Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-08-05
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

NTASHlNGTON, D. c., July Pm the
w city of Washington, which has firmly
them all in the United States in which the
cost of living is higheSt-the community in
which meats, for example, sell regularly for
twenty-five per cent more than they DO IN
Baltimore, forty miles away-the people have
at last taken the bit in their teeth and are
organizing a cooperative buying agency, to
be placed at the disposal of the whole COM
munity which will purchase direct from the
producer and deliver direct to the consumer,
many of the staples O, everyday existence.
So they have hit upon the idea of forming
community food-Seling organization which
will enable them to get food practically at
cost. The proposed plan is to eliminate the
middleman in all food transactions; to use
tiers and to make every housewife in the
district a member of the organization without
asking her to subscribe a nickel
This is the first instance in the history of
the country where an entire city has under
taken to unite all the inhabitants into one
large cooperative agency. There are num-
Der of small cooperative organizations in
this city and elsewhere, but only those who
have subscribed for stock can trade in them.
Such is the plan of most cooperative agencies
here and in Europe. The community organ
ization proposed for Washington will take in
every family in the district.
The whole scheme is nothing more than
the enlargement of plan that has proved
d
John G, McGrath, an employee OF the treasury
department. has been acting the role of fairy
prince to a large number of other federal
workers. helping them to purchase at cost much
of the food used on their tables. His plan was
| to 60 into the territory surrounding Washing
ton and buy up fOodStu{fS from the farmers and
| then sell it to his friends and other people in
| the departments. He got nothing for his trou-
| bic except the pleasure of operating his hobby.
! The only additional charge to the consumer was
the cost of transportation. The demand for such
| food was always greater than the supply, as the
| prices generally ranged from ten to twenty-five
per cent below what it would cost at the mar
| ket.
In carrying on this business, from which he
derived profit, Mr.. McGrath made OF
| two public agencieS-the parcel post and the
| school house. The cheap parcel post rate OF
one cent per pound within radius of $50 miles
made it possible for him to have food shipped
into the district quickly and cheaply. In case
of extra large shipments he would dispose OF
the food at school house, otherwise the sale
would be made at his home
These experimental food shipments included
| potatoes, dairy products, poultry and fruits. Mr.
| McGrath had an understanding with certain
| farmers that he would buy everything they
could send him. So, in this way when he
| contracted with one producer for his output
of eggs and another for his butter crop, there
was not much detail bargaining to be done
| Likewise was the whole sale problem for the
farmer solved through this one customer. The
saving in dairy products and poultry to The
people who could take advantage of the Nc
Grath cooperative plan was very considerable
Last Christmas, Mr. McGrath contracted for
1900 pounds of turkey for SO cents per pound
and delivered to his people at this figure while
the market price was from SO to 90 cents.
Mr. McGrath's experiments convinced him
hat his plan of cooperative buying and selling
can be carried out much larger scale sc
| hat greater number of people can be ben,
| tited by H. He recently explained his views to
a representative meeting of the citizens and