The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-29
HOW GERMANS RUN DAIRY SOCIETY ON
 COOPERATIVE PLAN

Kleinkuge1, Germany, July 29.-Oper- ations of a cooperative dairy society have been studied here by a sub-com- mission Of the American Commission on Agricultural Cooperation.
 Members of the society, own in all about 250 cows. Each member is re- quired to own at least two cows and to take out at least one share of stock costing $3. However, many of the members own more than the required two cows, and purchase one share of stock for each two cows. One of the members who received the commits sioners owned 30 cows and $36 worth of stock.
 The milk of the members is brought each day to the dairy by the members themselves. The dairy is operated to make small profit, but this margin is simply a guard against losses and not a means to pay dividends to the mem bers. At the present time the society has not paid off the mortgages on it's buildings and so the profits, after a portion are placed in a reserve fund, are paid as interest and principal on these loans. Members of the dairy re- ! oeive cash for their milk from the dairy. It is bought according to the percentage of butter fat which it con- tains The buttermiIk and skinned milk IS returned to the farmers for cheese making and food for hogs. In another village the commissioners saw a cooperative dairy where the hogs were kept by the society, and where cheese was manufactured.
 Because of superior quality of butter made at the cooperative dairy, as compared to butter made on the farms the price obtained for cooperative butter averages about 15 per cent
 above the market price. The cost of making is considerably reduced so that the increased returns to the members 4{efo Io,-=z required to pay a local tax, but be- cause of the cooperative and non profit seeking character of this dairy no tax Is required unless the dairy wishes to purchase milk from outside farmers All members of the dairy are required to supply all of their milk, not required for use at home. to the co-op- erative dairy.
 The manager of the dairy who ap- peared before the commissioners said free house, free butter and milk al- lowed Yet he was trained dairy man and a graduate of one of the Ger man dairy schools. He told the com mission som mething of these schools in which the Germans place great store In every German town there is one school in which dairying is taught. When the children are fourteen years old, if they have decided to become dairy farmers they enter this school. The children are set at their work even at an earlier age for they must receive a preliminary training at a dairy before they enter the school. There was one pupil at the co-opera- tive dairy preparing himself to enter the dairy school. It is not, of course, child labor, but simply vocational ed- ucation carried on in connection with other school training. The efficiency of the German agricu1turists and arti- sans is believed to rest largely upon this training, though from the Amer ican standpoint objection might be made to 1t on the ground that to train child to manual labor from so early an age is apt to create classes within a country.
 The importance of the cooper ative credit societies in the development of other cooperative enterprises was made readily apparent to the commis- sioners. The cooperative dairy owns its own land but the building was erected on credit advanced by the local Raiffeisen society Three and a half per cent. interest is paid by the so- ciety upon all loans. The principal of the loans is paid back by amortization | in small annual instal1ments. On the dairy house this instanment payment each year is two per cent. of the amount of the loan. On the machin- cry it is 10 per cent, and on wagons 20 per cent. Higher payments on wagons and machinery are required because of depreciati in their value.