The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-01
COOPERATIVE MEAT
SHOP CHARGES PLOT
East Side Organizations Man.
ager Says Wholesalers
Refuse Supplies.
BUT ICEBOX GETS FILLED
Subterfuges in Buying 0utwit
Those Who Aim to Kill
the Project.
BUT ICEBOX GETS FILLED

The management OF the Peoples CO.
operative Butcher Shop at 1876 Avenue
admits It has but one worry in the
world despite the fact that It has 100
bosses. The cause Of this lone and very
keen anxiety centres around its diff
Guilty in buying enough meat for its
next days business
There is plenty OF money with which
to make purchases. the management de-
clares. but somehow wholesalers, big and
little, daily try TO dodge selling meats
for the shops iceboxes and Manager Louis
Sperlins and his coworkers are obliged
to do lot Of hard thinking and quick
acting to get the meat they require to
meet the needs OF their customers. Even
the wholesalers agree with Mr.. Sporting
that butcher chop without meat would
not be much of success.
The butcher shop il conducted by the
Peoples Cooperative Society, Ioc an
offshoot of the Socialists Consumers
League. It costs IS to own a share In
the enterprise and many of the 700
members are paying on the instalment
plan. The shop was started two months
ago and IL soon became popular because
meats were retailed at 2 to cents be-
low the prices In other East Side butcher
shops.
Obstacles Begin to show Up.
1t was not long before Mr.. sperling
and others began to suspect that some
body was trying to throw a cleaver into
the shops machinery. All sorts OF
obstacles, he says. were placed in his
way Of getting meats In the open mar
ket. Some wholesalers declined to let
NO. 1875 Avenue c have any meats at
all. Others quoted prices above the
regular daily market. few counter
manded orders when they learned that
consignments were going to the CO.
operative shop
Things went from bad to worse until
the management was hard pushed to
get supplies at all. and now half the
JOY In running the place consists Of
thinking up ways OF getting meat not
outstanding the difficulties.
The shop Is exclusively Kosher" it's
Schucks and plates (the foreauarters)
coming from animals killed in the or
thodox Jewish fashion by q rhochet.
AS rule Mr.. Sperlins can never tell
Just where he Ia going to get his
''chucks and plates for the next days
trade until he has them. And thus far
he has been able to get what he wanted.
sometimes supplies come in closed au-
tomobiles. as they did last night, and
often they are toted in from mysterious
sources as late as o'clock In the morn
Ing after being delivered to one address
and then sent in hurry to the little
shop.
Always "Kosher" Killed Meat.
But they are always Kosher" killed
and the best qualify of meat that comes
out OF the Jewish slaughterhouses. Ard
the joke OF 1t all is that the meat, as a
rule. comes from the wholesalers who
DO not wish to do business with the
cooperative society.
They are doing everything to keep
Us from getting what we need" Mr.
Sporting said last night. They want
us to get out Of business, but we are
not going to quit. 1t was so hard to
get meat in this city that we went to
Jersey. but they stopped It there. We
thought we would be able to get 1t from
baltimore. an eight hour run from New
York. but again we were prevented
They have done everything. but we get it
Just the came. I wish. could talk to
you longer. but l can't because I'm go
Ing in an automobile now to bring in
enough for to-morrow's trade"
The cooperative butcher shop Is run
by board Of seven directors. ut isn't
In business for profit. but for the good
we can do the public" its literature
reads. Not only do its stockholders
share in the profits, but it's customers,
who have receipts for all purchases. are
entitled to rebates at the end OF certain
periods.
Complain to Com missioner Day.
In a complaint to DR.. Jonathan C..
Day, Commissioner OF Public Markets,
members Of the society allege that retail
butchers on the East Side would like to
see the cooperative shop" go out of
business. and 50 have used moral ,sua-
sion and the influence OF their butchers
organizations on tho wholesalers to pre-
vent supplies from going to the shop.
Between s 40 A. NJ. and p. NJ yes
tsrday the three butchers at las Avenue
C cut up and sold between 1900 and
1000 pounds of beef and two calves, be-
sides weighing out and passing over the
cooperative counter innumerable livers
and chickens.