Year: 1865

anu pretty general adoption OF tn


credit system may be blamed for


certain portion of the misfortune tha


attended them. The shareholder pu


his one pound or his five pounds int,


the store, but he felt under no obliga


ton TO take his custom there, ant
r therefore his money was lost or re-


mained mproductive. And, as the


shareholders in tho first instance fail.


cd, in the majority Of cases, to give


even an appearace Of success to these


undertakings, the general public re.


fused to recognize the Cooperative
Store as desirable either for the in.
vestment Of money, or the patronage
OF custom. I.


The great question therefore that
from the first puzzled the minds of
those engaged in cooperation, was,
how the heads of families could be
brought to take an interest in the
Stores and bestow on them their Gus
tom as a matter of preference. II
this question could be satisfactorily
solved, it was felt that the main diff
Guilty would be got over. Ithad boen
proved by experience that the credit
system was ruinous, but then they
saw how hopeless it was to draw Gus
toners from those shops where credit
was attainable, unless they could offer
some advantage more than that of
problematical dividened on shares
which, in the great majority of cases,
those most likely to be customers
could not be prevailed on to take
AT the very outset, therefore, slack
ness of custom rendered the trading
profitless, and lack of profit produced
the same effect on these establish
monts as on those Of private traders
shut them up with loss TO the
proprietors. 9


Somewhere about the year 1914
lucky contrivance for the purpose of
getting over the great cooperative
difficulty was hit on. The discovery
OF this is generally attributed to a
working man named Haworth bolong-
ing TO Rochdale; but there are persons
who declare that the real discoverer
was working shoemaker Of Gala
shiels, named William Saunderson.-I
To whichever of these the claim as
originator may be conceded, there can |
be no doubt that the moment the dis
covery was practically applied, CO.
operation began to strike root vigor-
ously and flourish. At present it
numbers some hundred thousand fam
lilies in its ranks, and employs in its
transactions capital Of many hun
dred thousands of pounds, whilst its
annual transactions are counted by
millions sterling.


IT will be observed from what has
already been stated, that the great
ssaiseicss;ss!ss,TGi," %asiRsGp70porative stores
that the plan needed was one that
would fairly and honestly bring GUS
tom. BY the nature and character of
these associations, those engaged in
managing them were necessarily pre-
vented from resorting to any of those
questionable contrivances called "tricks
of trade" They would have been
their own victims, being chiefly their
own customers, had they done so
besides which, secrets where such |
numbers knew them would soon
spread, and known adulterations on
the co-operatives' shelves would have
no chance against the concealed adul- |
ter,:tions of tho ordinary trader.-
Whatever plan might bo resorted to
to bring tho public to the store, must
bo an honest plan, and upon an ex-
animation of that adopted, though 1T
was rather strange at first sight, and
little difficult in its early working,
yet in the way in which it deals with
the various interests of those con-
cerned, there can, we imagine, be as
little doubt of its equity as there is Of
its success. ia


To understand this new system of
business, and TO see clearly how it
operated to secure this success, it will
be necessary to state that its loading
and principal feature is that which
makes the customer or purchaser a.
sharer in the profits made. There
are, say the oo-operators, two import,
ant elements that operate together for
the making of profit Capital and
C,stom--and unless both Of these can
be secured in just proportions, busi-
ness must be unproductiye,


The capital they proposed to raise
in small shares, so that large numbers
of people might be induced to take
them up. eos. is the average price OF
the share, though we believe in cer-
tain cases FIVE of these shares have to
be held by zach member, but as the
payment is taken in very small weekly
instalmonts, sd. a week,--no practi-
cal obstacle is placed even in tho way
of the very poorest; and to facilitate
the entry Of the public it is usual as n
practice to allow the bonuses accruing
upon purchases to go to the credit of
tho shareholder Immediately on his
entering. Really, therefore, he has
nothing to pay out of his own funds
beyond the first few small weekly in
stalments, as his profits on his pur-
chases meet all the rest. The effect
of this is to bring large numbers, even
of the poorest, to the stores, although
as a rule those amongst the working
people who belong to the cooperative
societies are the most provident and
intelligent of their GLASS. 81


Tho claim Of capital is the first ac-
knowledgcd, and for meeting this, five
per cent. is allowed with something
additional to pay wear and tear and
generally to provide against loss by
accident or otherwise. This may be
considered a small payment for capi-
tai engaged in trade, but then it is
found that the risk is very slight,
whilst the amount Of share capital
owned by each member is so small az
not to be the cause of much uneasi-
, ness indeed, whatever else may have