Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-11-20
GETTING THEIR SHARE.
TWENTY THOUSAND FAMILIES
THEIR OWN MIDDLEMEN.
SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN ATTEMPTS AT
EMuLATING EUROPEAN METHODS
DESCRIBED IN WORLDS WORK.

Aatit IN Wisconsin,, hihhesesa s''N hHV
Dskoias, is putting into the pockets OF
producers larger share OF the income
from their products than they have ever
received before in this country, and is
dividing among consumers the profits that
| used to go to the retailer. How this CO.
operative scheme, which is q familiar
economic phenomenon in Europe, has
been worked out successfully for the first
time in America is told by Frank
Parker Stock bridge in a recent issue OF
World's Work. Under the title OF THE
Co-operators Big Dollar, Mr.. Stock
bridge, in the first OF series OF studies of
agricultural conditions in the Northwest.
says;
"rhere Is a great distinction between
dividing profits among stockholders and
dividing them among the people who
create them. The first plan Is not Co
operation, as they see it in the Northwest.
1t is exactly the plan on which the Penn
sylvaniR railroad and the Steel trust and
Standard Oil and all the other corpora
tions ART organized. The new co-opera-
tive idea-new for America, that is is to
distribute the earnings of any business
among the people whose transactions have
made those earnings possible. And this
works out equally well whether the OBJ
iect of the cooperative enterprise is to sell
the farmers produce to the best possible
advantage, or whether Ii il 10 ensb bic
farmers and townspeopis alike to buy
their manufactured supplies under con-
disions that distribute all the selling profit
among the purchasers"
After describing the operation OF the
cooperative cresmeries, elevators and
produce warehouses, through which farm
ers are selling the output OF their farms
and keeping the mtddlemen's profits for
themselves, he takes up the newer aud
more interesting phase OF the movement.
the establishment OF cooperative stores.
Under the direction OF the Right Rela-
tionship league OF Minneapolis, liz such
stores have been opened in the last six
years.
OBSTACLES OVERCOME.
eof course there were mistakes made at
first, and several projects that were at
| tempted were found to be impracticable.
Occasionally there was a total failure-a
cooperative store that did not earn
enough to pay its running expenses.
Careful analysis OF the causes OF these fail
ures showed that they were due in most
cases to inefficient management and care
| less accounting methods. And out OF this
grew the recognition by the league and
| the co-operators OF the Northwest that
even brotherhood will not work without
the adding machine, or what the adding
| machine stands for--exact and correct
business methods. So an auditing depart
ment was established, and the corpora
tive stores began sending periodical re-
ports and submitting to frequent audiis,
since when the percentage OF failures has
been reduced to a negligible proportion.
"With hardly an exception, the CO.
operative stores OF the Northwest have
not been established as new institutions,
but have been founded by customers buy
ing up existing business establishments.
''It seemed 10 be the natural and proper
thing Il first to engage the former proprie-
tor as manager Of the cooperative store.
| 1t did not take long, however, to discover
| that the old merchant was very seldom a
| competent merchant. The rule now Is TO
| hire the old owner as manager only in ex-
ceptional instances.