The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-03-25

In cooperation. 1t Is not q cure-all
for economic ills. Cooperative con-
Germs succeed because they employ
good business methods. In fact CO.
operative marketing is good business
and good sense and intelligence ap-
piled to farm marketing. This is the
biggest and most important lesson to
be learned in Ireland. AS Rev. Fa-
Their Finley, a great believer in CO.
operation, says in an article in the
Constructive Quarterly, THAT 1t has
been productive Of much material
good to those who employed it's meth
DDS with intelligence and energy, Is
beyond question; that 1t has been
barren of useful results where those
qualities were wanting is equally IN
deniable."
Cooperative marketing succeeds in
Ireland because it stands for three
things: Q) Good business methods
and intelligent management; (2) A
uniformly high quality Of product;
60 justice, equality and loyalty
among members. Without these char
acteristics cooperation fails in Ire
land and fails everywhere. These are
the lessons that Ireland has to teach
America. No group which does not in
sist upon running its cooperative CON
Germ along these lines can succeed.
To tolerate poor business methods, lax
ity as to quality, or d~isloyalty and in
justice to each other is to fail.
These are some things Americans
will not be required to experiment
upon, because the Irish have already
tried them out.
Simply Good Business.
Irish cooperation makes money for
farmer and city consumer alike. 1t
has succeeded in bringing the producer
and consumer a. together. The
farm products go directly to the city
consumer. The product arrives in
good shape. It brings only a reason
able price. The result is that city
man and farmer profit by the more
economical method Of distribution.
But cooperative marketing after all
is simply good, common sense and eff
cient business. There Is nothing mys-
terious about 1t. AS we have said,
there Is in it no magic. The good
cooperative marketing concerns over
here succeed because they are well
organized, we'll managed, intelligently
governed, carefully supervised; be-
cause they are simply efficient busi-
ness organizations in which LOO or
1000 men with a common occupation
and a common interest get together
for a united, harmonious effort in
which every man does his full share.
Over here it is always zone nan
one vote" One lesson that Ireland
has for America is that no man and
no small group Of men can be permit
ted to control any cooperative organ
ization. The principal of one man one
vote must prevail. The man who has
invested $1,000 must have no more
voting power than the man who has
invested only S.. Men, not prop
erty VOTE" is another expression
used here. Under this system no man
can use the cooperative society for his
own selfish ends. The poorest farmers
attend the meetings, and If they show
ability, go upon committees and be-
come officers. The organization Is
most essentially democratic.
All Profits to the Producer.
The purpose back of cooperative
organization differs from that back
of a commercial enterprise. 1t seeks
not to make dividends for the man
who invests his money, but to pro-
vide that the producer shall receive
the largest possible percentage of the
price paid by the consumer. Ireland
has found by experience that where
large profits are paid to the investors
the real purposes Of cooperation are
not served. One case is recorded
where American fruit growers organ
izer a so-called cooperative concern
upon the joint stock plan. They in
weighed into the venture a large num-
Der of smaller growers who had little
money to invest, but in the aggregate
a very considerable amount OF fruit
to market. The ones who invested
largely were in control and proceed