Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-11
Cooperative Movement
|. Here
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

ing of establishing a cooperative store,
bakery. laundry, dairy, restaurant or any
other co operative enterprise, as 80 many
people are doing these days, consider the
Rochednle system.
This In the advice OF the Cooperative
League of America here, whore chief OBJ
iect il the promotion Of the co operative
movement in this country. As the central
federation Of American cooperative So
cietea, the league is in constant com
munication with hundreds OF co operative
cnterpriacs in NIL parts OF the United
States. 80 that this advice is based not on
abstract theory, but on actual observa~
tiou md experience In its opinion, The
Rochednle gystem is the only form OF co
operative venture which stands chance
to survive.
Every year, according 20 a member oil
the league, dozens of CO operative enter
prises riee like brilliant torches on the
rnth OF progress, only to wavar, grow dim
and finally to be rxtinpiished by a chilly
tlol1ehe Of disapprovai They are usually
created around a central personality,
who does all Of the planning nnd orgoniz-
ing and they. flourish just rs long as that th.,,
personality manages To keep the good VIII
and interest 81 his neighborp Once he
loses these, the whole cooperative nlsi-
ness collapses with him
prscnEDIrtD ny FAILURE.
Immediately this calamity occurs, CO.
oueration il discretIittd. Everybody bty-
comes convinced that Americans are
simply not built for corporation, and
anyone else suggesting co operative go
cirtv is regarded with pitying contempt
In reality the failure IL not due to the
people. hut TO the gysterns they lse
One co operative store, for example, ran
along smoothly last year until ChrRtmas,
when tho manager bought large supply
Of turkeys Mt n greatly reduced prlce. IN
sornc way some Of the members contrivrd
to- obtain two or three turkeys apiece,
while Others were unfortunate enough 20
apply for turkeys after the supply was
exhausted. which created so much hard
feeling that the society soon disbanded
from n general lack Of cordIaltty.
we have written 10 several societies,
said an officer Of the league the other day,
asking them to let us help them IN
| framing their constitutions, and IN IN
stalling the Rochedale plan but they have
preferred to work things ont according ~
| their own ideas In almost every case We
subsequently learned Of q failure
Go oI,erafion has received tremen-
/ flo,ls stimulus as a result Of the war ne
continued and we are anxious 70 see
! every new venture succeed Just before
! tic war, co operation in this country was
nj its lowest ebb; it was practically non
! existent There were then probably not
| more than T00co operative stores through
| out the whole continent, and they were
| isolated. each knowing nothing of the
/ other Ono 60 operative store IN Wash
! ington advertised itaelf ~ the only Co
I ~ = t,r..~f@ claiming n.
] have discovered this system Of CONNER
cal enterprise Now the league has more
than 300 societies On its correspondence
| lat. and new ones are springing INTO ex-
| ,stence every month For the first time 10
i lpginning to look as If the CO operative
movement in this country might become
] a. irnrortant and as powerful az u II IN
Europe. :,
II thew stick 10 the Rochedale plan, "
! he added thoughsuly, and stared out q
the window OF his office as II Ne were en-
visioning the. turbulent city below as It
would appear divided into neat, efficient
4 co operative societies
According to the RochedaIe plan, each
member OF j co operative society Is per
mitted to have only one vote, regardless OF
the amount of capital he may contribute
As q capitalist, however, he receives from
the proceeds Of the enterprise, the mini
nn.m current rate of interest on ms invest
/ rnrnt In addition TO this, the surplus
savings or profits are returned as dIyl-
dends and divided among the members IN
proportion 10 the patronage OF each.
Business IS done on 4 strictly cash basis,
with Al extra charge Tor delivery service.
Goods are sold at the current market
priee-not at cost Regular meetings Of
the society ARE called 10 study the prin-
cipIes and aims - co operation, WITH q
view 10 expansion INTO larger fields =
namely. the wholesale and manufacturing
fields. Federation with the nearest CO.
oreyative societies i also urged, with the
ultimate purpose OF national and word
co operation.
IMPORTANT TO START RIGHT
These are tbs, essential features OF the
Rochedale system, but the Go operative
League OF America can tell you great
deal more about it ii YOU care to wnte 70
1t. 1t has long list Of pamphlets and cir
culars concerning co operative enter
| prises which viii be OF great assistance to
the would be GO operatives.
One of the most important factors IN
starting q cooperative society, according
to the leage, Is starting right. Crest
caution must be exercised so ss not 10
choose the wrong members. Not that the
league has any clairyOyant methods up IFS