El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-03
COOperatiOnAmOn Women
Housewives Reduce Cost Of House
cleaninE-IlrOPOse COOPera-
tive Cooking.
BY Frederic J. HasIzia-
, AsHINGTON. d. c. March

are susceptible to cooperative
enterprise is by no means exhausted
with the mention or cooperative selling
and buying organizations and manu-
featuring enterprises Many other
forms or cooperation have been tried
out either in a large or a small way,
and have given gratifying results. One
OF the newest departures in that di-
recion is in the use of an electric
vacuum cleaner A half dozen house
wives each felt the need of such q
cleaner, but neither of them was able
to own one herself. Therefore they
agreed to pool interests and buy one
on the cooperative basis They bought
it, and with it a little boys express
wagon. Each one Of the six women
now has the cleaner one day in the
week 1t IS moved from house to house
by boy, and in this way they are
able 10 nave all the comforts of the
ownership of a good vacuum cleaner
at the price of a very Indifferent one.
Cooperative Cooking Proposed.
1t has been proposed that cooperation
be applied TO cooking by city house
wives Knowing that there is but little
more trouble and expense attached to
cooking Tor two families instead of
one. II has been proposed that dozen
families go together. hire one good
cook and the necessary helpers, and
equip community kitchen from
which the meals could be served to
the supporting families at cost. OF
course, no form of cooperation would
be in greater danger Of falling than
this one The tastes of families, how
ever close their relationships are
bound to differ and unless the COOPER
atlve kitchen could furnish different
sorts OF meals 70 different families
It would be almost sure to fail And
the savings Of cooperative cooking
would largely pass away if such a
policy were pursued
Cooperative Telephone Lines.
Some communities in the United
states have solved many OF the pro
blems Of rural life by cooperation One
may travel through the farming re-
glons IN many sections Of the country
companies successfully operating big
systems Some of these companies
have thousands Of shareholders. They
are usually organized on the federal
plan; that is, a dozen or more local
companies, each made uD Of a mem
bership ranging from 10 to several
hundred, build their lines to some cen
tral place and there join in the Dur
chase and maintenance Of a central
exchange
Each local company controls its own
internal affairs. just as each state in
the Union has control Of those Of its
affairs which do not concern the other
states The general company is made
up OF the members of all the local
enterprises, and it bears the same re-
latlOn to the local companies that the
states bear TO the United States. The
share Of the expense Of each person
who gets telephone usually ranges
building and equipping of the line
he then pays for his telephone. which
costs him about SIS. At this outlay
he becomes an equal shareholder in
the local and general companies, and
his annual expense thereafter is about
four dollars for exchange service and
two or three dollars a year for main
tanning the lines and keeping his tele-
phone in order
Insurance on Cooperative Plan.
cooperative insurance companies for
protection against fire have long been
operated with success IN many Of the
rural sections Of the country. They
insure the property Of the cOOpera-
tors at two thirds Of its value, and
the charges therefor are based upon
the actual losses sustained. Assess
mentS TO meet these losses are made
whenever they occur. The result is
that farmers get fire Insurance. at
the company are paid only nominal
salaries, and the expenses Of admins
trauOn are negligible When q fire
occurs the loss is appraised by repre-
sentauVes Of the insurance company.
and settlement upon the basis Of their
findings practically always is accepted. !
Some years the losses are rather heavy,
While In other years they are practical
" nothing. The cooperators are always
sure that they are getting insurance
at actual cost, which is better than
the best homeopathic company can
offer
Building Of Good Roads.
Good roads movements were in ex-
lSUence many years ago in several
parts OF the United states, and in some
seclonS the cOoperatOrs LEANED to
90 for themselves what the states were
not then able to do. and that which /
the federal government had not yet I
thought OF undertaking. Not many
years after the civil war. many farmers, /
weary al the burden inflicted upon them
by the mud tax. banded themselves I
together into cooperative companies to |
n ut
realized that the state finances were
not able to bear the strain of such /
road building, and they preferred to
put up a few dollars and to contribute
some work with their own hands and
teams IN an effort to have a good road, /
rather than do nothing and continue
to labor under the mud tax The en-
hancement of values has twice over
paid the cost of construction.
Cooperative Apartment House.
The cooperative apartment house has
been tried successfully in New York. /
Such house IS to be found at the /
northwest corner OF Sixty-fOurth street /
and Central Park. tt has 81 apart /
ments. each inhabited by a person or
family of prominence. Each apart
ment is a real home. planned to suit
the individual tastes of its owner, and
from the big entrance court to the last /
detail OF the big summer garden on the
roof everything in the power of the
architect has been done to achieve the
and quiet which the occu-
pants desire.
FraternaI Homes.
Many fraternal Organizations and Ia
Dor unions, inspired by the success OF
the International Typographical Union
in the establishment of the big printers
home at Colorado Springs. are esta5-
fishing and planning to establish sim
lar homes. The Colorado Home for
Printers was established in the earIv !
1ineties, since which time about 81
100000 has been raised and eyDeDdsd
in building up the Institution The 1
income now apprOXimates 500 OO0 = I
year, and the cost of keeping the ia
occupants is approximately $50 OOO a |
year The remainder of the income !
IS devoted to extensions and better
nents- Each union printer pavs x
cents a month for the privilege ~ I
knowing that when he gets too old ana
feeble TO make his way in the VIOLA
there IS "A place where he can fi15 q
haven to his liking a
The government itself maintains .
kind of cooperative institution for az
support of the old and disabled soI
iiers of the regular army, in the shane
Of the big Soldiers Home Mt WaeP
ngtOn- This great institution vyss e.
from the funds derived 49,,
he sale of property captured dnr ~
he Mexican war, the gOverpr,e1,t ~ ~
,iding that 1t should be done as q en-
.oken of gratitude to the mon of -,
regular army The home is s71nDc,t--J (
Nv -avanmng derived e. VI tNNA