The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-09-12
COOPERATION.
This Is the Great Problem OF the
Day For the Farmer.

sor. Instances Where CO. operation 10
Highly observation-disclosures OF Great
operative Enterprises That Are
Worthy Careful Perusal-Good BUSH
mass Management the Secret.
In these days of much talked OF pro-
nosed cooperative enterprises It Is
we'll to consider some OF the enter
nrises that are already proving their
right to existence. There are many
NJ them. A few only will be consider
cd here. The figures given for these
various enterprises are the latest OBJ
tainable and deal mostly with trans
actions for 1912.
The farmers Cooperative society OF
Rockwell, la, is in the twenty fifth
wear of it's existence. OF it it is said
that success has characterized its op-
erations from the beginning. This So
ciety blazed the way for the farmers
of Iowa toward the goal of freedom
to handle their grain and other prod
nee, to buy their machinery and other
articles as they chose and where and
Of whom. regardless of the wealth
which has been combined against
them. Note some of their larger trans.
actions last year. SaIes-Oats. $780,
500 bushels: corn. 142,2OO bushels:
bran and middlings. $4,000 pounds:
oilmeal. 94.5OO pounds: barbed wire and
nails. $3.50 pounds: twine. $4,000
pounds: timothy seed, 1900 pounds:
salt. 264.9OO pounds: -four. 3,941 sacks;
coal. 3.735 tons: lumber. 75O.8O0 feet:
shingles. 975.OOO: clothing in amount,
$28. 686. or total business In sales OF
all goods and articles of $6O5. 1924.
And this total amount of business was
done at an expense Of only $8,O5S for
the year. The total net assets Jan. l,
1913. were $27.476.13. OF the society
local paper says. ''It is doing finely
and rings up good dividend every
year for it's stockholders"
Coming back east to New Jersey. we
find the Monmouth IN. j. County
Farmers Exchange. organized five
years ago with paid up capital of
$1,000 It's. capital stock today amounts
to $4,000. upon which 5 per cent
dividend was declared at the end of
the year. Capital and surplus now
amount to $1O1 .73426. Potatoes are
the principal crop handled by the ex-
change, and last year it was short. but
there were 1891 carloads handled,
worth $941,765 at that In 1911 it
amounted to $1.4OO.OOO. In the five
years the exchange has done total
business of $4.32O.748. There are 1927
members of the exchange. They are
satisfied with results. In Burlington
county. N. j., is located the Burling-
ton County Farmers Exchange. or
gained three years ago, which sold
during the season Of 1912 over 1000
cars Of potatoes and other produce to
the amount of $515, 600 and bought sup
plies to the amount of 100000.
On Long Island is located another
prosperous cooperative association. It
is the Long Island Potato Exchange.
which did business during the five
months from August to Dec. 81. 1912,
Of $151. 864.71, on which it made
gross profit of $6.815.66, or net earn
ings Of more than $1,000 over the cor
responding period of the previous year.
The gross amount Of potatoes sold was
sos. 1888; grain. $27,251.24; miscel-
laneous. 5,863.89. making the total
Indicated above Of $151, 869.n in the
short period Of five months. Taking
the figures for the previous full year.
we have the following record Of sales:
Potatoes $9O.447.4O. fertilizer $685.
164.SO, feed SIC. 1854. seed potatoes
s.. 724.82. -four $5,75641, chemicals
$6.O7O.37. barrels and sacks $3,775,
seed $2,214.O5. oil and gasoline 81, 400,
miscellaneous $2,O19.52. The grain
business increased last year over ST.
600. On the single item Of paris
green there was large saving. It
cost the potato growers from Is to 35
cents q pound before the exchange was
established. but since then they have
never paid over II cents. On fertilizer
the saving was very large. About
10000 tons are used yearly in the ex-
changes territory. and on this amount
there has been a saving Of at least s.
on . ton or 10000 a year. and in the
three years up to the completion Of
the above report q total Of $4,000
has been left In the pockets OF its 600
members.
Down in Maine we find another
profitable cooperative organization, the