New-York tribune., 1910-12-18
BuVin6" as Specific for Hi@b Cost or zLr01ng

after the per cent for cap1tai Idu oeei
paid. The experiment was a great SuC'eS'
The next year the store began 10 ouiiu
a mill of it's own, and in 1850 IL was IN.
ished at a cost of S225,oO0 Ahotiiei mn
was started at once. Then came the cotton
famine. and both stood idle for three years
Two wears after the war they had wholly
recovered.
By 1865 there were so many cooperative
stores in England that a Cooperative
Wholesale Society was ORGANIZED i'
members were cooperative stores WHICH
shared the profits exactly as lii''lSiiu0'
members shared their profits in their TURN
Also non-member cooperative stores Caiiie
in for half a share. exactly as IN 'ie
smaller unit. Its first years safes "e''
$500 and in seven years they had grown
to more than S5,50O,0o0.
The Wholesale Society bought q hlScui'
factory in 1872; the next year II u''I4' a.
shoe factory and the year after mat 1t
opened a soap works. Then II Huueu "
wooden mill, 4 cocoa factory, reao! -iti"ue
| clothing department., a corn n'llI' anu III
| 1882 It began that Crowning 1eat o' tilc
British race the manufacture OF Jam. IL
day the manufactures of the " hoieSaie So-
ciety have yearly output OF more t'ldi
SIS, coo ,0C0, and employ 1850 persons ltS
total annual sales more than SlOo'o,'''V'
| 1t owns four steamships. forty-oad iac-
| tories, huge banking department. 1t HAS
| purchasing departments in the four corilei :
| of the world and its own tea Plantations III
| Ceylon.
OF the retail cooperative stores IN EhS-
| land. it is cnly necessary to say that llc9'
| of +barn are operated on the ROchdale plan,
| that in 1903 there were 1,451 OF them WIN
! a membership of 2153 1&5. The sales for the
wear were s3G5 600, 900; the profits were Si',-
$4,000. and the employees numbered 'z'I-'
| Secretary Wilson is not far wrong III SdS
ing that cooperative buying is a success III
| Great Britain.
| In America. however the development OF
| the co-operative store is a very d1herenl
story. Four times great movements nave
been tablished for the founding or CO.
operative stores here. Each time the move
n1ent reached great proportions; yet to-udS
the United States has no S3o0,Joob co-oPei
ative trade to its credit. The New EnSlahu
| Protective Union, founded in Boston III TIE
late 4Os. which once did s2OotWo worth OF
business in a year, as soon as the ClVll W ai
came went down in ruins under the over
whelming prosperity of New England ano
the rapid shifting of the population.
MANY people have never heard OF the
patrons of HuSbandry,' but nearly every
one knows of The Grange, the secret as
sociation of farmers which was organized
In 1869 under the Understanding title dhd
thrives to-day under the more familiar one
The Grangers first dubbed together to buy
their supplies from wholesale dealers and
manufacturers. The retail merchants IL
the country stores protested vigorously
against this and in many cases succeeded III
bullying the wholesalers into refusing tc
take Grange orders. Then the Oranges II
many states united to establish state puT
chasing departments, which filled the orders
given by the separate branches. The TRACE
thew did was enormous. The Ohio purchas-
ing agent bought S. 900, 600 worth OF goods II
one year. and in Indiana it was frequent
occurrence to have the sales OF one Gay
} amount to 81. 600. At one time the Grangers
had five steamboat lines and twenty-five
warehouses.
Then came the Grange stores. 1t was
evident that the irregular workings or the
state purchasing system would sooner OF
, later grow tiresOyne to Overworked FARMERS
At one time there were Grange cooperative
stores in half the counties OF ILLINOIS ana
fifteen associations in Massachusetts Whlch
had assets of $4,000. Eight of these last
did S50O00O of business in 1915. But WITT
! the passing of the panic OF 1873 there came
a great boom time. when everybody was
prosperous and ii hardly seemed worth The
trouble to club together TO buy groceries OF
to drive to a distant store. Most OF the
, Grange stores disappeared, though there
. are some of them still, sprinkled all ovel
; the country Most of these are thriving.