Evening star., 1937-03-21
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
THE cooperative movement has
made notable progress in
Northern Europe since the

THE cooperative movement has
made notable progress in
Northern Europe since the
war.
1t has developed not only tech
nique, but an economic philosophy.
1t has been characterized as the
middle road" between private enter
prize and a socialistic economy. Its
activities cover the whole range Of
life from nursing bottles to funerals.
In the. United States its develop
ment has been spasmodic and un-
systematized" American cooperative
enterprises have been, for most part,
on a small scale and there has been
wide variation in their degrees of sue
cess. They have played a relatively
insignificant part in the economic life
of the American people as whole
Observers Sent to Europe.
Some months ago, at the direction
Of President Roosevelt, a party of
observers was sent to Europe to make
an impartial study of co-operatives.
This committee, headed by Jacob
41hhCL, ildo JioI IIldGC IGS lttOlJ W
the White House. 1t visited 10 Euro
pean countries. The members tried
to obtain fair cross-section of opin-
ion They interviewed not only in
| dividuals prominent in the cooper
ative movement itself, but their rivals
in private business. public officials,
| marketers and consumers. They
fnllnd VI rfrF6~ Npn
in opinion. They found also quite
different obiectiveS.
In the Scandinavian countries and
in Switzerland the stated purpose of
the cooperative is that of a yard
stick" 1t welcomes competition. 1t
enjoys no special favors. If private
! enterprise can serve the public more
efficiently and at lower prices than
the community-oWn store or factory,
! so much the better for the public. In
Great Britain, on the other hand, the
committee found definite objective
the ultimate abolition of private
profit, the establishment of a CO.
operative commonwealth in which all
business will be done by consumer CO.
/ operatives, set-up of society in which
all national income except for a small
fixed return on capital shall be paid
to workers in wages and salaries with
all profits accruing to the customers
IN the form of lower prices"
Lacks Profit Incentive
The cooperative, of course, lacks
private industry's profit incentive. No
individual can get rich out of one of
these enterprises. The drive to wealth,
! independence and power activating
highly intelligent men and women to
build up great economic structures
in the face Of any sort of competition
! Is not present. Its place must be
( supplied by some other emotional
| drive-and in some places, the COM
mlttee found, the cooperative move
ment Is almost a religion On the
other hand, it avoids private indus
try's "rackets." possibly contributes TO
a more equitable division of wealth
by returning its profits to its mem
bers IN the form of savings, and at
( least in some notable cases has DEM
onStrated for the time being that the
| incentive OF private profit is hardly
| necessary for successful manufacture
ing or marketing.
4 The cooperative movement avoids
/ the great drawback of socialistic en-
| terprlse - entanglements with state
politics. At least, it should Theoret-
lcauy the cooperative acts entirely in
| dependently of government. There are
all sorts of temptations to NEEDLE in
politics, however, and in so far as these
are yielded to, the enterprise is tread
ing into the field of state socialism.
Any predictions for the future de-
pend on ones point of view. The
greatest headWay, to date, has been
made by the consumers co-opera tive.
This has, naturally, an enormous ad-
vantage over the small private busi-
ness. Its obvious advantages are very
similar to those which have been en-
joyed by the chain stores in the United
States. 1t can buy or manufacture in
enormous quantities, and hence at
great savings. 1t can undersell the
small merchant almost everywhere.
Started Before Chain Stores.
The consumers cooperative in
Northern Europe got started before the
chain store. just the opposite was
true in the United States. Perhaps if
the co-operatives had had the chain
grocery and drug stores to combat in
stead Of the relatively weak individ-
ual grocers and pharmacists their
success would not have been so note
worthy. Now, almost everywhere the
chain store is invading their terri
tories. In many cases 1t is competing
with them successfully. Big chain