Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-05-19

eAaet copy OF II With the names
signed To il:
18th November, tsSS.
This present Day Il Is agreed upon
by the members Of our Society to take
what money We have in our box and
buy What Nietwal may be thought
necesSar TO Sell for the benefit Of our
society. And the managers Of our
Society may borrow what money They
think Proper for that End and pur-
pose And when the interest Is paid
OF what money VOW borrow and the
men received their wages for buying
and selling Ties Nictwals We Deal in,
the Society viii both reap the benefit
and sustain the loss of them, and II
any member of our society Pay not
what quantity Of Nictwals he receives
at the end of four weeks If the man.
ayers require ii of him. Neither him
nor his. shall have any more right tn
our societys Nictwals II he be found
buying Vietwals from any other and
leaving the trade in Debt of the same
according TO the option Of the So
ciety.
Alexander WALES John Burns
John Wilson VIM. Hendry,
Andrew Orr, his X marx
his X mark James Broun
Robert Walker William Walker
John Burns William Bunten
Thos. Barr
]. Gemmell,
his X mark"
The historian William Maxwell who
was in 1910. president of the lnterna-
tional Cooperative Alliance and ex-
president of the Scottish Wholesale
Cooperative Society Limited, ON writ
ing the history of Cooperation in
Scotland, has this to say about this
first Cooperative society which
adopted this document as its BY
Laws:
..The Honor of being the first to en-
ter the cooperative field, not only in
Scotland, but in Britain must be giv-
en- ESQ far as present research can
prove) to the Fenwick Weavers' So
ciety. Fenwick is n small village near
kilmarnock, in Ayershire. Scotland
The Cooperative movement In Eng
land and Wales according to their
official report, had on December 1919,
3,0SS, 1876 members. Their wholesale
had at that time about $4,000 600
capital invested In it, and did almost
a $50, 000, 900 dollar business that
year. The Scottish Wholesale Co
operative Society did approximately a
$3.50, 900, ZOO business during that
same year.
The British Cooperative movement
(this also includes the Scotush) Is
operated universally on the Rochdale
plan which includes the features mem
toned in the report of the committee
on cooperation, in the February 1922
issue of the American Federationist.
Perhaps the most important feature
in that plan which differentiates it
from other plans, Is the fact that in
their retail stores they charge cur
rent prices for all goods they sell. II
anything, their prices are shade
higher than the other retailers, be-
cause they always keep the very best
grades of goods and give honest
weight and measure--and every three
months, they give back to their men,
bers in the way of returned savings
or dividends, based on the amount of
purchases each made during that per-
iod, their proportionate share of the
surplus, usually depreciating their
fixtures and other equipments what
ever amount is necessary, to take
care of the loss on account of wear
and tear, putting a given percentage
usually about pc of the surplus)
in q reserve fund, setting aside spe-
cifc amounts for charitable and edu-
cational purposes-besides contribut-
ing funds in strikes, political cam
paigns and assisting in many other
ways in the interest of labor.
They usually pay smaller fixed
rate of interest on their share and
loan capital in Great Britain than the
legal maximum that is charged by
corporations or banks loaning money.
That is done on the theory that the
less interest they pay, the larger the
returned savings will be-and, as the
returned saving is given back on the
amount of patronage given the insti-
tuition by the shareholder, they who
have tn elargest families who buy the
largest amounts, and who need 1t
most, get the greatest benefits from
the cooperative movement.
The Belgium movement Is more
idealistic. That society usually re-
turns out of their first surplus saw
ings, whatever amounts the original
subscribers put in to start the institu-
tion-from then on, the entire funds
and property are owned and used by
the society as a whole. They usually
charge a shade lower prices than do
! the other merchants, which forces the
private merchants to reduce their
prices also-this gives the non-co-
operator (the public) some of the
benefits lin this respect) of the CO.
operative movement.
/ The Belgiums use the surplus 70
extend the movement--to do the WORK
| of education--to assist in strikes
i for political campaigns, in the inter
est of the workers and for charitable
and various other purposes.
The Italian and French Co-opera
tive movements in the past. have
! largely operated on cost basis, ant
as this resulted in the private mer
chants coming down to the same
prices, there being no surplus saw
ings to return, or to be used for edu
cational, extension, or other pur
poses, it has resulted in the movement
not making as great progress as !
did in the countries where the othe
methods were practiced. Latteri.
however, the movement in these coun
tries is developing in the direction o
the British, Belgium, or German
movements and this, in addition. t.
the better and growing understanding
of the benefits and purposes Of tn
cooperative movement, is largely re
sponsibIe for its greater extension
and up-building in those countries Il
recent years.
The German cooperative movement
is a compromise between the Britisl