Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1937-06-10
VURRENT
y oMMENT
By THE OBSERVER

ms column ADMITS parClallty fol
first steps, and so, when we learned
of the establishment at Gaithersburg
of the Southern States Gaithersbure
Service, the first farmer-owned and
operated Consumer Cooperative il
Montgomery County, it was piece OF
rare good news.
That this is a branch of the large
Southern States Cooperative, which
has it's headquarters in Richmond
Va, and not an original plant, really
makes little or no difference, for the
principle and net results are the same
whether one is member of the
branch or the parent organization.
The principle is the one adopted by
the weavers of Rochdale, England,
early in the last century, when the
invention of spinning and weaving
machinery left large number of
them idle and stranded.
Out of their desperate plight they
were led to form a plan of self help
which has expanded to include mil
lions of followers throughout Europe,
notably in Scandinavia-and, to a
lesser extent in the Western Hemis-
phere.
To the original plan of consumer
cooperation was afterward added that
of producer cooperation, and the COM
bined operation of the two represents
an annual turnover of millions of dol
lars in the various countries of
Europe. For the present it will suffice
to discuss the first, or consumer
phase.
The principle is, briefly, as follows:
those interested organize themselves
on the democratic basis of one MEM
Der, one vote, regardless of the
amount of capital each one puts into
the enterprise. They then provide
themselves with headquarters as COM
modious as their means permit, and
proceed to buy the things they all
need at current wholesale prices, SELL
ing them back to themselves, and to
any outside buyers, at current retail
prices.
! At the end of the year the net
profits are returned to members only
in what is known as patronage divi-
dends, each one receiving a percent
age of the amount he has paid in for
purchases. Needless to say this is a
strong inducement to cooperate by
buying as much as possible from the
group. An English widow, with seven
children and limited resources, who
was member of consumers coop
erative provided herself with new
home during the Great War, when
economy and self-denial were the rule.
Her friends and neighbors were sur
prised, and doubtless, curious as to
how she had managed it. She satisfied
their curiosity with the brief state
ment,-"The children ate me into it. .
Aside from the economic advant-
ages of the plan, it has been found, in
practise, that cooperation is highly
conducive to a spirit of group loyal
w. The story is told of a Danish
farmer who took his butter to the CO.
operative headquarters, and was paid
the current price. He protested that it
was too much, and not in line with
the best interests of the group to put
tne price SO high. In a capitalistic
world largely animated by the desire
!" obtain the most at the smallest
possible price, this spirit is nothing
leSs than the entering wedge of a
new,-and a rehabilitation. For
.nis group loyalty is an ever expand
lug circle which, logically, seems
uesVlned eventually to include all
mankind, banishing forever the tooth
time.