Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-06

| While cooperation exists in its most
| complete and highly organized form In
| Great Britain. there are other countries
l in Europe where 1t is extensive In Its
| ramificatiOns and successful In Its ap-
plication. In all Europe there are up
| ward of 5000 900 members of co-opera-
tive retail societies, approximately haif
| of whom are found in Great Britain.
| The goods they sell annually are valued
at retail at some $600,000,0O0.
Germany is second only to Great Brit
| ain in the extent of it's cooperative So
| cieties and in the amount of business
| they do. In addition to the regular So
cieties for the manufacture and pur-
veyance of commodities used by their
| members. there is another larger class
of cooperative organizations known as
credit unions. If they were counted In,
Germany would lead the world in CO.
| operative activities. These credit
unions are largely mutual loan organi-
cations.
| Cooperation in Germany today large
ly has become an activity Of the soclal
democrats, who support 1t with much
ardor. The general distributive sc. so1
League of Consumers Unions. The
total membership of these unions Is
| upward OF q million, and their annual
sales amount to more than $75,0OO,O0O.
A majority OF them hold stock in the
Wholesale Purchasing Association of
Hamburg, which owns its own factories
for making flour, sugar, soap, matches
and tobacco, and which does business
of $12,000,000 year.
j. *
The consumvereine and affiliated retail
societies largely are made up of members
who are social DEM
IAh0r Unions ocrats, although
in many cases the
Supply Members. membership of a
given society is made up almost exclu-
sively of labor union or factory men, The
employees Of a single factory frequently
form themselves into a local society,
sometimes buying with the help of their
employers, and sometimes without such
help. Some big plants maintain commits
saries for their employees which are run
at cost, any surplus at the end OF the
year being turned back to the patrons,
each getting a dividend in proportion to
his total purchases. The big Krupp steel
works follows this policy, and annually
returns from eight to ten cents on the
dollar. Some factories conduct these
stores on a credit basis with their en-
ployes and sell at cost.
In Germany the person who does not
have the ready money to buy snare IL
a cooperative society may get 1t Simply
by patronizing one of it's stores. At the
end of six months or year the dividends
to which his purchases entitle him VIII
usually more than suffice to buy the
share he desires. In some states the law
prohibits the selling of cooperative
goods to non-members. and in others the
ic made NV fhQ societies them
selves. Cash trading is enforced In Ger
many, and many of the local societies
have numerous activities besides those OF
purveying merchandise upon 9. co-opera-
tive basis. Some of them insure the
lives and property of their members out
of the net earnings of the society.
Some of them conduct savings depart
ments while others operate building as
sociations. In Hamburg the cooperative
societies own 612 dwelling apartments
and forty-two business houses. and mem.
bers, by paying stipulated amounts. gair
a preferential right to the apartments
owned by the association
In some of the societies all profits over
and above a certain amount are placed
in the political funds
Profits BECOME of the party with
Political Fund m Sappens the ae be s0s af,
| lated. 1t generally is agreed In Germany
that one Of the results of the cooperative
| retail society has been to bring about 8
higher standard Of merchandise. While
some claim that the prices Of food and
clothing have not been lowered materially
| by the consumvereine. there Is practi
cally a unanimous acknowledgment tina
merchandise standards have been raised
| In some cities. such as Hamburg, Er
| furt and Frankfort. it is admitted tina
the cooperative prices are lower thar
non-co-operative quotations.
Germany is the parent country OF co.
operative banking. and more than one
half of the cooperative business OF the
empire has to do with one form or an
other of banking. one form OF pans
lends only to it's members. Each member
must own a share of stock and assume
unlimited liability in connection with Its
operations. A member may buy share
on the installment plan, and all pronts
are his pending the completion OF pay
ments. The bank lends money to its
members on good security and charges q
reasonable interest.
| France has nearly 1900 cooperative so.
| cieties, the major portion of them being
retail societies
Retail Societies There are more
| Prevail in France. stores IN rrance
| than in any other country of Europe, al
| though there are fewer members OF these
! societies per capita and fewer per store
| Cooperative endeavor has not the ma
| tional aspect in France that it has in Ger
| many and England. Each store is large
~ thing unto itself, and Is concerned
| only about its own welfare Consequent
! ly, the large cooperative factory and the
| large wholesale cooperative establish
ment are out Of the question. There are
several central organizations that have
| been trying to guide French cooperation
i along the lines that have proved SO sue
| cessful In England, but their EFFORTS nave
| not been rewarded with any high degre<
1 Of success One of these organizations II
| the Union Cooperative. which labors FOL
| neutrality in politics and for Federated
/ store movement after the example OF
| Great Britain. The other is frankly so
| cialist organization.
Denmark has a cooperative system
but It, like the French, Is largely local
| If the Dane has anything to sell he sim
i ply organizes to sell it. There is one big
| surply organization which conducts q
large wholesale business and retail stores
in all the country towns. The farmers
are organized to buy their seeds. fertil
izers, feeding stuffs and the like. and they
| sell their products through single depot
| In Copenhagen. There are cooperative