The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-14

through the parent Agricultural Or
ganization Society The cooperative
| agricultural societies are aided by the
parent society in negotiations with
railway companies, government de-
! partmentS, and business houses. They
are organized in much the same man
ner as distributive societies. Supplies
of all kinds are purchased Jointly al
wholesale. Farm produce is graded
and distributed through means of de-
pots maintained in neighboring towns
or through selling agents. Markets
are visited by agents who inform the
members as to the quality and price
of produce.
The Cooperative Union located at
Manchester has contributed greatly to
the formation and growth of co-opera-
tive societies generally. The objects of
the union are a diffusion of informat ton
in regard to the movement and the as
sistance of individual societies. 1t
maintains committees on education,
joint propaganda, legislation, exhibit
tions, trades unionism, credit training,
and legal defense
The development of cooperation in
the United Kingdom is continuing at a
fair rate, although not so rapidly as in
the earlier years. The growth thus far
has been confined to the wage labOring
classes A study of the movement by
localities shows that cooperation has
fiourished mainly in the industrial and
of the growth of individual societies
and the manner in which their activi-
ties have expanded is found in the &C
count given of a cooperative society
located at Leeds which was founded in
1847 for the primary purpose of secur-
ing cheaper -four.
British cooperation is affiliated with
the International Cooperative Alliance,
which comprises the leading co-opera-
tive organizations in the continental
countries of Europe, and holds inter-
national congresses triennially.
Opposition ON the Wane.
Opposition on the part of nonco-oper-
alive tradesmen is now decidedly less
intense than in the earlier stages Of
the movement. the consular officers re-
port, but a widespread antagonism still
exists among British shopkeepers and
claim is made by opposing interests
that cooperative trading can not COM
pete with legitimate retail trading and
in support of this contention figures are
given of grocers' prices and of cooper
ative society prices of various food pro-
ducts In which the grOcers' figures are
less than those of the cooperative So
cietieS. 1t is noted in reference to cri-
ticism of this character that the CO.
operative societies do not undertake to
sell at lower than current prices, their
aim being to give the purchaser the
chasers by returning it in the form of
dividend The estimate is made that
for the United Kingdom as a whole the
dividends would average not far from
per cent of the purchase price paid by
the cooperative purchasers. The critics
of lie cooperative movement allege
that these dividends are obtained by
sacrificing the purity and excellence OF
the merchandise furnished or by an ac-
tual raising of prices to compensate for
Of 1a
Jority of the consular reports seem to-
INFER that the dividends paid to pur-
chasing members do measure roughly a
real reduction in the prices of the COM
modities bought.
Insurance Feature.
An analysis of the reports of the
consular officers on cooperative socie-
ties and similar associations in the
United Kingdom was made by the
Bureau of Trade Relations of the de-
partment of state and is transmitted
with the full text of the reports This
reviews the movement as a whole and
gives many interesting details Among
other activities, many of the societies
porate property or the property or
lives of their members against various
conting agencies. In other instances they
simply act as agents for established
insurance organizations. Some organ
lza1lons nave a plan whereby mem
berS are insured automatically to the
amount of their average annual pur-
chases during the three years preced-
ing death, thus setting up an addition
al inducement for trading at the socie
ties stores. A reserve fund is main
tanned by nearly all the societies. This
fund is provided for by the segrega-
ton of a low percentage of the surplus
profits which may be drawn upon in
emergenc ies at the discretion of the
directors. Most societies provide in
struction in accountancy, the prin-
ciples of cooperation. economies with
reference to betterment problems. in