The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-31
Frederick T askin's Letter
Rochdole Cooperative Plan
eepcesn cuf1espondsnes q N Aryus.l

credited upon the records d. N.
society. At the end of the vss.
after the interest has been pajd :,
the shares of the members IN.
profits are distributed in the fnrr
OF dividends upon the total amonn,
Of purchases, non-members reeeiv
ing one-half the dividend ra:g Al.
lowed members.
Thus if the purchases made n,
the society totaled, for examnl.
100000 pounds and the net pros,.
for distribution amounted to l5yoM
pounds, each member would recsir.
dividend OF Is per cent upon tbs
aggregate amount OF his purchases
during the period. Out of the prof.
It's bonuses are sometimes paid N
labor and funds set aside for edu.
cational and charitable purposes
Wholesale Plan Similar.
Two large wholesale societies
one iii England and one in Scot.
land. are organized and conducted
on similar basis. Only retail So
cieties can be members OF IA.
wholesale society, and each must
subscribe to one 5-pound share FOR
every 10 of its individual members
suchstock being transferable at par
only. Goods are sold to the mem.
Der societies at prices represent.
/ ing only slight advance overcast
and the profits of the wholesale
concerns are divided among the
member societies in proportion to
their purchases.
The wholesale societies do not
compete with each other, but fire.
quently one acts as the Others
agent and they have numerous IN.
dertakings in common. They own
tea plantations in Ceylon and wheat
lands in Canada, and they have
buying agencies in Ireland, Den
mark, France, Spain. Germany
Holland, the United States and 9th.
er countries.
Buying and selling at wholesale
is by no means the sole activity of
the societies. They are manufac-
turers on a large scale and in Eng
land they produce boots and shoes,
candles, woolens. clothing. furni-
ture, brushes. upholstery, bedding,
butter, -four, lard. jam, tobacco, and
printing. The Scottish society man
ufactures -four. tweeds, blankets,
mems clothing, shirts. nantes. fur
niture. boots and shoes. hosiery,
brushes, preserves, confectionery,
tobacco. timed goods and printing
The English society conducts a
banking department for the retail
societies and weekly newspaper
is published as the official organ Of
the movement The societies also
have a department through which
! they carry all the fire insurance on
the millions Of pounds worth Of
: buildings which they own.
II In one year the retail societies,
: Tor distributive stores as they are
, sometimes called, did an aggregate
: business of almost one billion dol
, lars with "a net profit Of approx
: mately 10 per cent on that amount.
: In that year there were about 1900
of these societies with considera-
bly, more than 100000 individual
: members. 1t is not reported how
| many non-members patronized the
f stores.
5 1t may be argued that the savins
t to individual members. either il
| lower prices or in their dividend'
+, on purchases. does not amount 4
Y enough to make the enterprls'
/ worth while. Certainly on the fig
: ures quoted the average dividen'
5 per member was not large item
a However, the fact remains that th
!. societies have grown steadily AM
t that the>volume of business don
: has increased by leaps and bounds
F That may be accepted as proof tia
the cooperative movement IN Grea
: Britain is success.
t Whether anything Of the sor
n could be carried on in this co1ntr
~ on a similar scale is a question
8 and for all the talk there is ab0g
e such a project it is by no mean
h certain that the experiment VII
d ever be undertaken here.