St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-01-28

meal and sugar. In one case, rcr Elk
ample, where a rival trader was charg-
ing $3.07 for seven stone OF hour we
were offering the same -four ct $1-zo
for the seven stone.
you may be interested In moving
about what an average family here
has for an income, where he gets 1t
and what he has to eat have made
out a little statement 30 you could
figure that out. To begin with, every
farmer has his own potatoes and oats
Besides this, his income is something
like this:
Eggs and poultry, per week. about
i've shillings ($65 per year,.
Butter for about Is or 20 weeks In
summer. one to two shillings ($7 per
year,.
Sale of cattle possibly II pounds
each year ($6O per year).
Sale OF sheep, one pound ($s per
year,.
"a total of $1s7 per year.
Besides this, the women earn a
and making lace. etc.
Marketing Eggs.
You will notice that eggs are our
staple product. The average poor
farm family around here gets each
year from IL to 10 pounds out OF their
eggs, which is generally about half
of their entire money income. Before
we took hold, however, egg raising
was not at all profitable. There was
no steady market, the farmers did not
understand poultry, and no one had
any ambition to learn anything about
1t. They didn't take care Of their
eggs well and few were sold.
Previously the local price was two
or three pence less than the price
quoted in the nearest market in Straw
bane and Derry. Now the prices paid
are from one to two pence above the
prices quoted in these markets. In
other words, we have increased the
value of a dozen eggs from three to
four pence (six to eight cents). For
the entire district, this amounts to
quite a sum. You must remember
also that while we purchased only
one-tenth of the eggs sold in this par
ish, the fact that we at Dunglow are
paying the prices which we pay has
made it necessary for every other
buyer in the entire parish to pay the
same price.
Irish Lace and Knitted Goods-
Our cooperative company looks at
ter a good many things besides sell
ing eggs and butter. We are helping
the girls market their lace and knitted
work. Two years ago we asked the
government department to send Ms an
instructor to teach the girls to make
hand-knit sport coats (sweaters).
They sent q man to look 1t up. He
talked with some of the men here
who were not friendly to this COOP
erative movement Nothing was done
Our girls were getting one shilling
six pence (36 cents) for knitting a
dozen pairs of socks, using up from
three and a half to four pounds of
wool. These socks were purchased Of
the women by an agent of a whole
sale trader.
THE cooperative society decided
they could do better by the girls than
ing, the girls get seven shillings six
pence ($1.87) from the society for
knitting a sweater coat, using only two
pounds of wool and taking only one
half as long as a dozen pair of socks.
Putting 1t another way, for the same
amount of wool and the same time
spent in knitting, the girls get Is
shillings ($3.75) instead of one shil-
ling six pence (36 cents). That is, our
society is paying them ten times what
they used to get from the other buy
ers for their knitting: Formerly the
girls who knit lace were bound by a
bargain under which If they sold to
any one privately they were boycott
ted. The buyer told them unless they
sold him all he would buy nothing.
Now we are getting fairly good prices
for the lace, better than they got be-
fore and we, OF course, permit them to
sell wherever they can. They fire.
quently have opportunity to sell to
tourists and others who come through
here. While we get fairly good prices
for the lace, there is no steady market
for it, as there is for the knitted
goods.
Connected With Central Society.
Our little local society could not
stand alone and do what we are try
ing to do. We are helped all the time
by Sir Horace Plunkett's organization
society and by the Cooperative While
sale society at Dublin. Each week
the wholesale society sends us fore
cast giving the figures that should be
obtained for eggs, butter and chicks
ems, and stating whether or not there
is to be demand for these products.
Each day we write to the wholesale
society. telling them what we have
on hand and what we will likely have.
Sometimes we telegraph. Then they
may either write or telegraph back
what they want us to send and when
and where to send it. We send it, not
to Dublin, but directly to the places
selected by the wholesale society.
In this way we save freight, we save