Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1914-03-19

Dublin, lrelanQ.-1ueFe is uo Hd6lS
in cooperation. 1t is not cure-all
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 it 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 un-
deniable."
Cooperative marketing succeeds in
ireland because it stands for three
things: % Good business methods
and intelligent management; (2) A
uniformly high quality of product;
f3) 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 it's 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. 1t
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 a 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 EN-
cient business. There is nothing mys-
FERROUS about it. AS we have SAID,
there is in it no magic. Inc good
cooperative marketing concerns over
here succeed because they are Wen
organized. we'll managed, lntelhgently
governed, carefully supervised; De-
cause they are simply efficient Dnsl-
ness organizations in which 100 or
1000 men with common occupation
and a common. interest get together
for united, harmonious effort in
which every man does his full share.
over here it is always lone man
one vote" One lesson that Ireland
has for America is that no man and
no small group of men can be permit
ted to control any cooperative organ
ization. The principal of one man one
vote must prevail The man who has
invested 81 900 must have no more
voting power than the man who has
invested only SIS. Men, not prop
erty VOTE" is another expression
used here. Under this system no man
can use the cooperative society for his
own selfish ends. The poorest farmers
attend the meetings, and il they show
ability 20 upon committees and be-
come officers. The organization Is
most essentially democratic.
All Profits to the Producer.
The purpose back of cooperative
organization differs from that back
of a commercial enterprise. 1t seeks
not to make dividends for the man
who invests his money, but to pro
vide that the producer shall receive
the largest possible percentage of the
price paid by the consumer. Ireland
has found by experience that where
large profits are paid to the investors
the real purposes of cooperation are
not served One case is recorded
where American fruit growers organ
izer a so-caIled cooperative concern
upon the joint stock plan They In
weighed into. the venture large, mum
her OF smaller growers who had little
money to invest, but In the aggregate
A very considerable amount Of fruit
10 market. The ones who invested
largely were In control and proceed
-. AaeOO nrnf1fa for fham-