The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-03-18
No. WI.

As an example of what may be nc.
compiisned among farming com
munity of ordinary intelligence ana
business ability 1t may be well to men.
tion the little rural town of Ruthven.
Iowa. In the countryside about this
town there are five cooperative so.
cleties which have passed the expert
mental stage and are thoroughly es.
tabiished financially and in the minds
OF the people. A local telephone plant
was bought by the farmers and estab.
hshed upon cooperative basis. With
IN two years 270 instruments were mt
in operation and the cost for unlimited
service is now 81 a year, as compared
with SIS year before the cooperative
plan was adopted. No farmer who has
produce to sell can afford to be with.
out the means furnished by a telephone
Tor putting him in communication with
the market, SO long as telephone ser
vice can be obtained at such re-
markably cheap rate.
A cooperative creamery company
was organized among the farmers the
following year, and in addition to
paying higher price for cream than
mad previously been charged, the cream
| cry yields dividend of s per cent on
the stock. Incidentally, the social in.
tercourse, which was made possible and
necessary by the cooperative plan, con
tribnted greatly toward the raising of
the standards of dairy sanitation
among all the members. After run
ming the creamery one year, insured ac-
cording to the ordinary plan, CO.
operative insurance scheme was put in
operation. By means of 'slnkinr
fund, ~ allowed to accumulate and
loaned on first mortgages on farms the
insurance policy now pays 800 per
year, instead of costing $J5 a year. as
was previously the case.
A cooperative buying enterprise was
also organized among the farmers with
capital stock of $500. The society
buys and sells for its members various
kinds of farm produce, oil, coal, bind
ing Irvine, fertilizer, etc. A coopera-
tive grain elevator was erected in ac
cordance with this scheme. and after
passing through stormy days, won out
financially.
The farmers wives were not salts
fed with assisting in the cooperative
schemes, which their husbands had put
on foot, but started among themselves
what was perhaps tine first organization
of its kind on the mainland. The
women proposed to handle eggs and
and poultry in cooperative way.
During the first year twenty-five
farmers wives were associated in this
work and sold $500 dozen eggs at
price of five cents in advance of that
which had previously been received.
They soon branched out into poultry
and such other farm produce as is
frequently left to the attention of
farmers wives. In addition to these
schemes, stockman's auxiliary was
organized for the purpose of buying
and selling beef cattle. This organiza-
ton has also met with pronounced sue
cess.
During one year of operation the
five cooperative schemes, set on foot
by the farmers in the neighborhood of
one little town, put an extra $42.S5O
| into the pockets of the farmers. 1t
evidently pays the farmer to run his
own business. What has been done in
! Ruthven can be done in any rural com
munity. Cooperative enterprises are
eminently successful, and the factors
of success have everywhere been: COM
mon sense, business methods. industry,
! a fraternal spirit and faithfulness.