IBB DBAKBOKN HMOEJPHHIDENTf 10 Workmen Have Made Co-operative Stores Pay Well in England I1r()RKMhN in hngland and Continental f f t urope have really made a sueeess in buying goods collectively -in running their own stores. These stores now number into the thousands with a business going into hundreds of millions of dollars. I hey began in a small way many years ago and have become prosperous out of this saving. This article deals with Tngland alone. Sext week, a similar article will tell of operations in Continental F.urope. IN GREAT BRITAIN alone the co-operative tores, it taken together, contain more capital and do a larger turnover than any other enterprise, with the possible exception of the liquor industry: in Russia it is the one stable thing which ha stood fast through tire and torment, and promises an avenue tor a re sumption of international business. Co-operation does nt net often into the news papers, seldom at all into American newspapers. Co operative Stores do not advertise ; they do not need to. Advertisers. of course, do not welcome co-operative stores. Those may not he the reasons for the silence regarding a remarkable plan. The birth of modern COH perative stores is romantic enough. In 1S44, twenty-four poor men of Rochdale, in the north of England, most of them rlannel weavers, stared haggardly into the desperate poverty of the times for them and decided t make an experiment. They appointed from their number a treasurer, and brought to him their subscriptions, two cents one day. three cents another; in similar amounts they brought these tiny sums from a few others They scraped together a capital of $140. Think of it! Twenty-four poor rlannel weavers and 5140, and a plan to revolutionize the business methods of two continents. There is a thrill at the thought of that meager capital what would it do for you today ! and the little store they opened with it in Toad Lane, Rochdale. Yet by 1906 then were 1,400 Ittch stores in the United Kingdom, and their sales for the year ex ceeded $315,000,000. The little Lancashire shop at first sought only to supply its members with their wants bacon, candles shoes and SO forth, what they actually did, as the idea spread, was to improve vastly the position of millions of the working class by enabling them to obtain their provisions cheap and pure, to avoid the millstone of debt, to save money, to pasi from retail to wholesale trading, and from distribution to manufacturing, build ing and house-owning and banking. The membership today i nearly 3,000,000. That means 3,00o.imio families in tin- l'nited Kingdom up ward of 15,000.000 souls, buy as a unit, on the co-operative plan, get their little metal checks with their purchases, and cash these in at stated intervals for their "dividends'' or else build up their bank account, with the knowledge that their money is conservatively used in extending yet further the reach of the idea. To-operative societies, in the technical sense as Used here does not cover associations which are pri marily for social, provident or religious purposes such as the Communist experiments in the L'nited States, but does cover societies for the production of wealth, such as agriculture, manufacturing, retail or wholesale distribution, building or house-owning, raising capi tal, etc. These workmen's co-operative stores, or dis tributive societies (referred to as the "Co-Op") flourish all over the country; practically all of them are registered under the Industrial and Provident So cieties Act. which constitutes them corporate bodies, with limited liability, and fixes $1,000 as the maximum any member may hold in the share capital. Their government is democratic, based on one vote each, for man or woman, their members or share holders, and the committee-men or directors are almost exclusively the more provident of the working class. I hey Share in Profits THEIK method is modeled on the original Rochdale plan, with modifications. It varies slightly in dif ferent societies, but the following ii a general working l;isis. Membership is open to anyone who pays a small entrance fee (25 cents) and signs a pledge for a $5 share, which can he paid for out of the profits. For rears K has been possible for any member to withdraw his shares in cash at par. With each purchase the mem her is given metal disc s (sometimes paper) equivalent to the amount -pent, and at the end of each quarter this stack of metal discs, ,,r book of paper coupons. tly represents the member's expenditure with the CO-Operative Society during that period. At the end of the quarter, a limited interest (never more than 5 per cent, and frequently less) on shares and, in some so cieties, paying a proportion of profit to the employes, the surplus is divided to tin m mb I 'S in proportion to their purchases hi some societies ion -members can cash in their fhs( v btr( for half-dividends. Thus there is every incentive for the member to do all the purchasing at the "Co-Op," imce tin- money spent becomes a sort of capital, which draws interest By 1 1 CO WOODSTOCK in proportion to its sise; and also there is the incentive to bring others there to purchase also, since the more members, the bigger the opt ration of the store, the bet ter the wholesaling facilities, and the larger profits which, analyzed down, means the cheaper the cost of living. Stripped, u means the member is getting the goods at cost; ami the cost is low in proportion as the purchasing or manufacturing is large. And this dividend on members' purchases is a real thing: it averages 12 cents on the dollar, thus the div idend on three months' purchases is sieable II you could purchase the necessities of hie. food and cloth ing at a price that met any other fair store in town, and could count on a 12 per cent rebate on all you spent, would it interest you? Occasionally the prices of the co-operative stores have been slightly higher than those of private stores, but the effect was merely that the member saved what before was the retailer's profit, and every time he made a purchase put a few