Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-08-05

they asked him to work with a committee Sc
lected from the various labor unions in the
district to outline plan for permanent COM
munity od-Selng organization. is is no"
ing done.
The CO. alive idea is not new by any
le MS. 1t has been practiced in !, British
Isles and the coHtinel Of Europe for ma ~
years. The R eda. n: If cooperation rs
been found to work ost successfully in Eng
and. This plan is for number of families to
group the selves together and operate CO.
operative store. They generally pay the mar
ket ice for hat they buy at the store ut
the earnings of the business is returned to
4sto Toner in BP5eg Fton to the total amount
During the past three-quarters of century,
up to the outbreak OF the recent war, the
membership in the cooperative societies in
most of the European countries has practically
doubled itself each ten years. The circum-
stances of the great struggle have caused it
to grow at even a faster rate. Economic ad-
verSity seems to promote cooperation Today
the moveme has spread SO phenomenally over
the British Isles and the continent of Europe
that the movemnt is said to have passed from
a minority to majority of the total yOpula-
ton
Everything and anything has come 10 be in
Guided in the cooperative idea. Food, clothinr
| housing, fuel insurance transportation and III
tertainment are all PROVE by cooperative y
cietieS for their membe.S. In Europe, gre It
Switzerland it wang iShed tie aef truSt n
Sweden the Sugar trust and the soap trust III
England. In these countries it has acc plishei
| tor the worker greater victories t. N he hi
teen abe to attain through the ballot box.
The worker has simply reached out to he1p
himself, and t. re seems to be no limit 20 tn
extent to which he may go by making use Of
the cooperative scheme.
One of the best results noted from the CO.
operative movement by those who have made
a close study of it is the teaching of people
to do things for themselves without asking or
accepting aid from the state 1t is teaching
the workers to administer their own affairs. 1t
has served to train men in organization Some
of Europe'S most foremost statesmen of today
| received their preliminary training in managing
the affairs of co-Cpera:iv W, leSa1e societies.
In this country, the cooperative plan is not
practiced to any great extent, although there
are certain sections of the country particularly
the northwest, where cooperative stores are be-
ing successfully conducted. The failure OF
the movement to gain ground in the United
States is attributed chiefly to the fact that since
the days of the Civil war this country has been
land of plenty and the housewives did not
have to worry much about where and how
they would obtain food. The American house
wife would rather pay few pennies more for
commodity at the corner store than take the
trouble to make the purchase a little less con-
vemently at cooperative store. Washington
has made this careless shopping easy by devel-
oplng 1000 little corner stores
Inc pr. eS that are charged for foods
throughout the country continue to increase
month by month. That relief which was ex-
pected from wartime food prices has not ar
lived In fact, food higher to ay than
they were a year ago. To be sure, there S
Such prosperity in The land that these rces
! are NOT generally felt In Washington, how
! ever, where price profiteering has always been
notorious, the government clerk who has no
opportunity to participate in the general pros
Perlty' is generally getting the same 81 400 Or
s''Gou ,2 ne got before the war and is supporting
Iamlly on it, He is trying to protect HIM
self by cooperating buying.