The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-11-24
BENEFIT OF BUYERS.
Investigation of Co operation by De.
partment of Labor Official.

1t Has Gained Ground in This Country.
Washington Star.)
The Departments of labor has been
making an investigation Of corporation
Thu ough Prof Edward W. Bemis and
has come to the conclusion that CO.
operation has not gained any great
ground in the United States. This Is
remarkable in the face of the fact that
in June there were l, 1856 cooperative
societies in Great Britain, and their
total annual business was reported as
more than Sl66, 600, o00.
Corporation began in England and 1t
is an assured success there. In this
country it is still experimental. The
first co-operator in England was man
ed Owen. He had an idea that all
profit was wrong-that goads should be
sold for tho cost OF produc tion ana hand
ling. He preached his theory industri-
ously and persuaded a great many people
TO establish cooperative store But
there was fatal defect in his system.
1t was not organized on business prin-
ciples. There was no surplus on which
the store could rely in emergencies.
Consequently great many of Tie Owen
stores failed, and the plan grew unpopu-
lar. Out of the hundreds of stores estab-
lished probably fifteen or twenty remain
in existence today.
Then came the famous Rochdale rion-
GERS. Twenty eight poor weavers in the
little town of Rochdale used to meet
every night to talk about politics and
the condition of the tailoring man, just
es thousand of little gronps meet in the
towns and cities of the United States to-
day. Discussing cost and pro.., they
evolved the idea Of establishing a store
the middle Tuan i'll the purchase OF the1l
supplies. Each man contributed three
pence week to the fund, and when it
amounted to twenty-eight pounds they
ests blished their store. This was the
famous Roohdale store, on which almost
ali the cooperative stores in the world
ara modelled. The idea is not to sell
goods at cost, but to sell them ut thu
market price, keep an account of the
purchases of each memb her of the store
and divide the profits OF the store at the
end of year in proportion to the pur-
chases made.
SHARING THE PROFITS.
There are variations of this original
plan. In some cooperative stores only
members are allowed to trade. They are
the stock holders of the business in pro-
portion to their purchases, but no one
bot themEelves is allowed to contribute
to the profits. In others, any one ma
bur, but the profits are divided among
the memhe The more advanced type
Of cooperative store is the one in which
every purchaser shares in the profits. He
raoei YES q token indicating the amount
Of his purchase and when the dividend il
declared Mt the end of year he is EMIT
led to receive that dividend on thu
amount of the tokens he has received.
These stores sell in competition will
the other retail stores in Great Britain
and yet the dividends are very large
Last year out of reports received from
more than a million co-coperators IL wa
shown that 80 12 per cent of the buyer
received more than Is per cent of theil
purchase money back in the form OF dlvl
dends, while mora than e-half sn1ll
len purchasers received dividends rang
dends were declared, of course, afte
paying not only the wholesale price o
She goods, but all cost Of handling, tn
rent of stores, etc.
Two or three causes operate against th
cooperative store In the United States
One of them is the fact that the Ameri
can workingman, who should be mos
ipters sted in it, does not have to loo
after the pennies so closely as his Eng
lish brother. Another is that the cost Q
handling goods must be greater ON thi
side the water, where salaries are o
much higher than they are abroad. 4
man who would manage the enormou
business Of the Co operative stores OF al
England, as the late Mr.. Mitchell did
would be worth SIS, 900 to $40, 600 yea
to big commercial enterprise hero. bu
Mr.. Mitchell's salary was 1890 year
The "trust" system, almost universal II
ths United States, is prohibited by tn
Rochdale plan, yet most of the failure
of cooperative stres in the United State
have been due to bad debts. The Eng
Issh societies have the same fault
though not in so great degree. OF l, 57t
of them making reports last year SO pc
cent. gave credit. But they seem to do i
more judiciously than the managers c
the stores in the United States.
UNION STORES.
After the Rochdale movement ha
gained favor in England there was
wave of enth usiasm in the United State
far the organization of "union" stores
Its crest was in New England. Betwee
1sa7 aud 1859, 769 union stores were oraal
lied, and they were fairly prosperous fl
time. Less than one-half th at numb'
reported, in 1875, an aggregate annu
trade of s2. 900, coo. Not one Of the
stores survives. In 1864 the Rochda
plan was introduced in Philadeiphi
and two years later the Patrons Of HUI
landry started another 'union store
movement. All the stores organized III
der this movement are now out OF exi
tence; and the Philadelphia store faile
after less than three years of existence
its failure due in the most part to be
debts. sa
Between 1884 and 1883 tie Knights
Labor were gaining in Importance at
wonderfully rapid rate, and a gree
many incidental lsbor movements r
suited, among them the organization