12 UNITED STATES - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



In 1878. as we see, the amount of business done, compared with the 

 previous year, diminished by one-half ; and the number of members fell 

 from 17,000 to 7,000. In practically every State the scheme was unfort- 

 unate, and in 1877 the >7ational Grange had, in fact, issued the following 

 recommendation relative to state purchasing agencies : ' ' There have been 

 more failures than successes; ... we advise the discontinuance of any 

 now in existence ". The scheme certainly did not give satisfaction in 

 Wisconsin, and the complaints seem to have related chiefly to the unsatis- 

 factory quality of the goods supplied, the delay in executing orders, the 

 smallness of the saving effected, and the requirement of cash payment with 

 the order. 



The Agent, in a letter to the vState Bureau of Labour, written in 1885, 

 said : ' ' The saving to patrons naturally varies according to the advantages 

 in their own local market. We are able to save them 25 per cent, on many 

 things. ... I-'armers use this agency as a bureau of information more than 

 anything else. . . . Perhaps out of ten inquiries we get one order. The 

 information imparted in the other nine out of ten letters is used to enable 

 the correspondent to buy more intelligently and to better advantage at 

 home. 



The real reason for failure seems to have been, that those who had most 

 need to save could not pay cash, and enjo3^ed credit only with the local 

 traders, while the farmers in a position to pay promptly preferred to buy 

 locally, with the advantage of seeing the goods before buying and the added 

 convenience of immediate delivery. 



The Wisconsin agency was still doing business in Milwankee in 1886, 

 and was still, apparently, furnishing useful information to farmers with 

 little profit to itself. 



§ 2. Present day co-oper.\tion. 



In Wisconsin at the present da}^ agricultural co-operation is relativel}'- 

 highly developed. Practical^ every form of co-operation, except co-op- 

 erative credit, is represented, and the exception is one which would have to 

 be made for every State in the Union. Propagandist institutions, public 

 and private, work well together, and Wisconsin is one of the few States 

 which have passed special acts deaUng with co-operative societies. Many 

 different forms of co-operative enterprise have been initiated independently 

 and have achieved success, each on its merits, and without the guidance of 

 any central institution. But is is now recognized that further progress 

 depends largely on the successful centralization of available forces, on the 

 federation of independent societies and the creation of joint associations 

 for propaganda and instruction. This awakening to the present-day needs 

 of the movement is without doubt due, in no small measure, to the influence 

 of Sir Horace Plunkett w^ho has twice addressed the State IvCgislature and 



