Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-05-28
Courtesy +. w Wozencratt9
inspection Danish Creamery
WHY COOPERATION SOMETIMES FAILS

mittee be appointed. Ihe oncers Iool-
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 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 socle-
ty did not fail from financial stand
point, it's 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
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 VINO
grew the fruit in proportion to the
amount furnished to thhe company by
! each.
Greed Causes Another Failure.
The experience of Minnesota CO.
operative warehouse elevator was
somewhat different. AS originally or
! ganized and managed by the farmers
it 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 conferred in few
business men who were not grain
growers. These men held a 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 time and the
business men in control received
forty per cent dividend. At the end
of the year, however, the farmers real
lied that they were being imposed
upon and the next year abandoned the
project, and hauled their grain else
where. AS a result this cooperative
effort which had been at first an ex-
ceedingly profitable venture became
SO absolute a failure that it 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 cannon
talk cooperation in Germany long
with anyone familiar with the general
situation without having your atten'
ton called to the fact that co-opera-
ton has received one black eye. Years
ago the government, anxious to aid in
the marketing of grain, devoted
considerable amount of money to the
erection of elevators or corn houses,
loaning the money to local co-opera'
tive concerns whose organization 1t
fostered and supervising the erection
in each case of a rather imposing
structure. 1t 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 q
costly scale. The storehouses were
too big. They were not carefully 10
Gated. Into these concerns crept, also
n 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, 1t is
, said, that he was going to grow rich
, by appropriating by degrees the
wealth thus to be gained. They hao
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 MOI
J control to exceed one-twentieth OF the
/ supply of grain grown In Germany
: alone.