Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1911-10-05
COOPERATION.
Great Success of This Idea In
Foreign Countries.
No Such Wholesale Cooperation In
America as Elsewhere - Statistics
Showing the Volume of Business
Done In England, Wales, Denmark,
Ireland, Germany and Japan.
BY j. w. BARROW.

Ireland, Germany and Japan.
BY j. w. BARROW.
Especial Correspondence
The salvation of the American farm
er lies In successful cooperation. Too
long has he been operating by and for
himself. Lack of organization into CO.
farm supplies or the selling Of farm
products on anything like n cOmprehen-
sive scale has made him an easy prey
for men who do not hesitate to take
advantage of his condition; conse-
quently he has taken what he could
get for what he has to sell and has
paid what he has been required to
by those of whom he buys. American
farmers are far behind the English in
this matter of organization for self
protection and their own financial ben
eft. They have not taken advantage
of these conspicuous examples Of CO
operation in foreign countries nor yet
Of those combined labor organizations
in our own land every branch of
which has its union whose members
are a unit in respect to anything that
touches their interests.
Note a few of the many instances OF
agricultural cooperation IN Great Brit
ain and other European countries
The Agricultural Organization society
for England and Wales was organized
in 1901, with SIT members I'm twenty
five societies, doing n business of SD
600 In eight years the membership
had increased TO 1880 in @2l socie
ties, doing business of Sl.-oO.0OO. and
it is estimated that there were in thai
year 103 agricultural cooperative so
cieties, with 24,000 members. with an
aggregate turnover" Of about $1,000,
600, which were not affiliated with the
agricultural organization named above.
Denmark is literally covered with
cooperative societies uniting the ag-
ricultural and dairy interests OF that
little country. Cooperation there has
been a notable success. Minnesota,
with an area seven times greater than
Denmark, has about the same number
Of dairy cows. Denmark has $4,000
farms of fifty or sixty acres each,
on which are kept from ten to twenty
cows, and there are 100000 farms still
smaller, says Professor Boggild, the
Danish agricultural expert Until Co
operation was practiced milk and but
ter production did not pay except on
the large farms, where so to 800 cows
were kept on each. Since the small
farmers have banded together butter
exports have increased from 100000
to 5OO,00O,O0O pounds a year. OF the
1,4O0 creameries In that country 1920
are cooperative, and there are 1900
cooperative stores there also.
In Ireland there are over 800 coop
erative agricultural societies, with 10O,-
600 members, doing business Of over
$12,50O,000. Recent agricultural sta
tistics from Germany are not at hand,
but in 1901 there were 1904 co-opera-
tive agricultural societies in that coun-
try, of which number 2,047 were dairy
organizations. The number Is much
greater now.
Thus far have spoken Of strictly
agricultural cooperation. Just word
in closing regarding two wholesale CO.
operative concerns, one In England and
one in Wales, to show the vastness Of
these enterprises. There are In the
United Kingdom 300 local retail so
cieties, representing about 100000
consumers. These have organized two
great wholesale societies, one in Eng
land with headquarters at Manchester.
the other in Scotland with headquar-
tiers at Glasgow.
These two organizations have kept
buyer in New York for thirty-four
years, and one year recently he pur-
chased and shipped to the local asso-
Citations for selling direct to the con-
sumner S6,2500O0 worth of bacon,
cheese, tin goods, leather and mill
products. Resident buyers have pur-
chased S5,000,OOO worth Of wheat,
mostly In a year, In Winnipeg. The
wholesale societies went into the man.
ufacture of various commodities, such
as boots and shoes, furniture, clothing,
soap, cloth and numerous other arti-
Giles, and they produced last year $45,-
100000 worth. They have four large
estates in Ceylon for tea growing.
Their total sales in 1908 were $685.
100000, and their president Is authori-
ty for the statement that they gave
back $55.0O0,OO0 in the form Of prof
its earned to the consumer"
Hamburg is the headquarters of the
German Wholesale society. This So
ciety was formed in 1890. The num-
Der Of members increased from AZ in
1894 to 102 I'm 1900 to 1856 In 1905, to
$50 in 1908 and to 633 in 1909. Mean
while the annual turnover increased
from 541,471 marks, or about $135,870,
In 1894 to 74,915,S13 marks, or about
SIS, 72S,953, in 1909. The society now
has two departments, one for the sale