St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-04-23
Cooperation is Coming

OOOpCAaNAOh 10
The failure of organized labor to
bring about more favorable living
conditions for laborers is an &C
knowledged fact. 1t has not been
abandoned in America because it has
not been tried here so long and so
thoroughly as in foreign countries.
1t has been tried long enough to
show that increased wages means in
creased prices for food and cloth
ing and other necessaries of life, the
advance of coal and cotton goods as
the result Of strikes in the coal
fields and at Lawrence last spring
being undisputable evidence of the
fact. The result has been that while
the strikes gave the laborers more
dollars they decreased the purchas-
ing power of everybody's dollar.
This has not only kept the cost of
a laboring mans living high but it
has increased the cost of the profess
sional mans. 1t has increased rath-
er than diminished the number OF
people who demand relief from the
high cost of living.
This condition is a repetition Of
the experience in other countries
and they have already undertaken
relief in other directions with mark
ed success. In England small local
cooperative stores were started but
a national organization of retail
dealers forced them to form a ma
tional wholesale society to deal di-
rectly with the big manufacturers.
This gave them cooperative
source of supply" and has enabled
them to put their cooperative efforts
on a sound and enduring basis. To-
day the English Cooperative Whole
sale society operates the largest
flour mills and boot and shoe fac
tories in England. Behind this great
organization stands the organized
consumers of the world. In Great
Britain there are now 100000 OF
them, in Germany 100000, in
France 100000, in Austria 100000,
in Russia 100000 and in Italy and
Switzerland 100000 each.
1t is the practice of the stores
to sell their goods for cash at the
retail prices and then
once in three or six months divide
the profits among the members OF
the consumers league. The method
pursued in England and Europe is
to sell the capital stock in low de-
purchasable by INSTALL
ments thus giving the poor man a
chance for good investment. The |
of the stock companies is by |
one man, one vote, instead of voting |
by shares, forwarding a democratic |
feeling. Last December the English /
society had $1,6OO,OOO
net profits as the results of six
months business and of this $1,1OO,-
BOO was returned as rebates to its
constituent societies and 100000
retained for extending business. In
some cities these rebates are used
by the members to pay their rent
and sometimes it pays even more
han this. In Sweden the Swedish
attacked the sugar trust
which had complete control of the
price of sugar in that country and
began the importation of sugar it
self. II not only undersold the
rust but it compelled parliament to
AXE legislative action against the
rust and break it's control over the
private dealers.
1t would seem to be time for
American consumers to turn away
rom the methods of organized labor
hat have been tried and failed
across the ocean and adopt methods
hat have been tried with success.
has been the most ex-
adopted in Wisconsin of
any state in America but it is gain
ng a foothold in other sections.
In Brookline, Mass. a large meeting
was held last week to discuss the
opening of a cooperative store there.
In Vermont the town of Proctor
las a cooperative store that has been
conducted for years. 1t
has proven more beneficial to the
of the Vermont Marble
Company than any labor organiZa-
ion and in fact has been a strong
influence in keeping that great in
iustry free from the agitation of or