cents in his bank account, since he had just that much more coining to him on settling day. Purchasing Depots in Many (Cities HERE is a typical example of a co-operative busi ness. The North of Kngland Wholesale Society began business in Manchester in 1864, and in 1871 be came the English Wholesale Society. This organization has purchasing and forwarding depots not only in England and Ireland, but in New Yrk. Hamburg. Rouen. Copenhagen and Calais. It is the wholesah arm for a large group of societies. The societies make bread, butter, clothes, boots, furniture, millinery, flour; often farm land; and in vest increasing sums in building cottages to rent or sell to their members; also loans much money to mem bers desiring to build. Another remarkable development of tin Labor Co partnership idea produced the famous South Metro politan ias Company, of London, which before the war had more than $2,000,000 invested in it. by nearly 7.000 employes The number of societies today is 1,560, many of them with many stores called "branches," and with nearly 150,000 employes, of which total 80,000 are en ura.'ed in the distribution end of the business, and the balance in the productive end. The year's business transacted by all the societies runs over $5(X OOOlOSji with . rot.ts of $60,000,000. The difference between the English and th Con tinental co-operative systems is simply the interpreta tion of the word "credit." The Rochdale idea .ud all its followers to this day. oppose tin "'credit" itttt' in other words, no member could spend agan si his fu ture income. On the Continent, co-operation eksfo collective credit to put into the hands oi rkin peasants, craftsmen and traders, the stock and tools with which to labor. The credit opposed b) Kng. lish is the "credit tor consumption' the road to pov. t rty ; tin credit sought by the Continent is the "credit for production" the road to well being. Another form of cooperation, developed almost everywhere except in Great Britain, is agricult ai, The co-operation affects production, market own ership of expensive machinery in common, a. ' insur ance against risks. Thus the small fanner obtains the same advantages a- the big farmer. Denmark has developed it to a point of great sue--s, the farmers practicing it in every form except for raising capital, which has seemed to be lini - ssary. The Danish farmer, a century or so ago a sen today is almost always a freeholder. The great edit attonsl movement of the middle nineteenth century in Denmark had remarkable results, and the regeneration . t agrj. culture was one of them. The Kochdale plan, that is, the British CO-operative store plan, entered the country ah ut the same time, and in 1882 cooperation in agri culture began. Almost every Danish village has its co-operative dairy, which can handle milk from 200 to 1,4 M. and even 2,000 cows. These dairies are productive - h ictus in which the cow -owners are the shareholders, and all shareholders have iual rights and equal voting power, whether owning one cow or one hundred. The) handle more than four-fifths of all the milk used in Denmark, and produce about $50,000,000 worth of butter ,t year. Similar co-operative organizations handle other phases of agriculture collective buying oi ndder, fertilizers ami agricultural and household requisites, Collecting and exporting eggs, bacon-curing, bc keeping, fruit-growing and so forth. The bacon -curing SOCttttei are of great v. Certainly, whether thl Ugh co operation or not. tanning in Denmark has ti e : Titled the country from one of the poorest to of the richest in Kuropc. In my next article, to be published next week, I shall tell of other co-operative plans foi buying and distributing ods and making loans in C tmenta! Europe, and their success Mr. Burleson Has Carried an Umbrella 38 Years m sssssssssssssssssssf Ka Clincdintt hostmasthk (;knkral BLIHLBSON IN AT least three ways, Postmaster-General Albert Sidney Burleson is different from every oth r man in public life. There has not been a day rain shine during tin- past 38 years that he has not carri an um brella with him, no matter whether he was dling at the White House, going to a social function. SpCCttng a field of cotton on his Texas farm, or at ding to his duties of running the Post Office Depai lent for the people of the l'nited States, and taking the blame whenever your mail is late or misdirected A few years ago Mr. Hurlcson was visin TeXSI during the worst drouth that had been exp i need W more than 20 y ears. There had been no rain for over two years and the iky was as clear as a cor.: try gin complexion. The whole state was sizzlingly hot ana annoyingly dusty. One of the old-timers Ice I looking at the umbrella clutched tightly in the grip oi the cab inet member, and finally blurted out, "Say. M Bun son, are you expecting the drouth to be bl (Wj SO0H or are you aiming to hook up with tin Baptlftf? This brought forth a broad smile on : 'date features of the head of the mail service, ai '"ns ex planation : "I've been carrying an umbrella t iWf I was nineteen. t that time I had an ittad ' swelling, necessitating the use of some aid in walking 1 knew that if I used a cane all tin boys would gtty JK, so I quietly resorted t the use of an umbrella for tnsi purpose, thus avoiding all debate and comment That1 how the habit started and I guess I'll stick to H the re mainder of my days '" I'ln iecond distinctive feature about the Postrnatfer General is his peculiar styk ol headgear. Volt WlW by his picture that he sports a hat of the vintag long, long ago h is claimed that a little store at bafl tntonio, Texas, is the only place that still keepi 1,1,1 remote Styk in stock. His friends claim 1" t,,,,',t" that particular brand at the time he first regaled him eti in long pants. .. I here are men heartless enough to coinpaie the m ervice with his headgear. The third peculiarity is his sln.es. He has IJ worn i pair of ready-made shoes in his life A" " II Austin, Texas, lias made his shots fOf l j l 40 rears They an comfortably ample ai & sl- Of architecture