Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-01-28


lcern Now Buys and Sells.
ditions In Dunglow are improving. !.
never knew an organization to do 80
much for q community as the Temple
.crone Cooperative Agricultural soci-s
ETY. is doing for Dunglow. The So
ciety started in little one-room& cot
.tage on farm where lived. We be-
gan by buying manures and later 9
few groceries. We had fierce oppost-
ton at first from the gombeen man
and traders, as fierce as any communi-
~ ever had. Some, of the members
were in debt to the gombeen men and
had to come into the cooperative quar-
tiers at night and over the back walks
in order to conceal from the gombeen'
man that they were members. Il
the gombeen men found out that any
one trading with them was trading
with us they refused him credit and
issued writ II he owed them. w
a Little Democracy. s
1--WE wish no one any i'll. We do
|, not do business that way. We have
simply demanded the right to attend
to our own. little affairs. We meet in
our little parliament here to discuss
our business. We have given some
entertainments which have brought
the people nearer together and given
them good time. This year we or
ganized an industrial show in which
we exhibited everything which we pro.
duced here, including lace and knit
goods, as well as some of our farm
products. We did this to encourage
others to make these things. Now
I'VE are looking around to get some
little local industry started. We need
something OF the kind badly so that
more money can come into the COM
munity. Lace making, knitting and
work OF that kind is important, too,
for every little helps here. We are
willing to work when we can. q. u
on the UPGRADE. 81
"The boys are learning to farm bet
ter than their. fathers farmed. We
are raising better cows. and pigs and
chickens, and producing better eggs,
poultry and meat than we ever did
before. Through our little co.opera-
tive society we have a steady market
at, good prices for all we can raise.
We are not rich. for this Is not .
rich country, and never can be. There
are too many stones and Dogs In Don
Iegal for that. But we are doing our
best, and we are going to reach .
| point soon where every man can go
up and down Dunglow and say that
he owes no man anything. Co-opera-
ton has brought us together. and we
are all gold friends. We are not
fighting with each other. any more.
We are helping each other. We are
still doing business on a very small
scale, of5course. We are poor people.
and we must always be that. There
is no chance for wealth in q nve or
six-acre farm. We raise little patch
OF oats for oatmeal for our family.
Most OF us get enough potatoes on
our little places to last us through the
year. We couldn't live without pota-
toes. You know the great famine Of
1S48. when so many died in Ireland,
was caused wholly by potato blight.
The children around here are almost
brought up on potatoes. They get
mashed potatoes, with little milk in
it, before they are weaned. They grow
up on 1t and sometimes have little
else. Cooperation has helped us to
sell what we have. and we are doing
first rate.
Cost Of Living. VIII. (. (,
"By purchasing goods direct from
original sources, this society has made
1t possible for the poorest farmer to
fertilize his potato patch and IN
crease the crop which he raises. The
seeds which come through 1t are test
ed and guaranteed as they never were
before. 1t has lowered the price and
improved the quality Of tea, Indian
meal and sugar. In one case, for ex-
ample, where rival trader was charg-
ing 1907 for seven stone Of flour, we
were offering the same -four at $2.25
for the seven stone. s
5 "You may be interested in knowing
about what an average family here,
has for an income, where he gets 1t
and what he has to eat. I have made
out a little statement so you could
figure that out. To begin with, every
farmer has his own potatoes and oats.
Besides this, his income is something
like this: .m@5y5f
Eggs and poultry, per week, about
five shillings ($65 per year,.
Butter for about 10 or 20 weeks In
summer, one to two shillings ($7 per
year,.
."sale of cattle possibly II pounds
each year $3.50 per year,.
Sale of sheep, one pound ($5 per
year,.
"a total OF $137 per year.
Besides this. the women earn a
little something by knitting sweaters
and making lace, etc. .t... gefs
A.: Marketing Esos. < 2E
you will notice that eggs are our
staple product. The average poor
farm family around here gets each
year from IL to Is pounds out of their
are tho gifts OF the fat man only
excluding his leaner brother-one can
not accept the dictum even though
voiced by bishop. Perhaps in the
humor of the day, when the peerless
Sarah was younger, the fine wit of
the Partisan journalist abiding to her