Evening star., 1924-11-30
COOPERATIVE SALE
AGENCIES PRAISED
Federal Trade Report Tells
of Success Met by Socie-
ties in Europe.

Esta bliShment of retail consum-
ers cooperative societies In the
thickly populated rural districts of
the United States and organization
Of farmers cooperative sales societies
for marketing agricultural produce
directly from the farm to the city
household are the outstanding recon-
mendations in a Federal Trade Com
mission report to Congress on CO.
operat; ;on in foreign countries, made
public last night by the commission.
The report is the result of an In
va ,tigation IN Europe in the sum
mer Of 1929 by Chairman Huston
Thompson Of the commission and DR..
William NotZ. chief OF the export
trade division. During the inquiry
10 countries of Europe were visited
and a study made Of their cooperative
conditions, supplemented by detailed
investigations of all agencies OF CO.
operative societies.
Other recommendations in the re-
port include the following: Consid-
Grafton Of the simple, elastic and
Inexpensive system of rural credit So
'ieties of the Raiffeisen deposit and
loan type" should be made.
Distribution Of Power.
hi tribution Of electric power in
rural communities through farmers
cooperative societies has proved 81"
advantageous in Europe. that a
greater development of this means OF
furnishing light, heat and power to
the American farmer is recommended
for the consideration of our farmers.
Cooperative dirtribution of coal
and milk is recommended for consio-
Grafton in this country.
The inquiry developed that prob
ably by the agency of cooperative
export associations the market for
American farm products could be
substantially enlarged in foreign
countries. and in this connection the
commission called attention to the
export trade act which authorizes
any asSocia tfon or combination To De
organized for the purpose of engag-
ing in export trade from the United
States TO any foreign nation. Through
such an organization. the report said
they can seek markets for their own
surplus production and keep over
head expenses down to a minimum.
Fear OF Group Friction.
"If the cooperative movement in
the United States Is to develop sue
cessfully and without injury to the
public welfare the report adds. ut
will be necessary to avoid friction
between organized consumers and or
ganized producers. To this end
study should be made of how these
two groups can he made to assist
rather than antagonize each other.
ALREADY strong in numbers and
we'll organized prior to the war. the
needs OF the time and the stress OF
necessity in the course of the World
War and subsequently have given
such an impetus to cooperation that
IL dc nf the most nrOm-
inent features OF the economic struc-
ture of the world today.
During the World War the state au-
thorities in a number Of countries found
in the co-operatives the best if not the
only, large-scale organization available
for distribution of the uecessares Of
life and a serviCeab)e agency for pro-
tecting the public against prohteers
Their patriotic services met with wide
spread popular approval. netted them
the good will of governments and
prompted thousands of new members to
swell their ranks. Moreover. in the post
war era the network Of cooperative So
ciaties stretching out over whole nations
and tying together all classes OF society
formed in many cases the strongest
basis upon which the reconstruction and
development CT trade and industry could
proceed. and without which certain
economic reforms seemed impossible Of
achievement. In Finland. the Baltic re-
publics. Poland and Czechoslovakia.
where the World War destroyed most
means of livelihood, the state authori-
ties are availing themselves of the CO.
operative organization, established prior
to the war as the most Serviceable
means for reconstruction.
On Larger Countries.
In some OF the larger countries of
Europe, like the United Kingdom, Ger
many and France. the consumers CO.
operative societies rank among the
largest producers and distributors of
necessaries of life In England and
is affiliated with the consumers whole
sale and retail societies. In Czecho-
slovakia il is estimated that about
100000 people are directly interested
in cooperative enterprises The farm
ers of Finland owe their present eco
nomic prosperity primarily to co-opera-
ton BY establishing cooperative con-
sumers' stores throughout the rural dis
tricts Finnish co-operators have per-
formed valuable service to the farm
ers of that country. In that way they
have brought city and country life
closer together, made accessible to the
farmer the things which he needs for
his household and given him new faciii
ties for marketing his crops and for the
purchase of new materials for operat-
ing his farm.
"An idea of the volume Of business
done by the cooperative consumers So
cieties may be gained from the money
value of the sales by retail societies in
II of the leading countries of Europe.
which in 1914 amounted to S761,429.-
996, while the sales of the wholesale So
ceties in the same countries for the
same year amounted to total Of s312.-
79O,674. Since that year the volume Of
goods handled by the same organiza-
tons has increased many times.
LAS an instance of the success of
cooperative agriculture. the work
of the cooperative agricultural move
ment in ireland may be mentioned.
with its total turnover of more than