Evening star., 1913-03-05

When a handful Of poverty-stricken
weavers in England. struggling under the
burdens OF the high cost Of living. organ
fzed the Rochedale Cooperative Society
they little reckoned that out OF their
action In the face OF dire necessity would
grow a movement broad in its aspects
ard far-reaching in Its results-a move
ment destined to benefit millions OF their
fellow men, helping them to get the neces-
saries ct life at prices they could pay.
| Where there existed in England, after
their organization. q small society Which
could buy few hundred pounds worth
| OF goods, there exists today in the United
| Kingdom cooperative societies having
total membership Of 100000 heads OF
families. The activities Of the societies
reach and affect every phase OF produc-
ton and consumption. extending to the
banking, insurance, credit and bulldlng
association fields. Exclusive of these lat
ter activities, their total productive ana
| dstributive trade reaches the enormous
| total Of nearly three-Quarters of bill
| lion dollars annually.
| The retail business OF these cooperative
societies now amounts to nearly $ooO.-
COO.0cO year. The capital Of these retail
| organizations amounts to nearly $2OO,-
GOO,OOO, more than half of which is In
vested otherwise than in the societies
own undertakings, most of 1T being used
In assisting to finance the great CO.
operative wholesale societies and manu-
featuring establishments. Another $40,
100000 is invested in 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
Some Buy and Sell; the manufac-
Others Manufacture. a,n..,,',4,a, sur r ~ of
the things their members consume. There
are societies. however, esta blished prima-
rily for production. Among them are the
corn mill societies, with an annual out
put Of nearly six million dollars worth of
corn mill products. The agricultural CO.
operative societies are either purchase and
sale societies, productive societies or small
holding societies. The first kind are So
clet1es whose aims are to buy and sell the
PRODUCTS of the members most advantage
ously; the second class is made up of
members who follow their daily occupa-
| tions as private Individuals using the
society for the cooperative manufacture
OF butter. cheese and other products from
the milk and other commodities they
supply. he tnlru DuyS and owns small
lots of land for agricultural purposes
The usual English cooperative society
is open to all corners. with the single res
ervation that those may be excluded
whose membership would prove detri-
ment to the organization. The shares in
these societies are usually five dollars
each, and In some of them such shares
may be acquired simply by dealing with the
| society as a non-member, and etting 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. dividend of ) per cent an
nually is usually allowed to the holders
or shares, and any profits over and above
| this are distributed to the shareholders
| and the customers. Some distribute a
part of the profits to the employees. Some
OF the agricultural societies distribute a
| snare or the profits to those who supply
| the raw material
|
|
In the usual cooperative society in
England each member is entitled to one