The Harrison times., 1914-05-30

Inspection Of Danish Creamery
WHY COOPERATION SOMETIMES FAILS

! hlittNo bo dppOlHtSu, lub OlllCtIs luOl
ishly and arbitrarily refused to con
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 tho future they
might protect their own interests
This also was denied them. The only
course possible seemed to be a separa.
tlon and the smaller stockholders
withdrew the larger stockholders
buying out those who did rot care to
stay in the concern While this socie-
ty did not fail from financial stand
point, its record Is OF course to be
cited as that Of u 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.
terlng It, you may bo sure, upon a
purely cooperative basis, adopting the
one man vote plan, and providing that
no dividends bo declared upon shares
but that all the profits 90 to those who
grew the fruit in proportion to the
amount furnished to thhe company by
each,
Greed Causes Another Failure,
Tho experience Of n Minnesota co.
operative warehouse elevator was
somewhat different, As originally or.
ganlsed and managed by the farmers
It was u success, all the profits were
distributed back to the producers as
an additional price upon the grain do.
llyered and the farmers Loyalty sup.
ported II, Later however, the shares
OF stock became contered In q few
business men who were not grain
growers, These men held u major.
ity Of tho stock and were in full
control They began squeezing down
the prices to tho 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 tho
business men IN control received a
forty per cent dividend, At the end
OF the year, however, the farmers real
i2ed that they were being imposed
upon and the next year abandoned tho
project, and hauled their grain else.
where As n result this cooperative
effort which had boon at first an OK.
ooodngly profitable venture became
30 absolute failure that II was with
diGieulty that tho shareholders dis
posed Of their building and equipment.
European Failures.
ThorO have been failures In Euro
poan cooperation also, You cannot
talk cooperation IN Germany long
with anyone familiar with the general
situation without having your atten'
tlon called to the fact that eo.opera.
tlon has received ono black eye, Years
ago tho government anxious to aid in
tho marketing Of grain, devoted u
considerable amount Of money to tho
erection OF elevators or corn houaoa," ,"
leaning tho money to local eoaopofas
tive concerns whose organization It
fostored and supervising tho erection
IN each case OF rather imposing
structure, II would Beom that tho
government generously tempted tho
promoters 70 unreasoning extrayas
ganoo, "llow could YOU expect our
people 10 calculate closely whom thoy
had this heap Of unoarnod money
forced upon thom7' ono man ro'
marked Everything was done on a
costly scale, The etorehoueea were
too big They were not carefully To-
Gated Into these concerns orept, also
n doalro 10 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, lt ID
said that he was going to grow rich
by approprlatIng by degrees the
wealth thus to bo gained, They had
heard that there were great corners
In tho United States, and by BUYING
and storing grain men had made enor
nous fortunes There was 20 be golt
for everyone who wanted II, A careful
study Of the situation has revealed III,
abeurdlty OF the situation, Those wht
controlled the warehouses could no
control 10 exceed ohe.twentleth OF th,
supply OF grain grown In German,
alone,