Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-14
Cooperation IN AMERICA
Success and Failures Recorded in Many
Promising Fields.
TRACING THE CAUSES OF COLLAPSE
The Many substantial BENEFITS Accrn-
ing from Industrial and DtStrib-
utive crntion-Notnble
Instances.

The September bulletin OF the Department
OF Labor, at Washington, contains an IN
structiye review OF cooperative movements
in the United states prepared by Or. Ed
ward w. Bemie His article is devoted In the
main to the history OF cooperative dlstrlou-
tion but sets out with review OF the COM
paratiye failure OF cooperative manutactur-
ing here in some promising fields II IL
made clear that this is largely owing TO
lack OF the strong cooperative spirit vi
the eight famous cooperative cooper shops
In Minneapolis that existed in lSH6' only
four survive, and none OF them paid any
dividends during the past three years. ono
does not appear to have paid any interest
on the capital invested, either. This Is IN
part due to the general depression, in part
to the introduction OF machinery that mas
lessrned the demand for skilled coopers, for
which reason many have Withdrawn. The
shops do a business OF over SiOOOVO a year
and could do all the work for the MIME
apulis mills but the mills VIII not give IL
all to them even at lower prices tearing
possibly a combination II once they secured
all the trade. A quotation from report
of the Minnesota bureau OF labor statistics
suggests another explanation, when, says
the writer, applies equally TO many lllusua-
tiOuS OF PEI rGtlNC dlSiTlDhtlOh. II may
be worth while to remark that cooperation
Is not a religion with these COOpers. They
are not experimenting for the benefit OF
humanity. one Of them might Withdraw
with his savings and set himself up as
prpyriptur of a boss shop without the slight
est twinCc of conscience, or the remotcst
chance OF being charged with the SIN OF
apOstacy" In fact the president OF one
of the smaller shops did so, and failing,
came back to cooperation in Minneapolis
without hirdrancc.
Disaster has recently overtaken many Of
the so-called cooperative furniture factories
at Rockford H. which are really joint
stock companies, with small shares widely
scattered among the employees. The trouble
would appear to have been there the ten
doucy where every stOCkholdcr has vote,
TO keep up prices, even ruinOusly at the
expense of profits. The small cooperative
mines In Illinois are said by the state mine
inspectors to have brought down wages in
their neighborhood by their readiness to
undersol the market when trade was dun
While many forms OF cooperation, in
manufactures especially, are very little de
vClOped in the United States In comparison
with Europe on the other hand, our farm
crs have made as great strides as those Of
Holland Denmark, France and Germany in
the matter Of cooperative creamerlcs and
fire and tornado insurance companies The
success Of fratcrnal life Insurance. and Of
our cooperative banks, building and loan
assoc llIlONS, Is wei huON H. + al illNlo VI r
EauiGatiOns. such as the Grange, the
Patrons OF Husbandry, and the Farmers ALI
ancc which sometimes Coniine themselves
to securing trade discounts for their mem
bors and again purchase wholesale and
even establish cooperative stores, often Cf-
feet a great saving for their members, di-
rectly or by breaking trade combinations
against the consumer.
uis;ributlye cooperation proper had It's
American birth in New England in the
so-callcd union store in the years between
1S47 and 1859. Not less than 769 such stores
were started; $50 Of them reported in 1851
an annual trade OF $2,O00,OOO. Not one OF
these survives today. The carly grange
stores OF the Patrons OF lIusbandry started
In 1866 followed their plan of limiting
dividends and selling a little above cost
and they followed into oblivion, too. \
RoChdalc store that was started In lhila-
delphia I'm 1864 on the method pursued by
the famous Bochdale pioneers. failed for
lack of interest In the movement. lncom-
petent agents wrecked the oldest cO-opcra-
tive store in the country. the Cooperative
Union Society OF Danvors Mass. this year.
Only about a fourth Of their investment was
lett to the stockholders. In the Ip's third
wave OF cooperative enthusiasm swept over
New England and other parts Of the cOun-
try fOstCred by the SOvereigns OF Industry
during the brief history Of that orgaulza-
ton from 1874 to 1850. Something less
than a dozen stores that were started then
remain yet in successful operation. The
movement al that time took root in Kansas.
The knights Of Labor we're next In the
field. Scores Of cooperative workshops, coal
mines and factories that were started by
them failed for the want OF knowledge Of
proper methods or past experience. The few
successful lnCs were transformed into joint
stock or private enterprises. The numerous
cooperative stores opened by the Wheel and
Alliance I'm the southern states from lNS2
to 1892 Jared no better. In Texas CO-Opcra-
tion has very greatly declined. OF twenty
seven associate rs started in New Jersey
since 1873 only eight are now running. or
thirty stores founded by graduates OF the
Johns Hopkins university outside Of New
England. In 1856. twenty-four have dis
appeared On the other hand sixteen as
sociaton have started since in fifteen places
The Trenton ~. j. Cooperative society
the Johnson County Cooperative associa-
ton OF Oathe, Kan, and the Hammontou
(N. j. Fruit Growers union have grown and
prosporod, Sull, the total cooperative trade
outside Of New England was reported to
be only 100000 In 1895 as against, 81 600 .
900 In the societies making returns In 1856
In New England there are shown to be to
day twenty-siX cooperative stores, nine OF
them new, with twice as great a trade as
ten years ago. These work entirely on the
RoChdale plan. Goods are sold at the
market price. The shares are small, usually
s.. ana the holdings OF any member limited
to 100, or even forty. Under the MassaChu-
setts law no one can hold over 81 600
worth OF stock in a cooperative assoca-
tlon. The Illinois law by contrast prohlb-
its shares under $50, and allows them to
be $1,000. No one can hold more than one
share and no association can employ any
one who is not stOckholder. The various
yagarles of this remarkable statute prompts
In DIR. Bemis the observation that 1t is
evident that the trainers OF 1t either knew
nothing OF cooperation, or intended to have
none In Illinois. California enacted law
Of some value last year but usually leglsla-
tion on this subject has been sipshod and
defective Outside of Massachusetts, Penn
sylvania and New Jersey are the only states
that have any at all adequate cooperative
legislation.
A list of twenty-siX New England societies
shows a membership of 692 this year
rwenty-throe societies outside of New Eng,
land report GLE members. The volume OF
their Joint business was S2372OOO with
something like score OF non-reportlnp
societies known TO exist the total American