Cheyenne record., 1914-05-28

This also was denied them. The only
ton and the smaller stockholders
withdrew, the larger stockholders
buying out those who did not care to
stay In the concern. While this socie-
ty did not fail from financial stand
point, its record is of course to be
cited as that of cooperative concern
which did not succeed in the best
sense of the term.
The small shareholders of this so
ciety later formed another co-opera-
tive society, organizing and admins
tering 1t, you may be sure, upon
purely cooperative basis, adopting the
one man vote plan, and providing that
no dividends be declared upon shares
but that all the profits go to those who
grew the fruit in proportion to the
amount furnished to thhe company by
each.
Greed Causes Another Failure.
The experience of Minnesota CO.
operative warehouse elevator was
somewhat different. AS originally or
ganized and managed by the farmers
1t was a success, all the profits were
distributed back to the producers as
an additional price upon the grain de-
livered and the farmers loyalty sup
ported 1t. Later, however, the shares
OF stock became centered in few
business men who were not grain
growers. These men held major.
ity Of the stock and were In full
contrc.. They began squeezing down
the prices to the producer until they
were paying him no more than the
privately owned elevator companies
paid.
The trustful farmers continued to
deliver their grain for time and the
business men In control received q
forty per cent dividend. At the end
Of the year. however, the farmers real
lied that they were being imposed
upon and the next year abandoned the
project, and hauled their grain else
| where. AS result this cooperative
effort which had been at first an ex-
ceedingly profitable venture became
so. absolute a failure that 1t was with
difficulty that the shareholders dis
| posed of their building and equipment.
European Failures.
| There have been failures in Euro
pean cooperation also. You cannot
talk cooperation in Germany long
! with anyone familiar with the general
situation without having your atten-
tion called to the fact that co-opera-
tion has received one black eye. Years
ago the government, anxious to aid in
the marketing of grain, devoted a
considerable amount Of money to the
erection of elevators or corn houses, -
loaning the money to local co-opera-
tive concerns whose organization It
fostered and supervising the erection
in each case of a rather imposing
structure It would seem that the
government generously tempted the
promoters to unreasoning extrava-
gance. How could you expect our
people to calculate closely when they
had this heap of unearned money
forced upon them?" one man re-
marked. Everything was done on a
costly scale. The storehouses were
too big. They were not carefully 10.
Gated. Into these concerns crept, also
a desire to speculate, to corner the
grain supply, to do in Germany what
Letter was reported to have done in
America.-to capture the grain mar,
ket.
Everyone persuaded himself, it is
said, that he was going to grow rich
by appropriating by degrees the
wealth thus to be gained. They had
heard that there were great corners
in the United States, and by buying
and storing grain men had made enor.
! nous fortunes. There was to be gold
| for everyone who wanted 1t. A careful
study of the situation has revealed the
absurdity of the situation. Those who
controlled the warehouses could not
control to exceed one-twentieth of the
supply of grain grown in Germany
alone.
The general concensus of German
opinion seems to have been that two
causes contributed to the failure; first.
state aid, which seldom really helps
a cooperative society, ruined these
projects by encouraging the construc-
ton of warehouses which were either
not needed or which we're bigger than
i needed; second, the members sought
to make money out Of them instead of
using them simply to prevent waste
in shipping.
| Bank at Nieder Mabau.
In 1874 at German village Of some
l