The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1914-01-29
Cooperative
CONTINUED from page II

date for $425. The gombeen man ar
gued that my father paid $3.50 and
that he was only charging me eighty
! terest per annum. During the twenty
years my father was bringing up his
family, he paid interest at this rate.
Here is writ that was issued
against poor farmer. The amount
is $37.75, and here is the pass book
which proves that. $1S.25 of that is in
terest. You will also note that the
S3.37 for seven stone of -four; on the
same date the cooperative society's
price was S225."
So the gombeen man was robbing
everybody as he tried to rob Paddy
Gallagher and his friends.
An Old Mans Story.
The story that we get in Dun
glow TALES with the account which
| Sir Horace Plunkett and his col
leagues in Dublin gave us of the situa-
tion. But as scientific investigators
we are anxious to get as much mate
rial from original sources as possible.
So on Sunday afternoon sit is us" for
jaunting car and ride into the
country in search of fundamental
facts. We hear of patriarchal citi-
zen five miles out who they say is as
honest, as the day is long We find
Donald O'Boyle otherwise Shane
O'ge) in a habitation which from out
ward appearances hardly merits the
name of cottage. But when warm
hearted Irish hospitality invites us
inside we find neat, clean, COM
Portable place, that is indeed home to
the family which has been for genera
tons the tenants of a line of non
evicting landlords. Shane O'ge, with
his son, his daughter-in-law, and some
shy, blue-eyed little grandchildren,
welcomes us warmly. The mother is
feeding the children mashed potatoes
and milk from a bowl (about all many
Irish children get to ea). To them
this is much more interesting than a
discussion of the gombeen man.
Yes, he and his father knew well
the gombeen man. WED buy of the
trader but we'd not know the price at
ALL" he said. "It would do us no
good. We'd have to pay in the end
what he'd ask us anyway when he
had the money. 1t was hard to get it
round here-we mostly had to go over
and work in the Scottish harvests to
get any at all. When we had the
money we would ask what we owed
1,o fro oil W hot If
was. We never knew what the items
we're. We never dared to ask. He
would say, How dare you dispute my
books?' And it's more than one poor
man I've seen kicked out for asking
l civil question. But everybody says
hey charged the highest price the
stuff had been from the time it was
bought until we paid for it and | guess
hats the truth, and of course the
ldded interest, though l don't know
low much. And so of course, we paid
What they asked-and enough it was
hougI1 we never knew much about it.
hey let us get meal or anything else
IN credit without money for they /,
new it meant more to them in high
rice besides interest. Things are diff
erent now; they're lot better"
Cooperative Credit Conquering. |
Things are different in Ireland now.
he farmers themselves are driving
ut the gombeen man. Cooperative
redit associations have changed all :.
lis. AS that eminent IFishman, Sir
[orace Plunkett, says in his book on 9
'eland in the New Century: THE .
xact purpose Of these organizations T
to create credit as means of intro
icing capital into the agricultural in :,
lstry They perform the apparent p
lracle of giving solvency to a com s.
unity composed almost entirely OF Ii
solvent individuals" b
Paddy Gallagher in telling us how A
e association operates here at Dun
ow. says: "a credit society in Dun W
ow was organized and established in CT
,tober, 1903, by the Irish Agricul- lc
raj Organization society and has g.
en- regularly audited and inspected OF
that body ever since. Although d.
} had at first only 9220 of working cl
pital, we have now a reserve OF pl
rs, los. The members are equally
sponsible for the success or failure &c
the society Each man has one tn
te no matter how much or how
tie his investment in the concern is. ca
ey take such keen interest in 1t dc
At during its nine years working tn
ere has not been an over due loan at of
} end of the year. The society is tn
of great assistance to the ar
ople in the district. We want the fic
le to come when every man can ar
TX up the street in Dunglow and tn
: he owes nothing" TIL
CapitaIizing Character. pa
these cooperative banks have, as en-