The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-02-16
ROGER BABsoN ON COOPERATION

The Cooperative League of America
In bulletin issued appropriately
enough on the thirteenth of Decem-
ber, Roger Babson calls the attention
of his clients to the handwriting on
the wall, which threatens "inestima-
BILE damage to the existing system"
Mr. Babson, it should be stated, issues
a report ''for merchants, bankers and
investors" giving dispassionate ad-
vice on financial conditions for the
benefit of his wealthy clients.
Speaking as friendly advisor to
the merchants bankers and investors,
Mr.. Babson warns in emphatic, bold
face type: a
CLIENTS SHOULD READ THE
HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.
THE ONLY POSSIBLE WAY TO
BLOCK THE COOPERATIVE STORE
IS TO MAKE IT UNNECESSARY!
NOW is THE TIME TO DO 1T, Be
FORE THE MOVEMENT GETS
HEADWAY"
But lest we be accused of lifting
statements from their text, here is
the warning, just as it is given by
Mr.. Babson, bold-face and all:
COOPERATIVE BUYING
"Clients should not miss the signi-
ficance of President Hardings warn
ing regarding cooperative marketing.
So far in the readjustment, producers
have had to cut prices most because
competition struck them hardest.
Distributors have been less affected.
While the producers have been com
PEELED to readjust their overhead
costs to fit prices, distributors, whole
salers, jobbers and retailers, have
been able to make prices fit over
head costs. The result is business
killing spread between prices which
the producer gets for his goods and
the prices which the consumer must
pay. Popular sentiment demands that
this be corrected. The cooperative
system of buying, which has swept
England and other European coun-
tries, offers tempting solution.
The dangerous phase of this stu
alton is that if United States dis
tributors allow it to start they can
never check the movement until in
estimable damage has been done to
the existing system, CLIENTS
SHOULD READ THE HANDWRIT-
ING ON THE WALL. THE ONLY
POSSIBLE WAY TO BLOCK THE CO.
OPERATIVE STORE is TO MAKE
IT UNNECESSARY! NOW is THE
TIME TO DO 1T, BEFORE THE
MOVEMENT GETS HEADWAY. THIS
CAN BE DONE ONLY BY CUTTING
DOWN OVERHEAD EXPENSES AND
SELLING ON AS CLOSE A MARGIN
AS YOUR BUSINESS WILL STAND.
REMEMBER THAT HIGH COSTS DO
NOT JUSTIFY HIGH PRICES, BUT
SIMPLY OPEN THE WAY FOR CON-
PETITION"
Mr.. Babson speaks from knowl-
edge. He knows the extent of prof.
teering in America and he knows
what Cooperation has done in Europe
to check profiteering. Mr.. Babson is
not indulging in mere rhetoric
when he says that the cooperative
system of buying has swept England
and other European countries.
The fact is that starting with a
single store in little town in Eng
land in 1874, the Cooperative Con-
sumers' Movement has spread until
now it comprises 100000 heads of
families in Great Britain, supplying
409o of the population of that land
with all their wants. The member
ship of the consumers co-operatives
in Great Britain is growing fourteen
times faster than the population.
In a little more than rs years, the
idea embodied in the tiny store at
Rochdale, England, spread until now
the 1,500 large cooperative stores in
Great Britain are doing business of
$2,000,000,000 year, selling every
thing from groceries to clothing and
even automobiles of their own man
ufacture.
Not only does the cooperative buy
ing movement consist of stores, but it
has its own gigantic WHOLESALERS and
warehouses, and what is more, it
owns in England alone 108 huge fac
tories, and thousands of acres of land
in Great Britain, Ceylon and India.
1t raises tea on its own plantations in
the tropics, for the use of its mem
bers; it owns colleries and steamships;
it owns the largest flour mills and
shoe factories in Great Britain, is the