Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-07-04
COUNTRY
LIFE INTERESTS
COMMISSION
LARGEST DAIRY HAS
1000 cow CONTRIBUTORS

vienna, Austria. July s.-~eome
most Interesting phases q Italian
rural Hfe have been investigated hy
the American commission on aEri-
culture. organization. cooperation
and rural credits, now travelling IN
Europe % examine the various sys-
TENS IN use on this side Of the At
lantic
A. Cremona. Italy. the commlssion.
eFs inspected the Peoples bank.
which b. more or less the meinsiay
OF the rural population This bank
was exceisently housed and was said
90 be In an extreuei yIioutishiag con
dltion. From the appearance o.
everythlnn connected with the lnsli-
tuition this was easy 20 believe. Thc
hank h not truly cooperative ~
principle but H. properly speaking. q 1
Joint stock company. depending on
larger commercial institutions.
departs particularly from the CO.
Operative idea In 80 far a. the num-
Der of votes held by the members y
dependent ON the shares they pos
sess. On the other hand u mas 81
called o peoples bank IN ~ FAR a.
she oBlect kept ~ mind by the al.
rectors IN not primarily 90 nuks
profits. bnt to insure the beatermcni
of the circumstances ~ the Local
population. wno are thrmselves the
shareholders Il may be called
rural hank for the reason that u will
lend money BY preference. ana ~ o
favorable rate 90 those engaged ~
agricultural pursuits The director
lexplalned that the bank acted Ia this
way because agriculture was consid
erred the main Industry on watch %
lpended the welfare not only 81 the
neighhorhoud. but Of the whole na
ti0n
The bank was willing % lend on
any reasonable security. collateral.
land On endorsement. the latter prne.
ticaily amounting 10 lending on char
acter. The rate 81 interest remains
nlmoat always below 9 per cent, and
the director secuted the idea Of any
serious trouble arising between the
hank and ia clients OF shareholders.
The working Of the Cremonn bank
seems 20 be guaranteed 20 some e.
tent by the ilcurlshing Central Banca
, a. Roma. and ultimately by the APP
provai and watcnfnl eye Of the gov
ernment. but Il cannot be said u be
aubsidised or aided BY the state. The
expenses are largely kept down ny
. the altruism OF the officials. mort Of
! whom give their services either graz
tuitouEly or AZ an almost nominal
wage--a principle resarded with aus-
picion by many members OF the
} American commission and stigma
tized by some az q suicidal policy.
one OF the chief functions OF this
hank Ia 20 make advances 10 faclll-
tate the work Of the Cooperative So
ciety Of Local Farmers. having for 10
object the Improvement in aErlcul-
ture and the announcement 81 mod
ern methods on The part OF lts menu
beers. Membership may be- had on
,, easy terms and carries WIN Il the
right to buy from the society fertllis-
err machinery. etc, az practically cost
: price. For this purpose the credit OF
the bank IL called into play.
Another institution visited by the
|, commissioners was the Cremona GER
!. tilizer factory. also cooperative. and
apparently very aourlshing. The
> phosphotes manufactured here are
sold exclusively 20 the members of
! the Cooperative society at a price
= allowing for reasonable profit on
. the shares held by the members
themselves.
These three organl3ations--the
bank, the farmers cooperative soci-
ely and the fertilizer faetory--are In
= theory Independent though u was
. made plain that in practice their
4 membership and lhei fdirectorate
overlapped largely. and that they
worked together for mutual ad-
vantage.
= About ten miles from Crem0na, Ia
the village Of Soresina. Il situated
!, what ~ presumed "a he the largest
|. cooperative dairy In the world
= handling the productn Of 5000 COWS
Here every single by-product wal
being fully utilized The main prod.
!. uct OF the factory was soft cheese
I. bu, this was supplemented hy IN,
- making Of skim milk butter and mlih
sugar. Finally the rlnsinFs were led
% hogs
A. 20 the financial results, there Il
general law in Italy which iayi
down that IN the case OF co.opera
tive societies no shareholder shall a..
" receive dividend greater than pei
cent. but the members OF this dalr.
were receiving 80 per cent. The ex
PLANTATION Ia that ten years after IN,
formation Of the society an tho Ahar.
capital was paid on. after which al
!, the buildings and machinery wer,
y. paid for. Now there are 40 share
holders receiving dividends, bu
"a simply members. among whom an
q annual profits are divided as bonus
IA Hut " this annual bonus be reckonel
h. ~ a dividend on the original vam
OF members shares Il amounts 60 8
per cent