Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-12-12

fought its way slowly against powerful oppo-
sition. It suddenly became popular Every CO.
operative store could have had the whole Brit
ish public in it membership II It could have
accommodated 1t. Lines Of prospective menu
bers stretched for blocks around each store,
voicing their admiration OF cooperative enter
Dfises. and waiting patiently for chance to
Gil out enrolment cards. This was because
the cooperative stores. having no incentive to
make profits out Of their own members, to
whom they actually belonged, kept their prices
down to Z reasonable level when everywhere
else the tendency Of prices was rapidly vertical.
as long as the supplies in the huge coopera-
tive warehouses lasted there was NO rise in
prices. Later, Of course, when these became
exhausted and it was necessary to go into the
open market for new ones, prices had to be
raised, but even 30. they were the lowest prices
to be found IN the United Kingdom. Finally,
. cooperator was made food controller.
In France practically the same thing oc-
Cured The cooperative societies were called
into service by the government to feed NUM-
ton workers and to supply the civilian popu-
lation with meat, coal, potatoes and other neces-
stiles. The Austrian government demanded the
same service from Austrian cooperative 30
cieties.
Before the war. Russia had mere handful
Of cooperative societies, and those which did
exist were bitterly prosecuted BY tho govern
meut The rapid increase of cooperative enter
prises hogan with the revolutionary movement
and continued until now Russia is the greatest
cooperative country in the world. During the
brief Kerensky regime the posts Of deputy min
lister of agriculture. director of the supplies
committee. and the minister Of commerce and
industry were, all filled by leaders of the CO.
operative movement The cooperators have
been equally respected by the bolsheviki, al
though the Rochedale system does not harmon
ize with the soviet's economic principles. Lem
inc has used local cooperatives for the distri-
button Of food supplies, while many Of the
soviet's factories have been turned over to we'll
organized cooperative societies which were al
ready operating similar establishments.
During the war. the membership and trade
Of cooperative societies in Germany more than
doubled. More than two million members were
enrolled In consumers societies. while as many
more were enrolled in banking, agricultural
and producers. associations, in spite Of the
fact that most Of Gerrnany's man-power was ut
war In the third year of the war German Co
operative banks contained twenty-five million
dollars N savings deposits.
Today. Germany possesses the largest sim
gle cooperative enterprise in the world. This
is the "Produktion" Of Hamburg. witch was
founded in 1900 and had a membership of
$4,000 when the war started. When the armi-
stice was signed the membership had increased
to over a hundred thousand, although many of
its original members had been lest in the war.
Last year this society did business Of ST.
1000, more than million of which was paid
cut in wages to its thousand employees in its
banking, housing, insurance and manufacture
Ing departments.
Austria Hungary was another country
where cooperation increased rapidly during
the war, although since then 1t has suffered
severely by reason of the division Of its terri
tory into several small states Before the war,
Hungary contained more cooperative enter
| prises than any other European nation, in spite
Of the fact that its government was intensely
opposed to them. This opposition faded away,
however, during the first year Of the war, when
the government did not hesitate to accept the
services Of the Vienna Wholesale Cooperative
which organized the families OF over i've hun
dred thousand munition workers into coopera-
| tive groups for the operation OF their own res
ta..ants and bakeries.
The cooperative movement also gained great
momentum in neutral countries during the
war. In Switzerland, which has always been
highly cooperative several new ventures were
| started, including an entire cooperative vii
lage Of $50 houses. each equipped with all
modern improvements. including vegetable
gardens. The colony is also to have coopera-
tive stores, q cooperative restaurant, chill.
dren's playground and school, and assembly
hall and a gymnasium.
Many agricultural cooperative societies are
operating cooperative dairies in Switzerland
and there is also a large number Of cOopera-
tive cattle breeding societies. Cooperative In.
surance is also popular product.
| Denmark Is another small neutral which
Ispeeded up cooperation during the war; There
are now more -eooperators in Denmark In pro-
portion to the population than in any othel
country in the world. Everything imaginable
Is handled by cooperative societies. There arr
agricultural purchase and sales societies. CO.
operative diaries, bacon factories. slaughter
houses and bakeries, and in addition there arr
cooperative distributive societies, cooperative
insurance societies, and many cooperativ.
banks.
This Is merely a brief outline Of the CO
operative movement as it is sweeping Europ.
today and even escaping into ancient and con
sentative Asia. Cooperative societies have re
Gently sprung up in India and Japan All O
this has been accomplished in less than eighty
years, for the first cooperative society is oug,
that old.