The Topeka state journal., 1919-12-16

cooperative, several new ventures
were started, including an entire CO.
operative village of $50 houses, each
equipped with all modern improve
ments. including vegetable gardens.
The colony is also to have co-opera-
tive stores, a cooperative restaurant,
a children's playground and school,
and assembly hall and a gymnasium.
Many agricultural cooperative socie-
ties are operating cooperative dairies
large number of cooperative cattle
breeding societies. Cooperative in
surance is also a popular product.
Denmark is another small neutral
which speeded up cooperation during
the war. There are now more CO.
operators in Denmark in proportion
to the population than in any other
country in the world. Everything i'm
aginable is handled by cooperative
societies. There are agricultural pur-
chase and sales societies, cooperative
dairies, bacon factories, slughter
houses and bakeries. and in addition
there are cooperative distributive So
cieties, cooperative insurance socie-
ties. and many cooperative banks.
This is merely a brief outline of the
cooperative movement as it is sweep
ing Europe today and even escaping
into ancient and conservative Asia
(Co-operative societies have recently
sprung up in Indian and Japan.) All
of this has been accomplished in less
than eighty years. for the first CO.
operative society is only that old.
The first cooperative society was
started by twenty-eight poor flannel
weavers, who, made desperate by tnelr
inability to provide for their families
out of their small wages. started a CO.
operative store in an empty storeroom
in a back street of Rochedale, in the
north of England. where they sold four
different commodities. The capital in
vested by each member was IS. and
the members also provided their own
management and distributing service.
On two evenings each week, one OF
the members assumed the duties OF
storekeeper. doing out the provisions
to the other members, charging them
the current retail prices and placing
the cashtin the treasury OF the society.
At the end of three months, the prof
its of the business were returned to the
members in proportion to the amount
of their purchases. after a certain sum
had been deducted for a sinking fund.
Evidently these early pioneers felt
the responsibility of establishing val
liable precedent. for they managed
their first store so carefuily tnat the
rebates were very attractive, even dur
ing those first trying months. This
caused a favorable impression on
other Rochedale workers, who had
formerly scoffed at the enterprise, and
soon there were many applications Tor
membership. Each new member con-
tributed SIS capital. and this enabled
the business to grow and expand until
gradually it developed into one OF the
biggest mercantile establishments In
Great Britain.
Today. cne-third of the population
of Great Britain is organized into CO.
operative societies which distribute
nearly one billion dollars worth or
commodities to their members every
wear. There is a British Wholesale
Society. supplying 1900 local co-opera-
tive societies. which owns Its own
stea amships, factories and warehouses
Its eight flour mills are the largest in
Great Britain. 1t manufactures in a
giant soap plant five hundred tons OF
soap a week. 1t produces four million
pairs of boots every year. 1t owns its
own coal mines, and its own printing
plants.
But one might go on indefinitely
telling all the things that the millions
of co-operators in Europe do. Only 1t
won't be long before they will be IA
miliar features to everybody. For. ac-
cording to those who are keeping
close eye on the cooperative move
ment, Americans will soon be doing
them too,