Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-11-03
Rochdale Cooperative Plan
by Frederic j. Haski1

society At tho end Of tho year, after
the interest has been paid on the
shares Of ths mombers, the prohs
are distributed In the form " dividends
upon the total amount OF purchases
non-membera receiving one-hst the
dividend rate allowed members.
Thus n tho purchases made OF mo
society totaled. for example. 100000
pounds and the net profile for distfi-
button amounted 10 $1,000 pounds,
each member would receive dividend
Of IL per cent upon the aggregate
amount OF his purchases during me
period Out Of the profits bonuses
are sometimes paid 20 labor and funds
Get aeide for educational and cnar1t~
able purposes
Wholesale Plan Similar.
Two large wholesale aocietiea, ono
in England and one In Scotland. are
organized and conducted on a similar
| basis. Only retail societies can bs
members Of the wholesale aosciety. and
| each must subscribe to ons I'VE pound
share for every ten ~ lta individual
| members. such stock being transfer
/ able at par only. Goods are sold 20
| the member societies AZ prices repre-
senting only a slight advance over
/ cost and tho profits 81 the wholesale
concerns are divided among the Nom
Der societies IN proportion 70 their
| purchases.
The wholesale societies do not oo-n-
pete with each other, but frequently
one acts MS the others agent and they
! have numerous undertakings in COM
} mon. They own tea plantations IN
, Ceyion and wheat lands I'm Canada.
, and they havs buying aRoucies in ire
land, Denmark. France. Spain. Ger
many. Holland, ths United States and
other countries.
, Buying and selling a. wholeeafs is
7 oy no means the soie activity Of the
+ societies. They ara manufacturers
Z on a largo scale and IN England they
{ produce boots and shoes. candies.
i. wooIens. clothing, furniture, brushes.
{ upholstery, bedding. butter. -four. lard.
q jam, tobacco and printing. Ths scot-
s itch Society manufactures -four.
o tweeds. blankets. mems clothing.
shirts. NANTES. furniture. bootr and
- shoes. hosiery. brushes. preserved. con-
n fectiOnery. tobacco timed goods and
e printing. The English socisty CON
y ducts a banking department for IN.
j. retail societies and weekly news
paper Is published as ths official or
gan Of the movement. The socis,fea
also have n department through which
70 they carry all the fire. Insurance. On ne
millions Of pounds worth OF building.
y which they own
y In one year ths retail societies ~
- distributive stores a. they ar- aorna.
frpr ffI 4
~ ness Of almost ons billion dollars vl.l
20 net profit Of approximately 70 Dol
y cent IN that amount In that yea
there were about 900 Of thes. socis
n ties with considerably moro thai
Vi 100000 individual members II Z
3 not reported how many non--nsrnh>-,
patronized the stores
n II may bs argued that The avfn,
a. to individual members. sirrsr 81. lowe
prices or in their dividends on pr1r
" chases, does not amount to enouxh .
make the enterprise worth ghns
- Certainly on the figures quoted ~
average dividend per n1ernher WA no
~ a large ftcn. However. the fsrt 70
t mains that the societies have rrorv-
IN steadily and that the voiurns OF bus:
lie ness done has increased by leans an
re bounds, That may be accepted "a PROC
that the cooperative movement {.
I'd Great Britain Is a success.
~ Whether anything Of the SOFT coui
IS. be carried on IN this country On
sn similar scale "a A question. and p
r All the talk there ia bout such a urc
sc Ject & - By no means certain -ha
Is the experiment will ever b u,da,
he taken here