The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1914-03-27

Dublin, Ireland.-There is no magic
in cooperation. 1t is not cure-aii
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 its meth
DDS with intelligence and energy, is
beyond question; that it has been
barren of useful results where those
qualities were wanting is equally I'M
deniable."
Cooperative marketing succeeds in
Ireland because it stands for three
things: "a Good business methods
and intelligent management; az A
uniformly high quality of product;
| (S) 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 disloyalty 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. It
has succeeded in bringing the producer
and consumer nearer together. The
farm products go directly to the city
consumer. The product arrives in
good shape. 1t brings only 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 effi-
cient business. There is nothing mys-
terious about it. AS we have said,
there is in it no magic. The good
cooperative marketing concerns over
; here succeed because they are well
organized. well managed, intelligently
governed, carefully supervised be
cause they are simply efficient bust
ness organizations in which 100 OF
1000 men with a common occupation
and a common interest get together
2 for a united, harmonious effort II
which every man does his full share
! Over here it is always zone maj
one vote" One lesson that Irelant
has for America is that no man ant
no small group of men can be permit
ted to control any cooperative organ
ization. The principal of one man on
u vote must prevail. The man who ha
Y invested $1,000 must have no NOR
e voting power than the man who ha
i invested only SIS. Men. not prof.
erty vote" is another expression
!. used here. Under this system no ma
i, can use the cooperative society for Fl
d own selfish ends. The poorest farmer
i. attend the meetings, and If they sho'
ability. go upon committees and b.
il come officers. The organization
e most essentially democratic.
All Profits to the Producer.
5, The purpose back of co-operatiV
d organization differs from that bac
Of a commercial enterprise. 1t seek
d not to make dividends for the ma
If who invests his money, but to pr
lie vide that the producer shall receiy
Ie the largest possible percentage of tn
h price paid by the consumer. Irelan
has found by experience that whei
II large profits are paid to the investor
d the real purposes of cooperation al
:e not served. One case is recordf
Of where American fruit growers orga
DR. izer a so-called cooperative concel
al upon the joint stock plan. They
weighed into the venture large nul
lie Der of smaller growers who had lit
to money to invest, but in the aggrega
"a. a very considerable amount All fri
to market The ones who -hvest
w largely were in control and procee
ey ed 70 make large profits for the