Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-07-15
By william Philip simms,
nited Press Staff Correspondent. J


Omitted Press Staff Correspondent.)
Petrograd, June 16-(By maiD-
HUntil now we Russians have been
building upon sand. At last we are
commencing to build on rock and our
work will stand"
have just had an interview with
that great friend of Russia, Nicholas
Tchaykovsky, member of the Central
Cooperative Committee of Petrograd
and well known in the United States,
where ten years ago he founded Amer
lean committees in New York, Chi
cago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Denver and
elsewhere.
Tired as a revolutionist and acquit-
ted after being liberated from prison
ON bail furnished principally by Eng
lish and American friends, the old man
is now the happiest soul in all Russia.
All his life he has tried to help the
people. Now he believes he is sue
ceeding, as Cooperative Soliety or
ganizer, "building on rock" because
the foundation of the nation, the peas
ants-who constitute so per cent, Of
the population are progressing.
| found Tschaykovsky at his desk in
the headquarters building of the Cen
trail Cooperative committee, 38 Zhu-
kovskago. His snow-white head was
bent over a pile of papers and his long,
silvery beard fell below the edge of
the desk by some inches. AS entered
he looked up, his rather delicate face
beaming with pleasure.
"Please sit down." he said. Light
ing Russian cubeb with patented
lighter, he told the story of the great
est cooperative institution in the
world, an institution which is working
wonders for the peasants, consequently
for the Empire as whole.
1t seems that the first attempts at
cooperation began, as did the Zem-
stvo institutions, about 1865, shortly
after serfdom was abolished and half
the land turned over to the now free
peasants. These attempts took the
form of cooperative credit concerns
but, though numerous, each was inde-
pendent of the others and remained for
long time quite feeble.
In 1870 Prince Vassilchikog became
interested and, with M. Yakoulef, of
Moscow, founded in that city COM
mittee for Village Cooperative Society
work the object of which was to pro-
mote cooperative societies all over
the empire, get them started, advise
them aud help them keep going.
The Petrograd Department, as it is
called, was opened two years later and
soon outstripped the parent concern
which for many years stood practically
still. The Russian government en-
couraged the movement at first, help
| ing it get under way though until re.
cent years progress was still below.
In the last 10 years the Societies
have grown like mushrooms. There
are now over $4,000 of them and, in
addition to the credit co-operatives,
there are agricultural (producers) and
| Consumers societies from one end OF
the country to the other.
In Siberia alone there are more than
500 Societies, all three kinds-credit,
producers and consumers = being
strongly represented. They own their
own lines of steamers, do these Sib-
erian societies; have their own bank in
London and despite the war did an
eighteen million dollar business in
1915.
You have heard lot about one side
of Siberia; what about this onef
The growth Of the Siberian cooper
ative societies is typical of the rest.
Butter is the principal product dealt
in by the peasants there and, after they
had been helped in their business by
the society first to be formed, they
felt the need of the market. Private
butter concerns existed in sufficiently
large number there and their methods
of doing business were no cleaner as
rule than butter-which was putrid.
They faxed up all sorts Of filthy sub
stances and sold it as butter and after
time the peasants, who had found
markets difficult enough already, saw
what little there was so glimmering be-
cause Siberian butter had become sy-
nonymous with all that was worthless
and dangerous and bad.
So dire necessity forced the forma-
ton of the agricultural cooperative So
ciety to market the honest butter made
by the peasants. The Russian govern
ment lent hand, but for a number of
years the fight was bitter, the bad
butter crowd doing all it could to stifle