The Columbus courier. [volume] (Columbus, Luna County, N.M.) 1911-1920, 1920-02-20


They, moaning a disgruntled pub
hc-arc going 10 have a co-Opcra-
tive store in Dcmingl Shades Of
Tom Watson, Sockless simpson and
Socialist Marxi They are going 10
pat the midd,cman. the local re-
taller out Of business or at least
cut hs excessive pronia II has
bern tried before. brother. and tried
many times IN America and with
nut suecess. In theory il Il an al
lurinE prospect IN Scandinavia
and Holland and In Germany ihey
have proved successes: but moi IN
America and whyg Well IN this
country there u such a thing a.
amicahls relations" fraternal or
sanitation friendships unions Of
brotherhood and thinking mer. As
said before In theory Il looks sood
hut not IN practice-in this country
We have In mind the populist days
when nearly every farmer In the
south was a populisI Cooperative
Stores wcr started IN nearly ev-|
cry hamlet Newspapers were sub
sidixed aud the cooperative spirit
ran rampant Tue stores opened
enid cheers Of the popuiace and
neiebhoring business mrn were
dcwn IN The mouth and the whole
salers commenced cutting down the
credits. 1he managers Of these
many sioresi Where did they come
fr1ui, There was the rub, or ane
OF The rubs. A good man was not
10 be found Clerks there wore
a-plcniy. But II took merchants lol
run these stores. and the hired
manager woud have been a mer-
chant " he had had the required
ability. He did not have the ability.
nary M Of 'em. or they would
have been merchants instead Of
clerks.
nradsireei's or Dun will tell you.
they have Il IN black and white,
that ninely-iive out of every one
hundred men who invest 5000 In
retail business 70 broke. They
know. They arr credit men or
rather credit publications. That
settles the managerial part Of The
question.
Now for the customer end Of the
same question.
This misguided individual buys
one or ten shares 0f stock. He has
already planned and solved the n.
G. % !. TO his own aud his neigh
boris satisfaction. Ne makes his
lrst purchase. and proudly carries
Il home and he has paid cash. He
meets his friend the merchant, the
retailer with whom he Is slill on
friendly terms. You know what
they talked about. pricesl The
cooperative store carried a stock
Of staples, the coarse products, and
little or none Of the finer things IN
this life. The Injuries. lie had 10
50 10 his erstwhile friend, the re-
taller, for these purchases. In al
short time he wanted credit. not
Al The cooperative store. The rules
said CASH. OF course the retailer
aot him hack and probably charged
him more than before for bis
lrmerily. Nope. brother. II can't
be done Tho smaller the town
The harder The problem. And the
DeminF Stockholders will lind n
out. when how soon Is a question.
but 4 viii be only q matter oil
time.
A stockholder IN = cooperative
concern may be hest litennd - the
maIl-0rdtr 1rnd Al me posloniee.
Every see one get 4 package out
Of the n~oaioIIiee aud dld you watch
HIM Dodge the grocer. he baker
and Iha candlosiick maker who one
and al may have been hul We hope
WcIn n6l nccunants bf tho same
pew n[ church or habilually g9th
ffHi around ihc iestal board on
|olNf n|nhlst
nopk n10iher net ~ Afpef'ea.
II