The midland journal., 1914-05-29
inspection o. Danish Creamery.
WHY COOPERATION SOMETIMES FAILS

mittee be appointed. The officers fool
ishly and arbitrarily refused to com
cede even an audit unless they them
selves selected the committee. Then
these smaller storekeepers demanded
that the one man vote principle be
applied SO that for the future they
might protect their own interests.
This also was denied them. The only
course possible seemed to be a separa-
ton and the smaller stockholders
withdrew, the larger stockholders
buying out those who did not care to
stay in the concern. While this socie-
ty did not fail from a financial stand
point, its record is OF course to be
cited as that Of cooperative concern
which did not succeed in the best
sense OF the term.
The small shareholders Of this So
ciety later formed another co-opera-
tive society, organizing and admins
tering it, you may be sure, upon a
purely cooperative basis, adopting the
one man vote plan, and providing that
no dividends be declared upon shares
but that all the profits go to those who
grew the fruit in proportion to the
amount furnished to thhe company by
each.
Greed Causes Another Failure.
The experience Of a Minnesota CO.
operative warehouse elevator was
somewhat different. AS originally or
ganized and managed by the farmers
1t was a success, all the profits were
distributed back to the producers as
an additional price upon the grain de-
livered and the farmers Loyalty sup
ported it. Later, however, the shares
Of stock became centered in q few
business men who were not grain
growers. These men held major
ity Of the stock and were in full
control They began squeezing down
the prices to the producer until they
were paying him no more than the
privately owned elevator companies
paid.
The trustful farmers continued to
deliver their grain for a time and the
business men in control received a
forty per cent dividend. At the end
Of the year, however, the farmers real
lied that they we're being imposed
upon and the next year abandoned the
project. and hauled their grain else
where. AS result this cooperative
effort which had been at first an ex-
ceedingly profitable venture became
so absolute failure that 1t was with
difficulty that the shareholders dis
posed Of their building and equipment
European Failures.
There have been failures in Euro
pean cooperation also. You cannot
talk cooperation In Germany long
with anyone familiar with the general
situation without having your atten-
tion, called to the fact that co-operar
ton has received one black eye. Years
ago the government, anxious to aid in
the marketing Of grain, devoted a
considerable amount of money to the
erection of elevators or "'corn houses"
loaning the money to local co-opera-
tive concerns whose organization II
fostered and supervising the erection
in each case Of rather imposing
structure. It would seem that the
government generously tempted the
promoters to unreasoning extrava-
gance. How could you expect our
people to calculate closely when they
had this heap of unearned money
forced upon them?" one man re-
marked. Everything was done on a
costly scale. The storehouses were
too big. They were not carefully To-
Gated. Into these concerns crept, also
desire to speculate, to corner the
grain supply, to do in Germany what
Letter was reported to have done in
America.-to capture the grain mar
ket.
Everyone persuaded himself. it is
said. that he was going to grow rich
by appropriating by degrees the
wealth thus to be gained. They had
heard that there were great corners
In the United States, and by buying
and storing grain men had made enor-
nous fortunes. There was to be gold
for everyone who wanted 1t. A careful
study OF the situation has revealed the
absurdity of the situation. Those who
controlled the warehouses could mot
control to exceed one-twentieth OF the
supply Of grain grown in Germany
alone.