
experience in commerce or manufac-
turing led them to quite ignore the
practical essentials upon which associat-
ed effort must be built up. This i'm
practical idea still exists in many minds
in spite Of the lessons taught by the
failures following the wave Of co. opera
tive enthusiasm that swept over the
country in the early days Of the Pa
irons Of Husbandry or Sovereigns of
Industry. Its latest manifestation is
the serious consideration by the Kan
sas Farmers Alliance Of vast scheme
of co operative stores under one central
management, with capital of
$4,000, 600!
The 'tsolid" portion Of every COM
munity, the men and women Of some
education and more common sense,
understand the folly of such impractical
theories, but at the same time grasp
the possibilities of cooperative distri-
button and production when properly
conducted. They are ready and anxious
to take hold Of it. They know those
among their number who are competent
to assume the management Of CO.
operative store, factory, fire insurance
company or bank, if begun in an
humble way. 1t can then be enlarged
as actual experience develops larger
ability in the management and brings
in profits with which to increase capital.
The judgment Of these sensible people,
who SO largely comprise the farming
and producing public, to the effect
that cooperation is the true way out of
many of the evils that now beset them,
has solid foundation. A few of the
many cooperative successes upon
which it is based are worthy Of note
here.
Certain Western cattle growers have
an effective cooperative corporation.
through which last year they marketed
ten thousand carloads of livestock for
over two and one half million dollars,
netting Fifty per cent rebate on the
commissions usually exacted by Stock
Exchange brokers, after paying fifty
per cent interest on the capital
employed
Cooperative banking and building
associations are increasing at the rate
Of nearly FIVE hundred per year, each
with an ultimate capital of one million
dollars. Their deposits about equal
those of all national banks. while their
assets are double the combined capital
of our national banks. One farmers
bank alone has reduced interest rates 10
whole State, and still has been able to
return its farmer shareholders profits
apprepatinO inward of saven hundrad