The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-04

A"S "'i" S'PI'y my
raw material.
In the ISL cooperative society in
England each member is entitled to
one vote. whether he be the owner of
one share or a dozen. Its affairs are
generally administered by quarterly
meetings. and &. special committee,
elected by the shareholders, manages
the business in the meantime. There
are few salaried positions. No diff
Guilty Is encountered in securing
enough capital; indeed, there has to be
strong insistence that the companies
are run for the benefit of the con-
sumers rather than to afford returns
to investors. The law provides tina
the societies may receive deposits up
to 500 from n one person. and they,
therefore, act as sorts of savings
banks for their members.
An interesting index Of the costs
and profits of retailing is to be had
from the reports of the retail soci-
cites. Upon a business Of 5000, 900
pounds, the gross profits were l6,0OO,-
900 pounds in "a recent ear. From
his 1t will be seen that the wholesale
value of the years trade was approx
'N%'>y "'b"Dosooo illti LIN lIhlt
even under the best form of
ton the margin bet Ween wholesale
and retail prices was approximately
80 per cent.
Periodically each society balances
its books and find what profit it has
made. A meeting of the members is
then held and it Is asked how the
surplus, after the interest on the
shares has been paid, shall be dis
tributed. Usually there are certain
reservations for the reserve fund, the
charity fund, and the educational
fund, and then the remainder is dis
tributed among h purchasers. so
much for each s. worth of goods pur-
chased, shareholders getting twice as
much as n~on-members, of whom there
are few. Each purchase carries with
it a metal tag which is evidence of
the amount purchased, and the divi-
dends are based upon the value Of the
metal tags a mar holds. The average
rebate that this brings is about 10
cents on the dollar. Many Of the So
cieties la come to advocate selling
as nearly at cost as possible, so that
the poorer members will not be so
long deprived of the use of the money
their rebate tags represent.
In some sections where competition
is not heavy, retail prices have been
Kept up, the theory being that the
members will save their dividends,
and thus, at the end of the year will
have more money than they would
have had they bought right along at
1lurnr nripn. TLo .Jt,;1o n, L..
are allowed to accumulate.
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 soci-
cites have begun to extend limited
credit to their members. This ten
dency has caused alarm among the
leaders of the cooperative movement,
so that each national cooperative
congress in recent years has debated
the question of how the credit-extend-
ing societies can he induced to come
back upon the surer ground of cash
trading.
While the administrative work of
the cooperative societies in England
is entrusted to elected officials, the
technical and commercial end of the
business is in the hands of permanent
employees usually paid salaries and
wages after the manner of private
concerns. These employees are treat
ed as co-operators like to be treated
themselves They get a half holiday
each week, and work IN an average,
about 81 hours a week.
The two big wholesale societies in
the United Kingdom are the English
and Scottish Wholesale societies. The
societies are the direct out
growth of the opposition of private
traders, who sought to put down CO.
operation by bringing pressure upon
the wholesalers to force them to re-
fuse to sell to cooperative retail
stores. Attempts had been made re-
peatedly to establish such wholesale
societies. but they failed until they
We're projected by declarations of re-
tail societies So strong hat the most
powerful opposition could not prevail
against them. These two societies CO.
operate with one another. Under a
working agreement they Jointly oper-
ate and own tea estates in Ceylon,
cocoa at Luton. and
blend and pack teas In London. The
society own four steamships
which nave been completely paid for.
The system of cooperative insur-
ance in England Is no less interesting
h he system of manufacturing
and distributing the commodities used
by co~-operators. The Cooperative
Insurance society does a many-sided
business. If you have property to be
against loss it will take the
If a society wants it's employees
1t will guarantee their fidelity;
and if a society wants to insure the
lives of its members, the Cooperative
Insurance society is there ready to
write " the policies.
1t has a novel scheme of collective
insurance, designed to afford the benz
Gifts of industrial life insurance and
yet to save the large costs of admin
and house-to-house collec-
ion, Each cooperative society pays
premium for all it's members. and
his premium is two cents on every
worth of goods purchased by
member. Without making any in