The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1914-10-24
PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATION
Two Greyhounds Running Together
VIII Kill More Hares Than Four
logs Running Separately.

ASK the man in the street what he
THINKS about cooperation and he will
PROBABLY tell you: Its all right" Ask
MIN the reason for his good opinion
ana ne may tell you about a cooper.
1--WE store which sells strictly good
merchandise at strictly market prices,
ana returns share of it's profits to
us customers. Why, friend Of mine
sot sI' or Whereabouts as a rebate
on MS purchase last year" Ask him
why the store refunded the ST and
you VIII find that he doesn't quite
Know. The sharing of the profit has
occupied his mind to the exclusion Of
the reason for sharing it.
Few people understand the princi-
pies or cooperation. The following
quotation will serve to elucidate the
basic principle:
Inc advantage OF cooperation is
Illustrated by the case Of two grey
mounds running together. which, it Is
said. will kill more hares than four
greyhounds running separately In a
vast number of operations 1t is obvious
that two men working together will
20 more than four, or four times four
men, each Of whom should work alone
In the lifting OF heavy weights, in the
telling OF big trees. in the gathering
OF crops, in the rowing OF large boats,
IN the erection Of scaffolding for a
building, and in a thousand more SIM
pie operations. it is absolutely neces-
sary that many persons should work
together. at the same time. in the
same place. and in the same way"
The men engaged in the operations
above mentioned were conscious OF
working together. In many undertak-
ings men cooperate unconsciously.
In the present state OF society the
breeding and feeding of sheep is the
occupation Of one set of people. dress
ing the wool to prepare it for the spin
ner Is that Of another, spinning it into
thread. OF a third; weaving the thread
Into broadcloth. OF a fourth; dyeing
the cloth, OF fifth; making it into a
coat, OF a sixth; without counting the
multitude of carriers, merchants. fac
tors, and retailers. put in requsition at
the successive stages OF this progress.
All these persons. without knowledge
OF one another or previ--Ls understand.
ing, cooperate in the production Of the
ultimate result. coat
Almost all breeders Of fancy poultry
consider themselves independent of
the other breeders. whereas in reality
thye are unconscious co-operators. So
delicate and irregular is the poultry
product that they buy and trade to-
gether a full half OF each year. The
wonder Is the greater, therefore. that
they have never derived benefit from
their cooperation through a co-opera-
tive organization.
The word benefit is the key note of
the second cooperative principle,
namely the sharing OF profits. This
principle is ancient enough to make
its application to affairs Of today more
common Jacob tending Laban's flock
as recorded IN the Bible. was a serv-
ant directly interested in the profits
OF his master. Sailors seem always to
have shared the profits Of joint labor
early Greek sailors in the Levant
and American sailors engaged in
whale fisheries. Miners in England
and Chinese traders in Manila have
worked similarly for generations. A
good illustration of profit sharing is
furnished by the arrangement between
laborer and land owner under the
Metayer system by which the laborer
pays the land owner not a fixed rent
but a certain per cent OF the produce
or rather of what remains Of the prod
uce, after deducting what is con
sidered necessary to keep up the
stock Cooperative stores and banks
are the best known organizations
which put the principle into practice
The third principle Of cooperation
is the sale Of high quality merchan
disc. Really good merchandise is in
dispensable to the success Of all com
mercial enterprises, but is more gen
orally maintained by cooperative or
PLANTATIONS than by individual dealers
because cooperative managers are re
, sponsible to others. whereas individ
uaI dealers are responsible to none
but themselves. and can relax theil
| efforts and trade on their reputation.
any time they see fit.-United Breed
ers', Inc Catalogue.