Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-05-25
An AMBITIOUS PLAN ABANDONED.

The Consumers Stores plan. inauzur.,.A. ~.,h ,
Alouf1ah OF tyunpets and adver.ised az the great cure for
Inc Commercial ills Of the county, has been abandoned
at.er An experience Of some years In which the orrsn.a-
NC" ~" psesed through a sort Of liying death. The ~
ceiver appointed TO take charge Of the business come
"esks ago announces that almost ali Of the 81 stores
which have been organized under this plan will be AIKEN
i'ver oy Inc local farmers interested. each to be operated
as a separate unit. For all practice, purposes tho cen.
sral organization goes out of business.
This Is bu, another OF the numerous enterprises
fSIr1ed by MI. Townley, the husk Of which is returned to
sne farmers after ALI the juice has been extracted. :
The Consumers Stores enterprise was beraided as
farmers cooperative enterprise. 1t never was any.
Th1nS OF the sort II was = device created for the pur.
pose OF obtaining money from farn,ars for political nur-
apoeeA and It = was dtseu,sed ~ a cooperative movement
an order 10 fool the farmers into paying their money.
The plan was simple. tn. farmers in a given community
were invited to pay 800 each for certificates emitting
sethsn to buy goods Al the store to be established in their
fneiEhborhood. This payment gave them no propristory
xintsfest IN the store and no voice ia its management It
Tnefsly enabled them to become patrons of the store and
SO pay cash for their purchases. No guarantee WA riyen
tas to the kind pr quality Of goods to be kept, nor as TO
price other than that the retail price should be 10 per
Acent above wholesale cost and freight. The wholesale
price might be whatever those interested chose 10 make It.
The understanding was that OF the first $4,000 paid
N in each community, $1,000 should be devoted to the
Apurposcs Of the store. The other thousand dollars, and
NIL succeeding paymcnte, might be devoted to "educa-
tional' purposes by the owners OF the central corpora
alton. and his ownership was vested in three close
friends and associates of Townley.
n The management Of the concern in all its detail, was
Esontrolled By Tovnley, and the farmers had no guar
lAntee Of anything. Stores were established, but they
fowere eruds Affairs. They carried small stocks and the
1uality Of their goods was usually poor. In NO case that
pas come % attention Of the Herald was one Of these
;tores anything more than a makeshift. The farm ers
Who had pfovtdAde the money seldom patronized these
1noreA. - they preferred to buy from regular merchants
Fho kept good aaortmcnt Of goods and followed the
lip-to-dats mercantile methods. Townley, having
4qneazed MI the money possible out Of the enterprise,
has abonarued II, and the farmers are left holding the
bag.
orsanhed - Independent cooperative institutions.
Iona a tkAeA NvN mill npohah1 uus-Hr> md
That Will BE- because the local owners have the wisdom
employ capable managers and to authorize business
- Ike methods In conducting them. The rest will Ian
Z yuish for . while. until. it being apparent that the
tnoney thus far invested Is gone for good. and that the
flores are to be nothing but encumbrances they will
Eive up the ghost