The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-03-23
FARMERS COOPERATE
THREE MUTUAL COMPANIES OP-
ER.ATED IN KANSAS.
Insurance, Telephone, and Mercan-
tile Companies Have Headquar-
ters at Upland.-Al Paying.

ters at Upland.-All Paying.
Farmers in Dickinson county,
| Kan, are working out an interest
ing experiment in cooperation. 1hey
own three successful mutual COM
| panies, each paying a good dividend
and under competent management.
| That part of Kansas was settled 40
years ago by Germans, who are Still
the majority of population.
Later came Swedes and then farm
| ers from Indiana and Illinois. Up
land is the headquarters of the tel
| ephone, insurance and mercantile
| companies. 1t boasts less than 100
population, but the amount of bus
mess transacted there is wonderful.
| Farmers attribute the success Of thelr
| companies to the low cost of admin
| istration, no official receiving more
than 50 a day and that only while he
is actually employed on the compa-
ny's business.
The community idea took root
during the Farmers Alliance days,
back in 1891. A meeting of farmers
was called to take up the question
and each farmer was constituted an
agent without pay to solicit new
members. 1t was decreed that any
time a fire occurred an assessment
| should be levied to make good the
loss. Six years later it had 241
members, with $16S,000 insurance
in force.
Today it has $500 members, with
insurance representing 100000
When the company started in bust
ness it was decided that 81 a day
was enough to pay any officer, and
| that amount has never been raised.
This is paid only when the officer
works. The average yearly salary
list is about $500, due to the simple
methods by which records are kept
and the fact that everybody pays his
assessment promptly under pain of
being dropped at once.
In 1885 the farmers decided to
build a creamery. Later the advent
of the farm separator caused it to
be closed up, as there was more
money in selling the cream to the
central butter making stations. One
day when a number of farmers were
waiting for their tickets from the
creamery it was suggested that it
would be just as easy to bring farm
produce along with the milk every
morning. Why not have a store?
Within a few days a cooperative
organization with a capital of $685.
900 was formed. Only a part Of
this was used at the beginning, but
the store has been SO profitable that
the stock is quoted at $3.50 and the
cash value Of its resources is around
$4,000. Once a year the stock
holders meet in the town hall, hear
the reports, declare a good dividend
and elect officers. No one is permit
ted to hold more than 500 worth
of stock AMI this entities him 70
one vote. BY the articles each stock
holder binds himself to sell all of
his grain and produce 10 he Col i"r
Rule company, which is its incorpor-
ated name.
The business is done largely by
credit. Farm produce brought in
is credited to the man who furnishes
it, and lie is debited with whatever
he buys If groceries al dry g2ods.
Cash settlements are made at the
end of each month. The company
owns a grain elevator, but this is at
Aida on the line of the nearest
railroad. A few years ago after a
full discussion it was agreed that as
there was no hope of the railroad
coming to Upland the company ought
by buy Aida. 1t did, taking in the
elevator, stockyards, everything ex-
cept the towns name.
The telephone company serves ov-
err 1000 persons, most of them be-
ing farmers. 1t is one of the biggest
concerns in the state. 1t is purely mu-
tual, with no capital stock, and this
serves to make certain the retention
of the control in the hands of the
farmers. Fifteen or twenty trunk
lines radiate from the stone building
in Upland The officers condend that
the success of the enterprise lies in
the fact that no fixed rental is charg-
ed, each wner of a telephone pay
ing a proportionate expense of oper-
alton and maintenance.
Each farmer must buy outright
his phone. These, it is insisted,
must be long distance instruments.
They cost about SIC apiece. The
cost of becoming a stakeholder, that
is of making a connection, is $40.
Thereafter he is a stockholder and
all receipts from tolls are credited
to him proportionately. The officers
Of the company are paid only for the
actual time they devote to the bust
ness. The first years cost is about
So Tbic ipnI-Ioo