Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1914-10-22
COOPERATIVE STORE
GOES UNDER
Same Old Story Of Bunk to Stock
holders
"INsIDE" PRICES If YOU INSIST
But After Stock Had Been Sold the
Promoters Lost Interest In
the acknowledgements
OF Dollars Gone

New York, Oct. 21.-"0ne by one
gather them in" runs the tradi-
tional song of old sexton, in dole
full measure, but the mortality he
prated Of was hardly more certain
than that which attends the beauu-
full cooperative" experiment once
they have passed the period of new
broom" enthusiasm. To follow the
tradition, Gin the morning they
flourish and grow up but in the
evening they are cut down and
withered." They start with a great
flourish of trumpets and columns OF
glowing hopes in the newspapers,
but their end is usually calm and
quiet and even in hushed silence.
All of which is awakened by the
collapse of the Glenwood Co-opera-
tive Stores of Flatbush, which were
acclaimed two short years ago as
the very surest cinch in the way OF
mailing the lid of the buccaneer-
grocer's coffin that ever happened.
Flatbush is one of the best and most
substantial suburbs of New York
and when the neighborhood Of Fiske
Terrace, with all its sweldom, stood
ready to put their good money into
the venture, and bid defiance to the
grocer, it was surely all over but
the shutters and the red flag-for
the grocer of course.
But somehow or other, the gro
GERS didn't catch the cue and refus-
ed to shutup and now when the
scene shutters have arrived, they
made the awful blunder Of hanging
the flag on the cooperative stores
and putting the shutters up there
instead of on the premises of the
corner grocer. 1t all happened last
week and almost before the votes OF
the stockholders were counted, the
liquidating committee peddled the
stock out, bounced the clerks and
got rid of the thing with a celebrity
which suggested fear that If they
didn't work quick the thing might
resurrect and haunt them some
more. What was once enthusiasm be-
came suddenly terror-stricken
flight to "get from under"
Yes, the Glenwood cooperative
store lasted two whole years and In
that time hired, tired and fired no
less than three managers. Whereas
the birth of the enterprise had been
SO jealous that it was necessary to
limit the stockholders to one share
each, the end found. it necessary to
gather up proxies to secure a quo
rum to hold the meeting. And after
Director G. H. Kingsley had present
ed a statement of the concerns ar
fairs, the vote was unanimous to
liQuidate. At last accounts the pros
poets were good for 1t paying 10
cents on the dollar to its stockhold-
ers, even with fair prices received
for the stock and fixtures. And thus
ended the career of the $4,000 cash
enterprise which was going to show
the Flatbush folks how badly they
were being "milked" by the regu-
lar type of grocer.
The reasons for the collapse are
not clear. The store was excellent
and the stock first class, the service
as good as any and there was every
evidence that the store was pros
pering. Not only were the stock
holders supposed to be patronizing
the place, but there was transient
trade more than doubling the stock
holders patronage. In fact, it is
now openly admitted that it was
what the stockholders made out Of
their neighbors that enabled them
to enjoy the rebates on their own
purchases.
At any rate, the stores which
started on May 4, 1912, and added
a meat market a few months ago,
collapsed by unanimous agreement
of the deluded stockholders. They
threw in their shares of stock as
the price of experience and let it