El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-04

] M When a handful of poverty
striker weavers in England,
struggling under the burdens Of the
high cost of living, organized the
! RoachdaIe Cooperative society. they
| little reckoned that out of their action
! in the face of dire necessity would
1 grow a movement broad in its aspects
] and far reaching in its results move
/ ment destined to benefit millions Of
/ their fellow men, helping them to get
! the necessaries of life at prices they
/ could pay.
! Where there existed in England. after
1 their organization. a small society
| which could buy few hundred pounds
worth of goods there exists today in
/ the United Kingdom cooperative So
I cieties having a total membership Of
| 100000 heads Of families. The ac-
| tivities Of the societies reach and affect
every phase of production and con-
sumption, extending to the banking, in
I surance, credit and building assOcia-
ton fields. Exclusive of these latter
activities, their total productive and
/ distributive trade reaches the enormous
( total of nearly three quarters Of a bill
lion dollars annually.
Millions Invested
The retail business Of these cOOpera-
| tive societies now amounts to nearly
$500, O0O, 900 a year. The capital of these
/ retail organizations amounts to nearly
$500, 600, 600, more than half of which
is invested otherwise than in the So
cieties' own undertakings. most of it
being used in assisting to finance the
great cooperative wholesale societies
and manufacturing establishments.
Another S40,00O,0O0 is invested III
/ house property held for rental or in
process of sale to the members.
The bulk of the cooperative business
OF England is done by societies which
look after both the manufacture and
/ the distribution Of the things their
members consume. There are societies,
however, established primarily for pro-
ductiOn- Among them are the corn
mill societies, with an annual output
of nearly six million dollars worth of
/ corn mill products. The agricultural
/ cooperative societies are either pur-
chase and sale societies, productive So
cieues. or small holding societies.
Open to AII Corners.
The usual English cooperative So
clety IS open TO all Corners. with the
single reservation that those may be
excluded whose membership would
prove a detriment % the organization
/ The shares in these societies are usu-
ally So each. and in some of them suCh
shares may be acquired simply by deal
ing with the society as a nOnmember.
and letting the profits accumulate until
they equal the price of a share The
usual rule is for them to be bought on
weekly or quarterly payments. A div
1dend of five percent annually is US
ually allowed to the holders Of shares,
and any profits over and above this are
distributed to the share holders and the
customers. Some distribute part of the
profits to the employees. Some of the
agricultural sOcities distribute a share
OF the profits to those who furnish the
raw material
In the usual cooperative society in
England each member is entitled to one
vote, whether he be owner of one share
or a dozen. Its affairs are generally
administered by quarterly meetings
nd al al.
shareholders. manages the business in
the meantime. There are few saIaried
positions No difference is encountered
in securing enough capital; indeed.
there has TO be strong insistence that
the companies are run for the benefit
OF the consumers rather than to afford
returns to investors The law provides
that the societies may receive deposits
up to 500 from any one person. and
they, therefore. act as sorts Of savings
banks for their members.
Make Big Profits.
An interesting index of the costs and
profits Of retailing is TO be had from
the reports Of the retail societies. Up
on a business Of 0.OO0.O 900 pounds, the
gross profits were 100000 pounds in
a recent year. From this it will be seen
that the wholesale value of the years
trade was approximately 54,0OO,00O
pounds, and that even under the best
form of cooperation the margin be-
tween wholesale and retail prices was
l.
Periodically each society balances its
books and finds what profits it has
made A meeting of the members is
then held and it is asked how the sur
plus, after the interest on the shares
has been paid, shall be distributed.
Usually there are certain reservations
for the reserve fund, the charity fund. /
and the educational fund and then the I
remainder is distributed among the /
purchasers, so much for each five dol 1
lars worth OF goods purchased, share 1
holders getting twice as much as non
members, Of whom there are few. Each
purchase carries with it a metal tag
which is evidence of the amount pur-
chased, and the dividends are based up-
on the value Of the metal tags a man |
holds. The average rebate that this I
brings is about thirteen cents on the /
dollar.
In some sections where competition
is not heavy, retail prices have been
kept up, the theory being that the J
thus, at the end of the year will have 4
more money than they would have had ]
they bought right along at lower prices. /
The dividends are usually allowed to /
accumulate
Some Extend Credit
While the general principle Of the big
cooperative societies in England has
been that trading shall be on a strictly
cash basis, some of the societies have
begun to extend limited credit to their
members This tendency has caused
alarm among the leaders of the CO. Z
operative movement. so that each ma
tiOnal cooperative congress in recent I
years has debated the question of how /
the credit extending societies can be IN
duced to come back upon the sure-
ground of cash trading.
While the administrative work of Tha /
cooperative societies in England is
entrusted tc elected officicIs TIE tech /
meal md c0uUerciaI end of tn. busi-
ness is in the hands Of permanent en-
plOyes usually paid salaries and wages
after the manner of private concerns.
These employees are treated as COOP
orators like to be treated themselves.
They get half holiday each week and /
work on an average, about fifty-four
hours a week.
The Big Wholesalers
The two big wholesale societies In
the United Kingdom are the EnrIisb
and Scottish Wholesale societies. The
wholesale societies are the direct out
growth Of the opposition of private /
traders. who sought to put down CO.
operation by bringing pressure upon
he wholesalers to force them to refuse
% sell TO cooperative retail stores. At
-empts had been made repeatedly TO [
sstabIlsn such Wholesale societies. but (
hey failed until they We're protected !
1y federation of retail societies SO
strong that the most powerful oppo-