The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1917-01-11

One Of the leading weapons against
the high cost of living, and one from
which many people hope for great
things in the United States. is the CO.
operative store. Such store is, in
word, a store run solely fer the benefit
of rs patrons The people vino deal in
in the store own the store, and the
profit that the store earns is dlstribut-
ed among them in proportion to the
amount of their trade, thus coming
back in the fern of a rebate and max
ing the net cost of their purchase just
large enough to cover runningseXpenses
Nobody makes a profit out of the CO.
operative store; its sole object is to re-
duce the cost of living.
Such stores are firmly established on
an immense scale in many parts of
Europe. They work in Denmark and
Switzerland; the Rochdale Cooperative
Store in Great Britain is known all
over the world. The latter is a
financial success. and the means of
great saving to the people in poor and
moderate circumstance who make up
its cooperative membership. The re-
tail store, whether cooperative or run
on the usual private plan, is the dis
tributing agency, and many recent in-
vesiigations into the high cost of living
have put large share of the blame on
faulty distribution. Hence many
Americans, seeing the success of the
cooperative plan in Europe, and having
in mind the result of these investiga-
tons, have enthusiastically advocated
the establishment of cooperative
stores all over the United States. The
establishment of such store does not
call for aid from any wealthy people.
1t calls simply for interest and coopera-
ton on the part of enough people in
moderate circumstances, or even poor
people. There are cooperative stores
where the unit subscription is only
$1,000.
The cooperative store idea has taken
hold in the United States until now
there are about 400 such stores in
operation in this country. The De-
partment of Agriculture has just com
pleted an elaborated and detailed study
of so of these, selecting stores as far
as possible representative of all exist
ing types, in order to find out just what
Tba or IOl
for the United States in the immediate
future. The conclusion of the investi-
gators may be stated at once. Broadly
speaking, that conclusion is, that the
cooperative store in the United States
is not a success.
This conclusion means that the ma
joritY of the cooperative stores investi-
gated did not succeed in their main OBJ
ject-the reduction of the high cost of
living for their members. 1t is neither
just nor accurate to dismiss the CO.
operative store so unceremoniously
however. In some localities. and I'M
der some conditions it is success, and
saves much money for the people who
form the organization. 1t is also true,
though 1t may appear somewhat para
doXical at first glance, that the CO.
operative store is often successful when
it goes bankrupt. Such stores are sue
cessfui in reducing the high cost of
living because they put the local mer-
chant on his efficiency mettle. He has
to come down on price and go up on
quality in order to stay in the game
The manager of successful cooperative
store believes that every town ought to
have one, just for this purpose; even
if 1t does not sell quite as cheaply as
some branch of a nation wide retail
chain, it would always be an effective
preventive against exploitation of the
public by any private paotles.
The fact that the cooperative store
is not, on the whole, successful seems
to be due to the superiority of Ameri-
can enterprise and talent for organiza-
ton, At the other extreme from the
cooperative store, with its small private
clientele putting up the capital and
more or less strictly pledged to
patronize it, we have in America the
great national chain store systems,
with their immense private capital,
their highly efficient organization, and
above all their tremendously large
scale business. The chainstore beats
the cooperative store because it can
pay big salaries to experts in every
detail of efficient operation, because it
can command the output of entire
factories and can ship by the carload
instead of by packing-case. Large