UNITED STATES. 



I. THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN WISCONSIN. 



SOURCES : 



Report Upon Co-operation' and Marketing. Part I, AGRictn-TcrRAi, Co-operation. 



Wipcoasin State Board of Public Affairs. Madisoii, Wis. 1912. 

 Campbell, (R. A.): Co-operation iv Wisconsin. American Review of Reviews. Vol. XI, VII, 



No. 4, 1913. 

 Powell, (G. H.): Co-operation in Agriculture. New York: The Macinillan Co., 1913, 

 Williams, (A. W.) : A Plan for a Co-oper.ative Neighbourhood. Winsconsin State Board 



of Public Affairs. Madison, Wis. 1912. 



§ I. Early co-operative schemes. 



Before examining the present-day development of co-operation in 

 Wisconsin it will be interesting to glance at the history of two earlier 

 attempts at co-operation, widely different from each other and from any 

 form of agricultural co-operation which exists to-day in the State. 



The Wisconsin Phalanx. 



The first of these is a co-operative community known as the Wisconsin 

 Phalanx, founded in 1844 by enthusiastic disciples of Fourier, which existed 

 for a period of six years, and was the most successful of the many Fourierist 

 communities founded in America between 1840 and 1850. 



The colony purchased from the Federal government 1,700 acres of good 

 land near where the village of Ripon now stands, and took possession of it 

 in May, 1844. 



The first year was one of hardship and privation, but from the begin- 

 ning the Colony was a financial success, and at its voluntary dissolution 

 in 1850 was paying 8 per cent, to capital, and pro viding every member with a 

 comfortable living. Each year the property was appraised, and one-fourth 

 of the ascertained profits given to capital, the remaining three-fourths being 

 distributed among the members according to their hours of labour as regis- 

 tered in the books. There was a common dining-room where the majority 



