A LESSON IN CO-OPERATION 821 



A LESSON IN CO-OPERATION. 



By CLAKENCE N. OUSLEY. 



THE commercial method of the times seems to be the merging 

 of competing enterprises into syndicates and trusts under a 

 single management. Naturally enough a similar tendency is be- 

 coming manifest among producers as well as among manufactur- 

 ing and transportation agencies. Various meetings and conven- 

 tions among farmers of late have suggested the establishing of 

 co-operative stores and exchanges controlled by a central bureau, 

 which shall be the head of a gigantic farmers' pool. Indeed, the 

 first steps to this end have already been taken in several Southern 

 and Western States. In view of the event to which these signs 

 point, it is not amiss at this juncture to interpose a lesson in co- 

 operation furnished by the rise in 1887 and fall in 1889 of a large 

 enterprise of this sort, viz., the Farmers' Alliance Exchange of 

 Texas. It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the expedi- 

 ency of such commercial ventures. The intention is merely to 

 give an historical account of the particular case under examina- 

 tion, without even pointing a moral further than that which 

 would suggest itself to any thoughtful mind viz., like causes, 

 operating under like conditions, will produce like effects. 



The Farmers' Alliance of the Southern States, which was con- 

 solidated with other farmers' organizations at St. Louis in De- 

 cember last into the Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union of 

 America, had its origin in Texas several years ago. One of its 

 original purposes, according to the declaration of its constitution, 

 was " to develop a better state financially " among its members ; 

 and in pursuance of this purpose the Farmers' Alliance Exchange 

 of Texas was organized. It was the first extensive business exper- 

 iment under the Alliance movement, which had meanwhile spread 

 over the South, and was therefore watched with considerable in- 

 terest. At the annual meeting of the Texas Alliance, at Waco, in 

 August, 1887, the following plan of business was adopted : 1. To 

 incorporate the Farmers' Alliance Exchange of Texas. 2. To sell 

 farmers' produce and to buy farmers' supplies as the farmers' 

 agent, and to erect suitable buildings for conducting the business. 



3. The capital stock to be $500,000, divided into twenty-five shares, 

 controlled by twenty-five trustees elected by the State Alliance. 



4. To raise the capital stock by assessing each member of the Al- 

 liance two dollars, and on receipt of $50,000 to credit each share 

 with ten per cent paid in, and like credit to be made for each sub- 

 sequent payment of the same amount. The twenty -five trustees 

 were elected, and a State business agency, previously in operation 

 on a small scale, was merged into the new enterprise. From this 



