New-York tribune., 1910-12-18
In Lands Der Sea. HotUeOer, Sucb Communal
~Scbemes. often Large Scale Haze
Been EffecfiDe.

which he win get all the profit So hs
is likely TO quit the cooperative store and
start one Of his own. american cooper
ators are chicken by their own wealth of
opportunities
II still remains 10 be seen whether ne
Secretary's plan Of "A direct communication
between farmers and consumers can bs
made TO work IL is rot unlikely. .0r II
should be remembered that at precisely
this point there is a gap which the de2art-
ent stores have not covered. They DO pIo-
vide cutthrOat competition in selling al
most everything under the sun except
those things tnat farmers produce. Gro
ceries. meat and vegetables are stin sold
chiefly By small shOpkeepers in our Sroat
cities exactly as they are in England IL
may be that under the stress OF the hard
times-bcgging the pardon Of 1910. We meant
the cost of living '-neighbOrhOOd coop
erative stores Will spring up in our cities.
and cooperative societies OF farmers VIII
sell them their goods
There is one striking thing about the
growth of the cooperative stores Wonder
full as are the things they have done, they
have not eliminated the miGdleman' at;er
all. Instead. they have clipped his claws
paid him salary and kept him for SER
want rather than master.
The haunting. puzzling and as yet IN
settled problem of the high cost OF hving
in America makes particularly interesting
some recent semi-Official Investigations into
the cooperative society in the old Flemish
city of Ghent For, although the people OF
Flanders are for the most part laborers,
who are generally spoken of as the most
ignorant class in Europe, they have worked
out a scheme which has had a twofoid re-
ffr-rr1
and AZ the same time have raised salaries.
Corporation exists there in several forms
now among the church and state party. as
well as among the Socialists, but tHe orig
! inaI and most important organ nizat1on Is
called the ''Vooruit' pronounced 'fOor-
! ite'0 and meaning Ito the FORE This So
/ ciety was formed in 1850 by a section OF
the SOciete InternatiOnale SOciallste, and
[ mainly under the local lead Of one Edmond
van Beveren. who is now celebrated
/ throughout Belgium by monuments, as well
/ as in song and story The movement start
/ ed in a combination Of politics and bread.
! The first contained the sociological creed
/ and the latter typified its beneficial results
| in the lives OF its followers. for the reason
/ that its whole economy is founded upon the
| making of the community's bread al a
I common bakeShop-
| The -'NOOruit' Is society Win a Iour-
fold purpose. co-opera tive, trade unionisr,
mutual benefit and political, and they Ge-
clare that it is from this combination that
( they derive their power. Without going
/ into the history of it and the numerous
details. the simple facts are as follows:
/ Upon payment Of five cents any one may
become a member. His membership ticket
entities him to cost prices at all the CO.
/ operative stores except at the bakery He
must buy his bread from the ''Vooruit
( bakeshop and he is obliged to pay for each
loaf two cents more than he would pay
! at an ordinary bakeshOp- This extra
money is returned to him in credit slips
with which he can buy goods ar any OF
the other cooperative stores. But the ac-
tuaI coin is retained by the society as =
working fund for building, loans and IN
vestmerts-
| At the age Of sixty a man who has bees
| a. member for as much as twenty years
draws a pension from the society. the
amount varying in size according 70 the
average of his annual purchases from
the cooperative stores. For a minimum
of 80 francs worth bought each year for
! twenty years. he receives 40 francs a year
! pension as long as he lives. His widow in
I Continued an fftb